Kitchen Cleaning

For phase one of my home cure, I decided to clean and organize my kitchen. This meant emptying all of the cabinets and throwing out old or expired food, getting rid of kitchen gadgets that I don't use (I plan to take them to the Salvation Army), wiping down the inside and outside of the cabinets, rethinking the use of my cabinet space, scrubbing the dishwasher, oven, microwave and refrigerator, (inside and out), washing the walls, emptying out a kitchen island that I plan to move out of the kitchen and finding new homes for the five years' worth of accumulated stuff the island was housing, cleaning the countertop, scrubbing the sink - you get the picture.

Suffice it to say that I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I started my "little" project. I wanted to quit halfway through, but couldn't because the kitchen looked like a bomb had exploded in it. If I had thought about it, I would have realized that it would take me more than an hour to clean and organize twelve years' worth of kitchen clutter. But I never would have imagined that it would take me one whole weekend and three Mr. Clean sponges. By the way, if you have not familiarized yourself with Mr. Clean sponges, you need to do so AT ONCE. These things are AMAZING. A few swipes of a Mr. Clean sponge on the outside of my very dirty painted cabinets, and they looked better than I had ever thought possible. I have never gotten my kitchen so clean using other cleaners and sponges. Anyway - I now know why Apartment Therapy gives readers weeks to accomplish their kitchen cure, rather than days.

Next time, I will know better.

As if there will be a next time.

Love, -40

P.S. I will post pictures later. I would have done a before and after, but I was too embarrassed to showcase my before.