Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cleaning and kitchen

Housemate doesn't clean up after himself. Help.

dunkadunc — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:58:24 -0800

My housemate doesn't clean up, like ever. How can I do to make things work, or at least more bearable? I've been sharing an apartment since the beginning of September with an old acquaintance, and everything's been going well enough. EXCEPT:
My housemate doesn't help out with the cleaning. Every day I come home to even more mess, and it's starting to really bug me.

Some background here: My housemate and I are both 23, male, and college seniors. We went to high school together but lost touch after graduation. I was looking for a housemate for an apartment I found this August, and a mutual friend said Housemate (whose mom died last year) was looking for a place as well. We signed a lease, moved in and started school, so far so good.
The first hint I got that Housemate wasn't very good at cleaning was about a week in when he asked me what "rinsing" dishes meant. Since then, he's remained pleasant, but the amount of housework he's done has gone from little to almost none.

The main problems:
-His dishes stay dirty in the sink either until I wash them or there are no more clean ones, whereupon he washes a dirty one, uses it, and puts it back in the sink. The same thing goes for pots and pans. I can count the number of times he's washed all the dishes in the sink on one hand, and even then they've come out covered in brown curry grease and needed to be washed again.

-When asked to wash his dirty pots and pans that were filling up the sink, Housemate was surprised that I would want them to be cleaned even if I wasn't immediately going to use them. Housemate said that he would wash them before he needed them again "only as a favor". He cooks about four gallons of curry every two weeks.

-Although he was willing to split the cost of a $50 vacuum cleaner, the only time he's picked up a broom was when he broke a glass. He's been leaving brown greasy globs of curry on all the kitchen surfaces and covers the floor in oil when he cooks. All these problems with cleaning up have carried over to the bathroom as well.

Apart from all this, he's been a decent housemate, asking if I want to watch cartoons or split a pizza or whatnot, or coming out to parties with me.
I've talked to him about washing dishes and cleaning up around the apartment, and he's always said "sure"- the problem is it doesn't end up happening. He tends to drink beers and watch cartoons when he's done with schoolwork and doesn't have anything to do, so it seems like a combination of procrastination and just not knowing how to run a household: his mom used to do all the housekeeping.

What can I do to encourage him to do his share of housework, or failing that, what can I do to minimize the amount of mess I have to deal with? Ideally, we would clean up after ourselves, and if someone else missed something then the other would clean it, no problem.
I don't want to be that passive-aggressive guy, but something's got to change, since I'd like to be able to have guests over without feeling embarrassed. I'd be tempted to only clean up after myself, but I'm afraid the apartment would be taken over by maggots.

How to clean an oven

AceRock — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 09:30:54 -0800

Corningware broke inside hot oven. Oil/grease caked on everywhere. No self-cleaning mechanism. No oven hood. No idea what to do. Help! I can't even pre heat the oven now without filling the apartment with smoke. I'm looking for your best tips, tricks, strategies, products etc. for cleaning out my oven by hand. Thanks!

How to safely clean this stinky food container?

cadge — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:36:07 -0800

How do I safely clean a very stinky glass dish with plastic Tupperware-style lid that sat out on the counter for days after holding smoked mackerel? I have a glass dish with a plastic Tupperware-style lid that I used to store smoked mackerel in the fridge last week.

After the mackerel was finished, I didn't get around to washing the dish, which was mostly empty but still had oils and small fish bits in it. It sat out, sealed, on the counter, for several days (and a couple of those were very warm days).

I just opened the dish to wash it and it was really, really rank (more so than I've ever smelled it). Are there extra steps that I should take to safely clean this container and continue to use it (and avoid any foodborne illnesses)?

I'm a little (sticky) teapot.

emd3737 — Sat, 09 May 2009 07:07:52 -0800

What is this sticky residue on my tea kettle? With the past two tea kettles I've owned, I noticed that they tend to get a sticky residue all over the outside (the inside stays perfectly clean). It's hard to get rid of, too. I tend to keep my kettle on the stove at all times just because I don't have much cabinet space- could it be casued by vapors from other food I'm cooking? Both kettles were metal, and it has happened with both electric and gas stovetops. Has this happened to anyone else's teapots? What causes it? What's the best way to clean it?

why do i suck at doing dishes?

k7lim — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 08:25:27 -0800

how can i get better at washing dishes by hand? i am inefficient (it takes me lots of time, energy and water). my results are not always sparkling (some of the stuff i wash ends up kinda greasy). i am clumsy too (i feel like i break a wine glass every few sessions). also, i am rarely motivated to wash (in part because i'm objectively bad), so i also need some kind of kick in the pants in that regard too. i searched, and found some people complaining about their roommates, some people who always made their pots smell like soap, etc. but i am just interested in all the rules of thumb and techniques and tools that people use.

in one thread, i read that i should start with glasses while the water is the least greasy, and in general move from items i put in my mouth (glasses, silverware) -> dishes -> pots and pans. that's a good start.

another problem is that my roommate and i let the dishes pile up and "soak," but in the days/weeks that this pile forms, every single item gets covered in the same greasy water, so even the fork i used once gets covered in oily food water. ICK. HELP!

Suggest kitchen cleaning products

grouse — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 13:53:11 -0800

Please suggest products that I should and should not use to clean different parts of the kitchen, such as a laminate counter top, stainless steel sink, or metal stove top. I am particularly interested in products that won't generate fumes that will send me out of the kitchen. I usually use Clorox Clean-Up on the counter, but the bleach fumes are such that I can't really hang out in the kitchen afterwards. I'd really like something that I could use while I am watching something on the stove and have a couple of free minutes. I'm not opposed to using something fume-generating as well after I'm done cooking if it will do a better job.

I know not to mix ammonia and bleach.

I would also appreciate general kitchen cleaning tips.

Death Defying Oven Cleaning

zackola — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:59:33 -0800

Am I going to kill myself why attempting to clean my oven? Hi, there's a self cleaning oven in my apartment. It hasn't been cleaned in what looks like forever. I live in a studio. There is no outdoor ventilation near the oven. Just one window in the apartment, at the opposite end. Is it going to be really fumy in here? Is it going to make all my clothes, couch, and bed stink? (remember studio, all same room) Also, I'm worried about leaving the apartment when the oven is in clean mode, but also worried about fuming myself to death by staying here. Any advice? There were specific instructions in the oven manual about not cleaning it with traditional methods. Is that just BS though?

CoffeeFilter: How to clean water chamber of Krups Dual Drip Machine?

IndigoSkye — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 11:50:26 -0800

Folger loving Father spilled coffee grounds into main water chamber of Krups Dual Drip Machine (867), then proceeded to brew coffee anyway. The result was to bake all those coffee grounds onto the sides of the water chamber. How can I safely clean the water chamber? I've tried to use a pipe cleaner to scrub the sides, but the grounds are pretty well baked on. I've tried running a vinegar mixture through it, but that didn't do the trick. Anyone have any better ideas?

How do I clean melted plastic off of a Ceran cooktop?

Tacos Are Pretty Great — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 09:46:05 -0800

Is there any way to clean a melted plastic spatula off of a Ceran cooktop? The damage was done in a short-term rental, so just replacing the cooktop would take too long.

here is a really low-quality photo:

can't sweep correctly

cilantro — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 09:15:14 -0800

I can't sweep the floor! This is something I thought I knew how to do-I mean, I do it at home sporadically and I used to sweep the porch and the kitchen for my clean-freak mom and she never complained. Anyway, this is going to be stupidly long-
I recently started working in the kitchen at a little locally owned restaurant and it's my job to sweep and mop at the end of the day. No matter how carefully I sweep the damn floor, it isn't good enough for the kitchen manager. It's gotten to the point where I completely sweep the entire kitchen twice and she STILL comes behind me and does it again and even when I'm positive there's NOTHING she can find, she comes up with a little pile of crumbs that I left behind. I've never felt like such a spaz in my life, it's embarassing and I think it's keeping me from moving up to actually cooking (something I KNOW I'm good at and would really enjoy demonstrating) instead of just filling salad dressing bottles and loading the dishwasher. So what am I doing wrong? I have a system, I start in one corner and keep everything moving to the back towards the door, I sweep under everything and all around table legs. I've tried a careful, close-to-the-ground motion, I've tried big athletic sweeps (the manager's chosen method), I've tried a combination. Still, the crumbs remain. Are there any magic tricks to sweeping? It's almost gotten to the point where I think the manager just hates me, and if that *I* were to go behind *her* and re-sweep that I would find just as much dirt as she does after I'm done. In any case, I just want to get the floor absolutely, perfectly crumb-free in the most efficient way possible, so please help!

How do i get my All Clad shiny again?

frenchbenj — Tue, 30 May 2006 19:20:16 -0800

I damaged my All-Clad MC2 cookware by using Cascade powder in the dishwasher. Now the exterior surface is all dull and rough-feeling. Any idea how I can repair the damage?

How do I remove scratches from stainless steel?

janecr — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 00:59:08 -0800

Is there any way of getting scratches out of a brushed stainless steel appliance? Spend fortune on new kitchen last week and this week kitchen hob was cleaned by someone who hadn't read the instructions on how to clean it and it is now covered with scratches. Any way of rescuing it? It is the brushed stuff rather than the shiny stuff.

How to Clean a Cloudy Sink?

loosemouth — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 16:31:07 -0800

I have one of these sinks and can't get it clean! After a year, it has started to look "cloudy" and I cannot get it clean. Is this just something I'll have to live with or has someone found some kind of cleanser that gets such a sink back to its original condition? I've come to believe you're asking for heartache when you buy a black sink.

Stain Removal

tomharpel — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 22:09:55 -0800

In the small kitchen, the gas range is butted up against the refrigerator. After a few years of cooking, a brown stain mars the otherwise-white vinyl side of the refrigerator. How do I remove the brown stain?

Drain Flies, ew!

lilboo — Wed, 13 Oct 2004 16:29:06 -0800

OK, I have Drain Flies. Dirty, disgusting, ewww, gross!!!! How can I get rid of them quickly without poisoning myself in the process? I hate flies more than spiders, snakes, mice, more than anything; so THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!!!!

Wooden Cutting Board Maintenance

skwm — Wed, 18 Feb 2004 06:50:25 -0800

I have a hardwood cutting board which has a bit of mildew growing into the wood on the bottom. The board has also slightly warped. Is there anything I can do to get rid of these two problems? And for the future, what are some good preventative maintenance tips (asides from keeping it dry) to keep things like this from happening again?

Water bottle cleaning filter (heh)

DenOfSizer — Mon, 02 Feb 2004 10:20:09 -0800

I'd like to clean my Sigg water bottle, but don't feel like paying 10 bucks for "cleaning tablets." Any tried and true alternatives?

Cleaning stainless steel cookware

The Michael The — Fri, 16 Jan 2004 16:09:43 -0800

I just got some new stainless steel cookware, and now I have some (grease?) gunk stuck on the bottom of my frying pan, along with a yellowish hue, likely from mildly overheating the bare pan while cooking. I tried soaking it for a few hours in water and soap, and scrubbing really hard with a plastic scouring pad, all to no avail. How do I get it clean? Steel-wool? Different soaking? Special cleanser? Other?