7 things in the kitchen you should clean everyday

Our busy lives can make it hard for us to stick to a cleaning routine, our time is finite after all… but these seven items are vital to clean daily and forgetting about them can have serious health ramifications. Concentrate on these seven household items and areas to keep your kitchen in tip top shape every day:

1) DIRTY DISHES 

Associate Professor Barbara Mullan from Curtin University's school of psychology told ABC: "Bacteria will stay alive alive on surfaces, even clean surfaces, for up to four days. So on fishes that have contamination like food particles, bacteria can stay alive for a very long time." The only solution? "Try to keep on top of the dishes," she said.

2. KITCHEN SINK 

Dr Kelly A. Reynolds, PhD, an environmental microbiologist at the University of Arizona's Zukerman College of Public Health in Tucson told Woman's Day: "There can be millions of pathogens (disease-causing germs) clinging to the sink and the seal of the drain," says Dr Reynolds.

Same as previous, if you keep on top of cleaning your kitchen sink, there shouldn't be a problem.

3. COFFEE MACHINE 

Your coffee marker can very quickly become a hot bed of warm, moist bacteria growth. A dirty coffee maker can also affect the taste of the brew, making your coffee taste oily and/or chalky.

Try cleaning your coffee maker by running a cycle of diluted vinegar and water.

4. MICROWAVE 

It's a myth that your microwave kills all the bacteria inside when you use it. "Bacteria are resilient and can lie dormant if you're not regularly disinfecting the surface," says Dr Reynolds. Make sure you're wiping out the microwave daily, and clean up spills as they happen, to stop microbes from multiplying.

5. THE FLOOR 

Do not forget about your kitchen floor, unless you want to meet an invasion of the bug variety. Your kitchen floors are the first place bugs enter and dwell when hygiene levels slip. All you have to do is a quick 5-minute daily sweep and bulk it up to a 10 minute or so sweep every second day.

6. RUBBISH BIN 

It's where trash goes in and comes out of, but one thing that doesn't budge is the bin itself. And let's be honest, not everything that enters the bin makes it directly into the bin; sometimes there's a bit of spillage and splatter, especially around the lid and rim. Besides being more careful when you and your household members dispose of trash, it's a good idea to spray disinfectant and wipe down your trash bin daily.

7. COUNTERTOPS 

Grease, spills, crumbs and other food bits tend to accumulate over the course of the day, and especially after cooking. This attracts pests like lizards, ants, cockroaches that nobody wants to have in their home. So it's wise to give your countertops a wipe-down at the end of the day, or better yet, disinfect them with an all-purpose cleaner.

This article was first published in Home & Decor.

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