Kitchen cleaning Krakow

If you cook every day, the grease on the fronts and the hood turns sticky within two or three months, however carefully you wipe the worktops. That is why a deep kitchen clean once a quarter, with everyday tidying in between, is enough for most homes. With a large family, daily frying or a gas hob without a hood that works properly, every two months is worth it.

The best time to book is before an event: before Christmas Eve and Easter, before family arrives, before photographing a flat for sale or for rent. Owners of rented flats book the kitchen between tenants, because it is the first room a new tenant looks at closely, and the most common reason for a dispute over the deposit.

Before moving into a flat after the previous occupants, it is worth ordering the package together with the insides of the cupboards, fridge and oven: it is the only moment when the cupboards are empty and can be cleaned in an hour. A kitchen after a renovation, with building dust on every surface, is a different job: in that case book the post-renovation clean, where the kitchen is included in the price.

Fresh grease from a frying pan is oil, and washing-up liquid removes it easily. The problem starts after a few weeks: grease that has settled on the fronts and the hood oxidises, combines with dust and steam, and turns into a yellowish, sticky layer that resembles varnish. Washing-up liquid only softens and smears that layer, while a scouring sponge takes it off together with the shine of the front. Hence the classic result of scrubbing at home: clean streaks on a dirty background and dull patches on the lacquer.

Oxidised grease responds to an alkaline degreaser, but not instantly. The product needs anywhere from a few minutes to a quarter of an hour to dissolve the layer, and that is exactly why we start kitchen cleaning by soaking the hob, the pan supports, the filters and the dirtiest fronts. Meanwhile we clean the insides of the appliances, so no time is lost. After that the film comes off with microfibre in one or two passes, and wiping dry prevents streaks.

A strong degreaser is not suitable for every surface: wooden fronts, veneer and some matt lacquers need milder products and more handwork. That is why during the walk-round we check what the fronts are made of, and a new product is always tested first on the inside of a cupboard door or on the side of a unit against the wall. In a neglected kitchen the same work simply takes longer, hence the +30% rate on the package.

The oven is the most frequently ordered add-on, and the appliance most easily ruined by home methods. We clean the cavity, the inside of the door glass, the baking trays and the racks. Oven cleaners take a long time to work, so the oven gets its product at the start of the visit and we clean it once it has soaked. We never scrape enamel with metal, and with pyrolytic ovens we ask when the self-cleaning cycle was last used: the ash left after pyrolysis only needs collecting, no chemicals.

In the package we clean the hood on the outside, and the add-on for 50 zł covers the filters and the inside of the housing. Metal filters go into a hot degreaser bath, and we wipe the inside of the hood clean of the film that drips onto the hob when the fan is on. We do not wash charcoal filters, because water ruins them: they are replaced according to the manufacturer's instructions, and we will tell you if it looks like time for new ones.

We clean the inside of the fridge together with the shelves, the drawers and the door seals, where mould and food residue collect. We ask for the fridge to be emptied before the visit, or for space on the worktop for the food while we clean. We do not defrost the freezer as part of the add-on, because that means several hours of waiting. We clean it if it is already defrosted, and we mention this on the call before the visit.