It only takes a half-hour to get your kitchen looking spotless. Don’t believe us? Read this! Here’s how you can clean your kitchen in 30 minutes or less.

Picture this:

You’re about to have friends over for dinner and board games. They’re coming in a half-hour, but you just realized that your kitchen is a mess.

There’s not enough time to get this place cleaned up!

Or is there?

A half-hour is plenty of time to get your kitchen looking presentable. Granted, this won’t allow for deep cleaning, but at least you won’t be ashamed of the mess.

Follow this quick and easy plan to clean your kitchen and contemporary fireplace in under 30 minutes.

1. Empty the Dishwasher

Before you begin cleaning anything, you need to make sure there are no leftover items in the dishwasher.

If there are, put them away. That way, you’ll have enough dishes for everyone, and you’ll have room for more later on.

2. Declutter Your Countertops

The first big step is to clean off your countertops. In many homes, the kitchen counter is a dumping ground for everything that doesn’t have a home. Everything from mail to receipts to water bottles can end up on the kitchen counter.

Also, you might forget to put food items or dishes back where they belong. In the morning, you might leave the sugar out after making coffee or leave the knife out after you butter your toast.

There’s no doubt about it: the counters get dirty fast. So, cleaning this area up is a large part of cleaning the kitchen.

To speed up this process, it’s best to tackle it in four steps:

Throw Away the Trash

Grab the garbage can and put it in a convenient spot so you can easily throw things away.

Put Dirty Dishes in the Sink

Now that you have all the trash out of the way, the next step is to find all the dirty dishes and put them in the sink.

Fill the sink with hot water and soap so that your dishes can soak while you clean your counters. (We’re going to load them into the dishwasher later.)

Put Away Small Appliances

When the kitchen counter has a bunch of small appliances on it, it looks cluttered.

Waffle makers, electric skillets, and all those other gadgets take up a lot of space. If you don’t have a spot for them, you won’t have any counter space left to work with.

Obviously, the toaster and coffee maker can stay on the counter, as you use them every day. Stashing the rest out of sight will make your kitchen look better.

Wipe Down Countertops

At this point, there shouldn’t be anything left on your countertops that doesn’t live there.

If you have any leftover items, like mail or a stray battery, put them where they belong.

3. Fill the Dishwasher

Next, it’s time to load the dishwasher. If you’ve been following our guide, your dishes should already be soaking in the sink.

Empty the sink, rinse each dish, and stack it in the dishwasher. If you don’t have a dishwasher, scrub each dish, dry it, and put it in the cabinet where it lives.

If you have enough dirty dishes to fill the washer, run a cycle. Otherwise, you can leave them in there until you have enough dishes for a full load.

4. Wipe Down Appliances

You should wipe down the front of all of your appliances to remove any sticky fingerprints or splattered food.

Wipe down the front of your fridge, paying special attention to the handles.

The front and top of the stove should also be wiped down. Make sure you clean the knobs and handles here as well.

The microwave needs to be wiped down on the front, top, and even on the inside. Microwave interiors get very dirty, and if you wait too long to clean it, it will smell bad.

If yours is especially dirty on the inside, fill a glass with equal parts water and vinegar, put it in the microwave, and run it for three minutes. The mixture will steam up and stick to the microwave’s walls so you can easily wipe down the build-up.

The toaster and blender will also benefit from a quick wiping.

5. Spot Clean

Next, take a soapy rag or Magic Eraser and spot clean the fixtures around your kitchen.

For example, you might find that you have some fingerprints on the cupboard doors or smudges on the light switches. You can remove these with a quick wipe.

Another problem area that usually needs spot cleaning is the backsplash behind the stove. Its whole purpose is to protect your walls from bubbling pots of yummy goodness, so you can assume there will be some dirty spots to clean here.

6. Sweep and Mop Floor

The floor is the last place to clean. Sweep the floor then mop it.

If you don’t want to wait for the floor to dry after mopping, use the steam mop instead of a traditional mop. This tactic is not only faster but also kills any bacteria on the floor.

7. Finishing Touches

Take one last look around your kitchen. Did you miss any spots? Did any items go unnoticed? Take care of them now.

Once everything passes inspection, you can take out the trash and toss all dirty rags or towels in your laundry room.

In Conclusion

Whew! That was fast! Your kitchen looks nice and tidy, and it didn’t take hours of labor to get it that way.

Isn’t speed cleaning great?

Now you can enjoy your dinner and board games without being embarrassed about the state of your kitchen!

Author Bio:

Avonte King-Henry is the Business Manager for Brixton, a modern apartment community in Salt Lake City.