Now that your kitchen cabinets are the design and colour you need, there’s nothing worse than oily smudges and residue left from hands, fingers and kitchen grease on them. When you examine the cabinets right on, you can’t observe these offensive marks, but if the light bounces on the surface only right, the telltale signs of filthy hands and fingers are everywhere, particularly in a house with children. Homemade solutions that eliminate oily fingerprints also eliminate grease.
White Vinegar Mixture
To cut grease and oily fingerprints from cabinet panels, around knobs and drawer pulls, mix 1/2 cup of vinegar in a 1/2 gallon of warm water. As a natural acid-based solution, the acid in the vinegar cuts throughout the built-up grease. Make the water as hot as you can stand it or wear rubber gloves, and scrub with sponge or a rag. Rinse clean with warm water and dry using a soft fabric.
Vegetable-Based Soaps
A 1/2-cup liquid vegetable-based or Castile soap produced from olive oil — mixed with 1/2 gallon of warm-to-hot water and applied with a microfiber fabric to wood cabinets cuts through grease and fingerprints. If the grease has built-up on the cabinets or just moved into a new house that was not cleaned thoroughly, then increase the soap by 1/4-cup increments to make a stronger cleaning solution. Rinse with warm water and dry using a soft fabric.
Alkaline-Based Cleaner
For laminate or painted cabinets, use a homemade alkaline mix to degrease your cabinets and clean oily fingerprints and grime. Combine 2 cups of warm water, 1/2 teaspoon of vegetable-based detergent, 1/2 teaspoon of Epsom salts and 2 teaspoons of a sodium-borate detergent in a spray bottle. Spray a 6-inch square place, repeat and wipe. For tough grease buildup, allow the solution sit for a moment or 2 before wiping it away. Rinse with a one-to-one vinegar-and-water solution, and then dry with soft cloth.
Acidic Cleaner
Mix equal parts of vinegar and distilled water plus 1/8 cup of soap in a spray bottle to keep handy for removing grease and debris spills in the kitchen once you see them. When cleaning up, spritz the dirty area with the spray, then scrub with microfiber fabric, rinse and dry the closet with a soft cloth or let air dry. Label all homemade recipes using a felt-tip black pen right on the spray bottle so you know which solution is the one that you need.