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Kitchens for people who hate to clean?

silverspring
15 years ago

I hate to clean, and it's amazing to me that some people actually *enjoy* cleaning. Wow.

What shape kitchen is best for a slob? How do you prevent a slob from putting everything on the counters? What sort of organization system would work best for a person who loves to cook, but wants to run and hide after the cakes have been eaten?

I'm maybe moving, and into a home that has a tragic-shaped kitchen. We're planning to build an addition and make a kitchen from scratch.

What would you do? Restaurant kitchen with floor drains and built in high pressure washers? Anyone have a commercial dishwasher (like the kinds they have in school cafeterias)? My kids are voting for one of those counter height refrigerators with the sandwich trays on the top, seems like it would make hosting sandwich making parties a lot easier anyway.

Comments (66)

  • ccoombs1
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Even if you can't afford to actually get the central vacuum now, put the toe kicks in anyway. Just install them and leave the pipe and low voltage wire hanging under the house until you can afford to finish the vacuum system. Also consider a wild pattern granite. I swear I could leave a glob of mashed potatoes and gravy on mine and never see it! I have to run my hands over it to make sure it's clean. Floor....I have white oak and it does not show a thing! I need to mop it now, just because I know I haven't done it for a while but it does not show a thing. The key to keeping the kitchen neat is to get organized. Install LOTS of drawers....they are the easiest to organize.

  • Circus Peanut
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hurrah for kitchen slobs! Yes, my ideal is those Danish bathrooms where you just hose the entire 4 walls and ceilings down.

    One thing I came up with for my small kitchen that I'm really lovin' is open drawers next to the fridge: never have to clean inside unless I really want to, I can just dump stuff in according to category (starches, sweets, potatoes, etc) and they keep everything accessible in a heartbeat -- all while hiding a multitude of sins. We made ours with my cabinet wood on the fronts and painted wood inside:
    (ooh, look: bonus! circuspeanutty fingerprints. Ack!)


    You can get some groovy patterned appliance panels at Frigo Design (click pic for link):

    Here is a link that might be useful: a REALLY great article if'n you haven't seen it yet

  • oofasis
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I realize that some responses are light-hearted, but Live Wire is a kitchen designer and her response is spot on: "When everything you own has a designated place, it's easier to minimize the clutter. And bigger is NOT better. It's just more space to keep clean. Small and efficient works the best. So the first thing is to analyze how you store your current kitchen needs and why it doesn't work for you. Walk yourself through a typical meal preparation and clean up and think about how to minimize the steps by having dual items for dual functions maybe.."

    One of the smartest things I did when planning my kitchen re-do was to think out, step by step, my cooking and cleaning routines. When I'm cooking, what do I reach for most frequently? I asked myself what bothered me most about the old layout, and what worked best for me (nothing! No thought at all went into planning that kitchen!). I opened every cabinet and drawer and took inventory of EVERYTHING, and then planned out the best location in my new layout.

    The toe kick requires central vac. If you don't have a central vac, plan a pantry that has room for a mop and an upright sweeper or something so you can readily clean your floors.

    I wouldn't think you'd need caddies if you planned out your pantry to accommodate the needs of your household. There's a great thread somewhere ("Show me your pantries," I think it's called), and you can get some great organizational ideas from that. If it's a big enough space, you might consider putting your microwave and toaster in the pantry to "hide" messes from public spaces.

    There are so many folks on this forum with wonderful ideas. You should post your layout and some detailed ideas about how your family uses your kitchen now, and I'll bet you'll get some really great suggestions.

  • rosie
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Great subject! I don't know about boring, but people who like to clean are definitely peculiar, no matter how many there are out there. Polishing water spots off sinks and prewashing dishes? Huh?! How about:

    Faucet and sink materials that hide water spots.

    Consult the Law of Gravity when evaluating every decision. Pies, and everything else, don't always fall upside down, but they do always fall down. Clear the decks under everything possible.

    If it would look good in your home, I would definitely second sheet vinyl (my next house will have it; hopefully by then fake-rock patterns won't be 99.5% of the choices) and a Scooba. Or a Scooba with a good hardwood that's doesn't expand-contract much so water doesn't bother it.

    We have the kickplate central vacuum, and it's wonderful; we put kickplates near all 6 doors to the outside (the company called after my on-line order to make sure I didn't make a mistake on the number). This was actually a low-budget sort of luxury for us. It's really not expensive--cheap kickplates attached to some PVC running through the wall to a vacuum. That last costs more than dinner out, but if you have a shop vac on hand you can connect to that. And have a hose and hose connection too so you can vacuum up high. I'd still have a Scooba too.

    Flat-front cabinet doors without handles. If you can do without easy-open mechanisms, bump-to-open/push-to-close latches are wonderful.

    Foot-operated water faucets to keep dirty hands off the handles.

    Minimal horizontal surfaces on trim and everywhere but work surfaces and stove. If at all possible, no quarter-round on baseboards for instance (some homes are so out of kilter it'd take weeks of fine carpentry to fit without gaps).

    Keep the kitchen as compact as possible while still having generous work surfaces. As said, definitely not too much storage. Keep storage shelves fairly shallow so things don't get lost in back.

    Good-quality laminate or powder-coat sorts of doors--they'll clean like a dream and look brand new 20 years from now.

    Built-in everything as much as possible. One of the glass set-in cooktops that people don't complain are hard to clean, with oven set into wall or under counter. Nothing at all on counters. Put the toaster on an open pull-out shelf under the counter. It may not need cleaning less, but the kitchen'll look good.

    Deep sink to help hide stuff until rehidden in the dishwasher.

    Garbage disposal, not for most garbage necessarily, but to wash down the scraps in the drainer.

    Seamless composite-material counter with integrated sink. No back strip with its horizontal top--run counter right to wall. No porous materials anywhere.

    Pull-out garbage attached to door and suspended from top (Law of Gravity).

    Niche for pet dishes with laminate surfaces (sides too).

    Pull-outs are great, but they create under and behind areas, with impossible to really clean mechanisms, that at some point have to be addressed. As much as possible/desirable design simple to eliminate extra surfaces and spaces.

  • alku05
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ok, silverspring, why don't you sit yourself right by me because my slobby self designed our kitchen to accommodate my cleaning habits (or lack thereof, to be honest). I couldn't agree with Oofasis or Live_oak more: plan storage so that everything has a place, and very little lives on the counters. This makes the space appear clean even when it's not.

    We chose materials and designs with low maitenance in mind:

    -Cabinets with a plain door style so they do not collect dust in a zillion little grooves

    -countertops that never stain no matter what I leave on them to dry for days on end before it gets wiped up

    -countertops with enough variation so that you don't notice that there's crumbs and spatters on them, and in a color that does not show fingerprints at all

    -the matte black grates on our Bluestar look clean even when they're truly icky

    -our floor has a matte finish and enough grain and color variation that it hides a lot; we're always amazed at how much we sweep up when the floors don't look dirty

    -two dishwashers so there's always somewhere to stick a dirty dish

    -a deep sink to hide dirty dishes that didn't get stuck in a dishwasher right away because they were all full or it just got left in the sink

    -a drop zone cabinet to put the keys, mail and other junk in so that it doesn't collect on the island (just close the doors to the cabinet to hide it all).

    Now that everyone is fearful of of all the ick in my kitchen, I just want to say that none of those things are all icky at the same time, and we do clean obvious spills and work surfaces after we use them etc, but we don't clean every item every night. Sometimes we're lazy and go to bed and are happy to come home the next night and do it without having to cringe when we wake up to it in the morning.

  • sweeby
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "run your cabinets to the ceiling to minimize the need to dust the tops."

    Dust the tops? Yeah, right!
    Need to dust the tops?! BwaHaHaHa

    "One of the smartest things I did when planning my kitchen re-do was to think out, step by step, my cooking and cleaning routines. When I'm cooking, what do I reach for most frequently? I asked myself what bothered me most about the old layout, and what worked best for me (nothing! No thought at all went into planning that kitchen!). I opened every cabinet and drawer and took inventory of EVERYTHING, and then planned out the best location in my new layout."

    This is SO TRUE! I'm also not a cleaner, but my kitchen is SO ORGANIZED that it almost keeps itself clean. I did exactly as Oofasis suggests and inventoried EVERYTHING. Then I tossed the stuff I didn't use (how did I collect so much kitchen crap?) and grouped everything else by zone of use (prep, cooking, baking, serving). Then re-inventoried to make sure I had the right amount of storage in EXACTLY the right locations so that the easiest place to put something was also the right place to put it.

  • justmeinsd
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Cleaning is so boring. I agree with many of the above ideas, especially about the space being organized. But I will go one step further and say think about maintenance for floors, cabinets and counters. To me, I would have tile floors with rubber mats since rugs need to be washed while rubber mats you can just wipe up or take out side and hose off. For counters, it would be stainless. Granite and marble stain, laminate burn.

    In real life I found having a prep sink and a deep clean up sink really help in keeping the kitchen looking better along with the induction cooktop. The induction cooktop allows you to put paper towels under the pan when doing messy cooking so after you are done, just throw away the paper towels. Also, anything that falls out onto the stove doesn't burn on it so clean-up is a breeze.

  • zelmar
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I could be a charter member of the hate-to-clean club.

    --Live wire oak's advice to have a place for everything is spot on. My kitchen still gets really messy but clean up is not the same depressing chore it was before our remodel. Putting things away is much quicker when there is a spot for everything. And avoiding nesting as much as possible has worked well for me. I'd rather get rid of stuff than have to take apart stacks of bowls or baking dishes to put the mid-sized one away.

    --I love having 2 deep sinks to set things in to get them out of sight until I clean. One sink can accumulate stuff while leaving the other completely functional. While cooking I'll often throw empty cans and plastic yogurt-type tubs in the prep sink and then rinse them all out at once for recycling.

    --I love having a 2 dish drawer dw. Loading one or unloading one seems a snap compared to loading or unloading an entire dw. I find 2 dd's equivalent to having 1 1/2 dw's since one can be loaded up and run as soon as it's full while leaving the other empty to catch dirty dishes. Then by the time the 2nd drawer's ready to be run the first one is done and is simple to unload.

    --Vac Pans: I haven't read all the threads thoroughly and maybe this has been brought up already. You don't need to have a central vac to have a vac pan. There have been threads here about hooking up a vac pan to a shop vac in the basement. I really wanted to do that but I didn't get it thought out well enough before the cabinets were installed. I was also extremely ambivalent about cutting a hole through our old wood floors.

    --Having as few items permanently on the counter as possible helps making wipe downs easier. We do have small appliances on ours but I don't keep canisters on them.

    --Don't forget to inventory food items along with cooking and table ware before you plan your kitchen. We don't eat a lot of bagged chip-type snacks so I didn't think about much space for them. It did't occur to me that I like to have a variety on hand so storage is still necessary even if we don't go through many bags over time. I have a drawer devoted to pasta which makes storing bagged pastas and boxed pasta together easy.

    It makes a huge difference for me to have a kitchen I look forward to being in to give me motivation to clean. The counters and floors were worn and horrible in our old kitchen. I felt like cleaning didn't make much of a difference since it looked horrible either way. At least there's a reward at the end of the task now. And since everything is organized it feels like I have a self-cleaning kitchen like Sweeby's. The rest of our house needs serious help so our kitchen is an oasis when it's clean.

    I love our stone counter tops. They're made from a schist local to me but I'm sure the same properties are available in other stone--such as some granites. In 3 1/2 years I've never had a stain from coffee, lemon juice, wine or oil. I think stainless steel would show everything. Since our stone is dark it does show bread crumbs---a lighter color, but not too light, would probably be best in hiding a variety of crumbs, etc.

  • debsan
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Kudos to all the very smart people who given you (and the rest of us not-boring people) some very good tips. I just finished my kitchen and I tried to design a space that would be very low maintenance. DH wouldn't go for an all polyester kitchen with floor drains, though I thought it made sense. I also have sheet vinyl in two bathrooms and I adore it. I tried to pitch that to my husband but didn't succeed with that either. If you buy a good quality sheet vinyl, nothing sticks to it, so it's amazingly easy to care for--unlike my Hickory floors.

    So my kitchen is done and most of it is easy to care for. However there are a few things that turned out to be harder to clean than I would have liked.

    I think I missed the mark by picking soapstone. If I had it to do over, I'd pick a quartz or granite. Soapstone is wonderful in many ways, but it's turned out to more work than I had imagined. The worst thing about it? The surface holds onto spills. Nothing stains, but every spill seems to require a bit of scrubbing. With a smoother surface, things wipe off more easily. I live in an area with hard water and even splashes require more a scrubby sponge. It would have been nice to just be able to give it a swipe with a dishcloth. Constantly scrubbing stuff off of it, means that I've had to oil the most used areas frequently. I have lots of countertop. Constantly scrubbing and re-oiling it, was not what I'd imagined when I chose this material because it is non-porous and non-staining. Having said all that, I will say that my soapstone is only 4 mos. old and it seems to still be getting seasoned. I'm hoping that with time, the surface will be a bit easier to care for. It's definately better now than it was a couple of months ago.

    On the upside, my kitchen is very much "zoned" for the way we live and cook. The coffee maker and glasses are on the outside edge of my kitchen to keep my friends and family out of the work area. I have mentally labeled the space in my kitchen into logical zones. Leftovers are easily dealt with because the wraps and plastic containers are right under the counter closest to the fridge. I have two sinks. One for food prep and one for clean-up. Everybody's favorite part of my kitchen are the small veggie prep sink and the trash chute next to it. I can wash and prepare any fruits and veggies in the same area and just sweep all the peels & waste right into a hole on the counter, which goes directly into the trash pull-out below. It's amazing how much this small feature streamlines the process. (Incidentally, during the remodel everyone tried to talk me out of the second sink and the hole in the middle of the counter. So much so, that I started wondering if it was really stupid. I almost didn't do either.) However, Rachael Ray said that one of the secrets to keeping her kitchen clean was using a big "garbage bowl" to deal with all the waste that is created during cooking. I think I've trumped Rachael on this one!

  • olga_d
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "Hickory, huh? I like hickory. I love the look of wood floors in a kitchen, but isn't it less durable than, say, concrete?"

    I'm sure it is. But I'm not going to stand on a concrete floor while I'm cooking dinner - ouch! Never mind that it gets cold up here in Canada, so I'm liking that our wood floor is warmer than the tiles we had before.

    We chose hickory for the durability though (we have two dogs), the dirt-hiding abilities were just a bonus. ;)

  • cbreeze
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Debsan, I am planning a trash chute on my island next to the prep sink also. Can you please show me a picture of yours ? Will the trash can take up too much room on the island? Thanks.

  • happytobehome
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi everyone, its just little old me here, the peculiar and boring person who likes to clean. I look forward to my soapstone fading so I can oil it again. I dry out my stainless sink after each use. I notice beautiful grain patterns in my hardwood floor every time I mop. I waited 10 years, spent my time, my $$$, and lots of effort on my beautiful new kitchen, and I take great pleasure in maintaining it. Seriously though, I can't control the world outside my front door, but having peace and order in my home helps.

    Now excuse me while I go vacuum the dog before she sheds on my pristine floors.

  • growlery
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I think everything is individual. You have to know what you're really going to do, and what is really just optimism.

    I really love my open shelves. For me they turn putting things away from a two step process (open cupboard door, put bowl away) to a one-step process (put bowl away). And in my house, they really don't get dirty. Even if you don't have a lot of shelves, you might consider running a single shelf below a run of cabinets, or below the counter, so you can at least clear things off the counter in a hurry.

    I also have a colorful inexpensive wool oriental-style knotted/tufted rug in my kitchen that can take a lot of dirt before showing it. And, believe it or not, most rugs like this can be washed outside with the hose and a little gentle soap, or detergent on any greasy spots. Just test for colorfastness first, and after washing, throw them over some bushes to get good air circulation to dry.

    The thing about a giant dishwasher is, it's all very well going in, but when you think about unloading it ... it all seems too much. And a real restaurant dishwasher you don't want.

    If money is no object, you might even like having 2 or 3 dishwasher drawers, so there's always one clean, unloading is mentally unchallenging, and there's always one free to load up. Of course, you'd then have to know which was which. (I don't have any.)

    I think keeping things simple and small works. Not having a huge number of things and a huge kitchen to clean starts you out on a good footing. You can keep appliances and things you don't use daily in the basement, garage, pantry or other room, and just have things you use every day actually taking up space in your kitchen. That way the blender you use every two weeks stays clean in the box until you need it. (Or stays dirty out of sight until you need it!) You spend 2 minutes getting it out of the basement instead of 2 minutes washing it before you use it. Same diff.

    I also recommend, for all kinds of reasons, flattering lighting. Nearly everything in my house is 45 watts. I'm not a fan of under-cabinet or any other lighting like that, but I would think that would also be something to take into consideration. Also shine level on countertops.

    A lot is attitude, I think. People who want to see dirt will see dirt everywhere. People who don't, don't. I have friends who clean ... well, that would be telling. But they clean stuff that REALLY doesn't need to be cleaned.

    OK. OK. This is too weird. One of them recently cleaned a TREE. OUTSIDE. And she was really happy after. She's otherwise a normal person. With a job and a family and everything.

    She CLEANED a TREE.

  • danielle00
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    A deep sink helps a lot. I used to hide dishes in there. From across the room, you cannot tell the sink us full of dirty, gross dishes. I'd also go with silestone or some type of synthetic quartz. I had that in our last kitchen.. some times we'd leave big messes out after parties and we never, ever had a problem getting it to look perfect the next day (or the day after that)

  • Buehl
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have to disagree on the less storage comments...my biggest complaint in my old kitchen (and currently in the rest of the house) is not enough storage!!! Now that I dramatically increased the amount of storage space in my kitchen I'm amazed at how much easier it is to keep it clean. Mail is still a problem, despite designating a place for it...it's still easier for everyone to just plop it down on the mini-peninsula...but I'm working on that! Besides, now that the rest of the kitchen has so much storage that I have room for everything and I can actually see things b/c items are no longer crammed into cabinets & drawers, mail doesn't bother me like it used to. I no longer store my food processor in the Library/Comp Room, the DR & LR no longer have my larger storage containers, etc.

    Yes, there's much more counterspace now b/c of all the additional cabinets, but that's great! Now the few items I do store on the counters (stand mixer, iPod/Phone charger/organizer, bananas, etc.) are no longer in the way when I'm working in the kitchen.

  • silverspring
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    OMG this is funny! There are so many wonderful thoughts in this thread. I've been marking up my dream kitchen layout as I read.

    I just found these little numbers and I think I'm in love with them. They're trash chutes. I could put a trash and recycling shed just outside the kitchen and just have the chute go under the shed roof and right into paper/mixed/trash bins. It's hard not to get excited, but I'm easily excitable.

    I love the material suggestions. I've been leaning toward laminate countertops - I love the pebbly darker ones for hiding dirt; same story as some of the more camouflaging granites, but I like the idea of some of the engineered stone. What about some of the new HD stuff like Nevamar?

    Cleaning trees. That's patently weird.

    What about cooktops instead of ranges? I find the concept of the gunge collecting under ranges to be alarming. Does anyone actually move their fridge and stove to clean the floors? You know they have to be the most disgusting places in the whole house. Yuck. Is there any way to keep crap from going under the fridge? Like a gunk guard?

    I have a super heavy food processor, and my elegant solution for keeping it clean between uses is a paper bag. It's attractive.

    I'm not completely convinced that the restaurant dishwasher isn't the way to go. It sounds like it might be smart to have a double drawer and a regular big one - that's a thought. My thinking with the commercial dw is that you can load up the trays, wash them and then just put the trays in the cabinet, maybe keep a stash of extra trays for loading dirty dishes. You can unload a dozen dishes at a time that way. It's lazy, right?

    Here is a link that might be useful: trash chutes

  • silverspring
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Here's that dishwasher.

    Here is a link that might be useful: 24 trays an hour

  • growlery
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I thought you meant the kind with the rollers you push the racks through.

    Still, I think, for all the room this one takes up, it still only does one rack of dishes. And it's spendy. And do you really need it to do 24 racks an hour? And I'd bet an energy and water hog. I think you'd do just as well having the dish drawers just where you wanted them.

    But whatever seems easy to you is what you'll use. And that's the point. To make it easy.

    I can't see the point of cleaning under appliances, but I'm told you should dust the coils of your refrigerator for efficiency. Never done it myself. Any guard to keep things out would also trap things in, so that's not desirable. But they make nice long brushes for cleaning underneath if you feel inclined.

    And a question to ponder: How would you clean a trash chute?

    We used to have a laundry chute at home that was the best though!

  • danielle00
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Deep sinks do a great job hiding lots of dishes.

  • live_wire_oak
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Commercial DWs are LOUD LOUD LOUD. They take up a lot of room too. Messy and wet to deal with. They basically sanitize the dishes with strong chemicals and heat after they're rinsed and brushed in the dirty dish sink side (no hard food disposal and very little in the way of filtration) and loaded onto the tray then come out onto the clean side where they steam dry on the racks on the table. Takes about 10" in all for a restaurant operation. Not at all suitable for a home kitchen.

    Much better to have two "regular" home DW's(especially if you find a brand with a single rack wash feature like the LGs). I've done plenty of even budget kitchens with this feature. It just makes a LOT of sense to people once they think about it.

  • mitchdesj
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I also hate to clean, but let's face it, it has to be done; specially a kitchen.

    I do a lot of wiping as I go along, it only takes seconds, I own tons of microfiber cloths, so I don't have to rinse them constantly, I just keep using a fresh one.

    I force myself to finish a job completely, for example, if I am scrubbing pots and pans, I'll rinse them and dry them and put them away immediately, it takes a few extra minutes. My adult kids always seem to have a pile of stuff air drying on their counter, I hate that.

    Because I hate to clean, I do it more often in shorter time periods so I never have an enormous task in front of me.

  • lovinlife06
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have the answer......BUTLERS PANTRY.
    Add a door and separation to your current layout that will house the work area of your kitchen that tends to be messier. That's what I am doing. I don't oppose cleaning, but have kids and we are busy with sports ect and sometimes have time to eat but cleaning waits till later. How nice for the next person coming home to not walk into the house to see a mess. Also a huge money saver as I am using nice furniture grade cabinets in the open area and open shelves in the butlers pantry. Absolutely loving this project! The only person who has not loved my plan in the cabinet guy as it greatly reduced his profit. The way I see it is later I could always remove the door and upgrade the area if I no longer like the separate work area.
    Also want to say that I am trying to love the trash chute idea. I have too little kitchen space and a few acres of outdoor space. What a great way to save kitchen space. We are rural so a little shed outside our home would not look out of place. How clever! Anybody that has one of these should chime in as I am sure I am not the only one with curiosity peaked. Thinking I could use the same "shed" to also house a tankless water heater also freeing up space the water heater currently takes up and again a money saver over the long haul.

  • 2ajsmama
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I wish I had room for a butlers pantry. Maybe if we moved the W/D somewhere else - but we'd still be walking through the pantry to get in/out of garage. I did actually ask my plumber about a floor drain in our mudroom/laundry room. But he said since it wouldn't be used all the time it would start smelling.

    The good thing (and bad thing, since sometimes I think stuff has been there for days!) about my Wilsonart Mystique Dusk laminate is that it doesn't show stains/crumbs. I'm putting crown molding on top of my cabinets but since most of them will end about 6" from ceiling it won't help with dusting. Just make it harder. But I only dust the tops about once a year anyway. Ceiling fans are 2x year b/c I don't like the "Spanish moss" look. You're right about crud under fridge - with built in it's hard to pull out and clean, I just do it once a year. Haven't pulled out the range yet in 18 months, my warming drawer doesn't remove like old range's storage drawer did so I shudder to think what's under there. Time for spring cleaning! What about under DW?

    Dishwasher is right under the dish cabinet and next to silverware drawer. Stand mixer is in box in pantry. I should move my blender and iced tea maker to the basement or pantry to free up room in island, since we only use them in the summer. But George Foreman grill gets used all the time for grilled cheese/quesadillas.

    I think I've seen toekick vacs (more of a cabinet) that don't require central vac, but they would have to be boxed in somehow and then emptied - like a vacuum cleaner but instead of pushing it around, you sweep the dirt up to it.

    Cleaning a TREE? Ok, b4 I had kids I'd clean *everything* but I generally kept it inside (except beginning of summer cleaned/touched up patio furniture to put out, of course washed cars, occasionally power washed and stained deck & siding...but a tree???).

  • shannonplus2
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi. My name is Shannon, and I'm here to say I love to clean my kitchen.

    Having said that, I think I enjoy cleaning it because I love how it looks after I've cleaned it, and because I've made my kitchen so that it's not such a chore to clean it. Some of the things that make cleaning easier:

    - my impervious, full-of-movement, granite counters. Doesn't show anything, and wipes clean with a swipe.

    - my undermounted sink means that the swipe over the granite sweeps right into my sink with no seams or interruptions. And the sink is 9" deep, so hides dirty dishes until they can go in DW.

    - my white porcelain enamel range and white fridge (OMG, I've confessed to non-stainless steel appliances!). Again, just a swipe, and it's clean. No worry about fingerprints or scratches.

    - panelled the DW. DW's tend to get a lot of drips down the front.

    - wood floors. The grain pattern in the wood hides a lot, and there's no grout to get stained and grungy.

    - declutter before you move your stuff into your new kitchen. That really makes a difference in cleaning time. I saw Colin Cowie on Oprah give a great tip. Go into your kitchen drawers and cabinets, and turn everything over or in one direction. As you use the tools and stuff, turn them the other way. After six months, toss the stuff that has not been turned (actually better to give to charity or sell on Craig's List). You'll be amazed.

    One thing I would have done to save one cleaning chore is not to have a tile backsplash behind my range. I would have gotten either more of my granite slab there, or a stainless steel backsplash just for behind the range. I find that even with a great exhaust hood, the backspash grout behind my range gets dirty with cooking splatters, and is a cleaning chore I could have avoided.

    HTH.

  • la_koala
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    CLEANING a TREE?!

    That's too funny. Was it moldy or something?

    When I'm riding my exercise bicycle, I see across to my neighbor's porch roof and it gets algae or some green stuff growing at different times of the year. While I'd love to toss some bleach on it to make *my* view nicer, I know that no one else in the universe sees it ('cept maybe when they look at Google satellite photos).

  • bmorepanic
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Colin Cowie obviously lives alone.

  • richpoor
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My husband complains that our Cambria quartz composite counters hide dirt and crumbs so much that he doesn't know when to clean them. Then again, when we had a maple butcher-block with huge splats of butter on them, he still didn't see it, so I'm not sure his opinion counts!

    I was regretting the quartz over granite at first -- quartz looks good, but it doesn't POP like granite. But the first time I took two cookie sheets out of the oven and set them straight down on the counter and didn't think that someday I'd have to re-seal them, made me fall in love with my quartz again. Someone who doesn't like to clean probably doesn't like to maintain either. That's me!

    But now butter splats are even more invisible to my husband! (He's under orders to wipe down no matter what he thinks he sees.)

  • richpoor
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My husband complains that our Cambria quartz composite counters hide dirt and crumbs so much that he doesn't know when to clean them. Then again, when we had a maple butcher-block with huge splats of butter on them, he still didn't see it, so I'm not sure his opinion counts!

    I was regretting the quartz over granite at first -- quartz looks good, but it doesn't POP like granite. But the first time I took two cookie sheets out of the oven and set them straight down on the counter and didn't think that someday I'd have to re-seal them, made me fall in love with my quartz again. Someone who doesn't like to clean probably doesn't like to maintain either. That's me!

    But now butter splats are even more invisible to my husband! (He's under orders to wipe down no matter what he thinks he sees.)

  • jayjay_teacher
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I do not like to clean and I don't have time to clean! I teach school and own a retail business so a lot of my decisions were made with that in mind.

    I knew I wanted painted cabinets without a glaze. I was afraid the glaze would make them look dated in a few years. We had the original 1964 wood cabinets for a long time before we painted them, and they made the room look so dark. When I was asking our cabinet builder about cleaning the painted cabinets, she said that her sister uses an artist brush to get in the corners! I knew then that wasn't for me. I got the glaze. I know some people think a glaze makes them look dirty, but I do not think mine do. They do, however, hide a lot. You do not see dust in the corners and they hide drips. People have commented on my French Country kitchen. I just let them think I designed it that way, but really, I just picked what I thought would be the easiest to keep.

    The silestone on my island also hides a lot. You have to get down and look across the top to see if there is anything on it. The color was Sienna Ridge.

  • chefnewbie
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have a very colorful granite with lots of movement. You can never tell what's granite and what's a crumb or splotch of tomato sauce. Very handy. Also, my cabinets are a cinnamony color and hide dust very nicely. My wood floor is distressed and always looks nice, even with a few crumbs. It also has that reddish hue which seems to work well as camouflage.

    Other ideas - do a deep silgranite sink. It always looks clean and when it it gets a little dingy an eraser perks it right up. I love the look of a stainless sink, but I found myself constantly polishing it - not good, so in our new house we took the plunge and did two very deep silgranite sinks. They are great.
    Also, two dishwashers. This way dirty dishes can always go straight from the table into a dishwasher and don't have a chance to sit in the sink.

    I also took a page from European style kitchens, and did not do long counters. Lots of long counter equals clutter for me and more cleaning. I did sections, broken up by appliances. My main prep space is my island and I have a large sink, dishwasher and the disposal there. My secondary prep area is on the opposite wall next to the other big sink. There I have a compactor and a dishwasher.
    I actually do a lot of prep work in the sink - saves on counter cleaning.
    I also keep cleaning stuff beneath each sink and clean up as soon as I'm finished.

    Lots of pull outs and deep cabinets in which to put appliances is helpful. The only appliance that stays out full time is the coffee maker - everything else has a dedicated spot.

    I have a nice pantry closet. My KD wanted to put a huge fridge there and I said no. I wanted the storage space. I put a wire bakers rack in there that is about a foot shorter than the actual closet. This way I have room on the side for long items.

    Central vac is great. I did not do dust pans in the kitchen, though. I just take out the hose and do the kitchen, family room entry and bathroom every other day or so. This way it all looks fresh.

    Since I hate to clean, I use more of a maintenance routine so I never really feel like I have to spend an hour cleaning. All the bathrooms have cleaning supplies in them so a quick clean is possible every few days - all they really need is a wipe down if you clean them often. The stainless appliances get a good polishing once a week, usually while I'm cooking or doing something else in the general vicinity.
    I have finally become a "clean" house person - and I don't even feel like I do much cleaning.

  • nomorebluekitchen
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We are slobs and we hate to clean. However, in the 6 months since remodeling, my husband and I both feel it is so much more rewarding to clean this kitchen than the old one. Two reasons: we LIKE this one, and it is easier to clean. We did do a few things to make it easier to clean / keep up, most of which you've heard already, but here is my list anyway:

    1) appliance garage to keep daily use stuff contained and out of sight.
    2) lots of drawers in the lower cabinets to make things easier to find and put away
    3) dish drawers make putting away dishes so much easier
    4) easy care countertops (in my case soapstone) that don't require fussing
    5) big, deep, low maintenance sink. The deep sink allows you to hide loads of dirty dishes until you get to them. A low maintenance surface will make you soooo happy. Old sink was stainless with a positive reveal so it always looked streaked and dirty with a nasty, moldy caulk rim no matter how often I cleaned & replaced the caulk. New sink is deep single bowl Silgranite with neutral reveal in black so it always looks good, requires just a quick wipe to get clean, and the neutral reveal means that the lip of the sink is not collecting and holding nasty stuff like petri dish to grow mold samples.
    6) I was ready to ditch stainless appliances (I had half black and half stainless before remodeling) until I figured out that you really can keep stainless looking better with little effort by using the correct product (in my case, Pledge in the brown can and / or WD40.

    Good luck!

    Anita

  • silverspring
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    So I wonder... I'm a slob and an impatient cleaner. I'm also an impatient cook and work very quickly. Are other slobs the same way?

    Here's a product I've been wondering about for a while: the electrolytic pad for cleaning silver, copper, stainless, etc. Does it work?

    Here is a link that might be useful: maybe a miracle, maybe a sham

  • cocontom
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I don't know, but I found this site when I was looking- from what I know about copper cleaning (any mild acid will do- catsup, vinegar, lemon juice) and what it says about silver cleaning, I don't think you can use the same chemical to get fast results on both.

    Here is a link that might be useful: DIY silver cleaning

  • silverspring
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well, it's only $20, so maybe it's worth a try. I've been reluctant to collect silver because I know I don't want to futz with it, but if I could just bathe them before parties, that would be OK maybe.

  • Circus Peanut
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Of course, having countertops that hide everything works both ways ...

    (wish I knew who originally posted this, to credit them -- I love it!)

  • silverspring
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The chocolate chip cookie is camouflaged perfectly in it's native environment.

  • plllog
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This thread is so much fun!! Thank you all for sending away the rain. Circuspeanut--that picture is hilarious!!!

    For me, hating to clean doesn't mean hiding the dirt, but rather making it show. I wanted a light floor to reflect light, but the other great thing about a white floor is that you can see exactly where you dribbled. Rather than having to remop the floor, I can just spot clean. I'd rather wash a square foot of a clean floor than have to wash the whole thing!

  • donka
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    No chrome faucets - I have shiny chrome faucets right now and every fingerprint and dried drop of water shows. Drives me bonkers!

  • donka
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh - and don't get hurricane style pendants. Bugs like to collect in there. Lights that open downwards are the way to go.

  • neilar
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Here's another idea to ease the pain of sweeping. It's a robotic vacuum cleaner called the Roomba. (I heard a piece about it on NPR a while back.)It's gotta be cheaper than the piped in vacuum cleaner!

    Here is a link that might be useful: The Roomba

  • desertsteph
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    probably shouldn't have bumped this thread but it's funny! and I'm one of those don't like to clean people. well, I do like to clean, I just don't do it anymore. I was sick for a good number of yrs (ok, I'm still sick) and slept almost around the clock - no time to clean when you're sleeping!

    so my body no longer understands 'cleaning'. and I have a build up of unclean, so I'm moving. that's the way to deal with THAT! lol! well, I'm just moving to another place on my land after i get some work done on it. that was the plan back when until i got sick then I was just too sick to do it or care about it.

    I loved this thread - gave me lots of info/ideas for the new place since I'm looking at everything as needs to be easy to use and easily cleaned etc.

    so I'm ditching the idea of the tile backsplash. I was going to get a beautiful cactus tile to put on the wall above my stove... darn. I'll put it somewhere else and try to think of something else for there (like tear sheets so after cooking I can just tear it off and throw away and a clean one will be in it's place)

    and sheet vinyl - I'm with ya on that. I'm looking at some that doesn't even need glued down. the glue smell does me in - I'd have to leave for wks or months til it's gone. People have tried to talk me out of it but i've had it before and know it's easy to clean up! and I drop things a lot and spill things a lot...

    debsan - if you check back here, what sheet vinyl do you have? I am having a problem finding something plain and not with fake stones...

    my sister has a wild sweeping granite counter top - now i know why... she tells me I'll just need to clean the counter every day whether I see anything on it or not!

    I did copy over a few site addresses and ideas for my remodel folder tho! thx!

  • jakkom
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I was late coming to this thread, but it's a great one. Circuspeanut, thank you so much for that Starmark article link. It's one of the best ones I've ever seen. I'm sending that link out to a number of my friends.

    I'm of two minds about cabinets. Wood ones hide dirt better, but then they get so grungy you can tell just by the touch that they're filthy/greasy. Yuck! Mine are an older 1990's laminate. They are patterned in a grid, which hides water drips but little else. But that makes me clean the cab fronts - and since they're slab, it literally takes ten minutes to do all of them (I have 25 linear feet, a good-sized if not enormous amount of upper/base) and make the kitchen sparkle. Now, I don't clean them very often; maybe once every couple of months. Also, I break this down and do a section when I see it getting dirty - this way it takes just a few seconds after I finish dishes. The easy-clean feature of laminate has made me a real fan of it, although I know it's not trendy any longer.

    We have granite-look Swanstone solid surface counters. Now, it's wonderful for pastry, I love the invisible corner seams. But it's actually a disadvantage that it hides crumbs and grease. You have to run your hands over it, which is fine as long as NO ONE TOUCHES YOUR COUNTERS. Unfortunately, when people come into a kitchen, that's one of the first things they do, isn't it? They lean and touch your counters - so if they're greasy and full of crumbs, your guest(s) will know instantly.

    It's interesting that I probably spend more time cleaning these counters, than I did my pre-formed laminate cheapie. It's so hard to see dirt, you have to clean every inch of it and STILL run your hands over it, to be sure. A disadvantage I hadn't expected.

    The floor we have is slate-look solid vinyl tile. Love it, never looks dirty, quiet and comfortable. Immensely better than the sheet vinyl we put in originally, even though the sheet vinyl was a top-notch quality.

  • kaijutokusatsu
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Just seeing if I can bump this thread. Some great and funny stuff here!

  • deedles
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hilarious, thanks for bumping!

  • mrspete
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh, if there's an I-hate-to-clean club forming, please sign me up! I'll volunteer to bring refreshments, but I won't agree to do the clean-up afterward!

    Seriously, my suggestion is that you read the book Make The House Clean Itself (by Don Ansalamo). Okay, I know I got the man's name wrong, and I might be a little off on the book title. I don't own it myself, but it's a popular book. I know I got it from the library.

    He also has a website on which he sells his books and cleaning products.

    The man is a genius! His big ideas are that you should DESIGN YOUR HOME to minimize messes and avoid the need to clean. Here are a couple of his ideas:

    Place a good quality floormat at every doorway. Make it long enough that the family is forced to take several steps on it as they enter. This will collect much of the dirt that would've otherwise entered your house.

    Consolidate dirt and clutter areas. For example, have a place near your back door where your family can stop to leave keys, wallets, etc. Have a mailbox system where they can see what arrived today -- and a trash can so that the junk mail doesn't go any farther into the house. Also in this spot include a place to deposit the kid's left-behind stuff: A barrette, an ipod, school papers.

    Choose flooring that matches your dirt. So if you live at the beach, you want sand-colored tile. I live in the South, home of red clay, so something with a rusty undertone will hide my dirt better.

    Minimize the number of surfaces you have. For example, if you have carpet and hardwoods and tile, you're cleaning three different types of flooring -- and it feels like more work because you have to switch cleaning products. In contrast, if you can choose just one and run it throughout the house, it'll be less work.

    He talks about choosing light fixtures that don't collect bugs and dust.

    He talks about reducing clutter so that you have less to clean. For example, I remember one illustration in which he shows a tabletop with a lamp and a basket of flowers that need to be dusted . . . and next to it an equally nice illustration of the same tabletop with flowered wallpaper behind it and a pendent light hanging above. But the second illustration could be swiped dust-free in seconds.

    He talks about getting quality tools to do your cleaning. In one illustration he compares the cost of buying a new power tool for your husband's workbench (which is used twice, then put away) vs. buying a really good quality vaccum (which is used several times a week).

    Seriously, his book is fantastic. In fact, I'm motivated to find it again and be sure I'm incorporating his ideas in to the new home we're planning to build. Obviously, nothing can take away the need for cleaning, but his ideas can actually cut down on the work -- and I'm all for that!

  • mrspete
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    With apologies, I just looked up the correct name of the book I just recommended. It is Make Your House do the Housework by Don Aslett.

    I should've looked it up before posting.

  • phoggie
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    That is why I am going to use white appliances! I don't want to be a slave wiping them off~~

  • ginny20
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    So glad you bumped this!

    Mrs. Pete -Yes! Dirt colored floor! That's what I'm always saying! What I need is a whole dirt-colored house. Or at least the same color as my dog's hair.

  • EATREALFOOD
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm going to get that book. Thanks for posting it.
    Yes ! Brilliant.Your floor matches your environment. I chose multi colored Indian slate look porcelain. It contains all the colors of animals that may cross my kitchen. Always looks great. I'm so glad I continued it from the kitchen to the front door. And I recommend water-hog mats for the entrance and pet feeding areas...

    But the book title should be:Make Your Husband do the Housework. :)

  • tripletmom83
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    It's amazing, but I happen to be sitting here with two of Don Aslett's books right next to me. They are "Clutter's Last Stand" and "Is there Life After Housework?" I periodically reread them to get me motivated to get the house in tip top shape. Our recent kitchen remodel has inspired me to continue the organization all through the house.
    I used to say that if there was a button that I could push that would clean my whole house, after a while I would be too lazy to push the button. And my self-cleaning oven was proof of that. But I have become a much better housekeeper over the years.
    One of the things that has made the biggest difference is becoming GOAL oriented as opposed to TASK oriented. For example, when you see a scrap of paper on the floor, the task oriented person would think "I've got to vacuum", the goal oriented person would just bend over and pick it up. Because the goal is to have a clean,comfortable home. I know I'm not explaining this very well. It's like the person who says,"Why should I make my bed it is just going to get unmade again?" The goal is not to make the bed, it is to have a neat house. So you would make the bed as soon as you got out of it. It is the same with dishes, you would do them right away. It doesn't take any longer to do things NOW rather than later. The sooner you get things picked up the more time your house spends being clean. And that's the goal.