How to Clean Wood Cabinets
Wood kitchen cabinets can be a beautiful, elegant part of your kitchen design, but over time, they become dirty. When that happens, the wood cabinets lose their shine, and the overall aesthetic of the room suffers. Whether it be dust, dirt, spilled beverages, or crumbs, your wood kitchen cabinets won’t stay clean forever. Although there are several good reasons to buy new kitchen cabinets, you should still try to get as many years as possible out of your current ones. Fortunately, this is a problem that can be easily solved by cleaning cabinets periodically. However, to get the best results, you need to know how to clean wooden kitchen cabinets properly. Here, we’ll take a look at how to clean wood cabinets and leave them looking pristine and new.
What Cleaner Should You Use?
The first step toward cleaning wood cabinets should be deciding what type of cleaning product you’re going to use. Selecting the right wood cabinet cleaner can be the difference between a sparkling clean kitchen cabinet and one that still has traces of dirt, dust, and stains. One option is to go with a commercial kitchen cabinet cleaner, such as Murphy’s Oil Soap or Weiman Cabinet & Wood Clean & Shine Protection Spray. Typically, these kinds of wood cabinet cleaning products will be effective.
However, if you’d like to save some money, you could also make a wood cabinet cleaner yourself. To do so, simply mix a solution of 50% warm water and 50% vinegar in a spray bottle. Vinegar is known to be a very powerful cleaning agent that works well for cleaning cabinets.
Step One: Apply the Cleaner to Your Wood Kitchen Cabinet
Once you’ve prepared your wood cabinet cleaner, the first step is to apply a light mist of the cleaner all over the surface of your kitchen cabinet. It only needs to be a thin layer of cleaner, but you should make sure that you thoroughly cover the entire cabinet. After you’ve applied the cleaner, let it sit for a few minutes, then use a soft, clean cloth to wipe the wood cabinet dry. This will give your kitchen cabinet a preemptive cleaning and make it easier to achieve a deeper clean.
Step Two: Wipe Down the Wood Kitchen Cabinet
The next step for how to clean wood cabinets is to wipe down the outside of the cabinet with a sponge or soft cloth, including the doors and drawers. First, you’ll want to dip the sponge or cloth in the wood cabinet cleaner solution. Then, while rubbing the outside of the kitchen cabinet, you may need to put in some elbow grease. This will ensure that you’re able to remove the most stubborn dirt and grime to achieve a pristine and clean cabinet.
Step Three: Wipe the Drawer Pulls and Door Handles
After you’ve wiped down the outside of your wood kitchen cabinet, you’ll want to dip your cloth or sponge back in the cleaner and wipe down the drawer pulls and door handles. Many homeowners forget to clean these parts of the cabinet during the cleaning process, but it’s important to be as thorough as possible.
Step Four: Scrub the Hardware and Crevices
It’s also important that you take the time to clean the hardware and little crevices of your wood kitchen cabinet. The easiest way to do this is to dip a toothbrush in your cleaning solution and use it to scrub those areas of the cabinet. These harder to reach places can be difficult to clean with a cloth or sponge. A toothbrush is by far our favorite life hack tool for this!
Step Five: Wipe the Inside of Drawers and Doors
If you truly want to give your wood cabinet a thorough cleaning, you can’t neglect the inside of the drawers and doors. Although these aren’t the areas that you or your guests will be seeing often, it’s still important to keep them free of dirt and grime. To clean these spots, simply dip a cloth or sponge in your cleaning solution and wipe down the areas.
Step Six: Rinse and Dry the Cabinet
Once you’ve applied the cleaner to every part of your wood kitchen cabinet, it’ll be time to rinse and dry. First, take a soft cloth, dip it in clean water, and wipe all the cleaning product off of the cabinet. Then, use another clean towel to thoroughly dry both the inside and outside of the wood cabinet. When you’re finished, you’ll be left with a lovely kitchen cabinet that looks brand-new.
The Bottom Line
Now that you know how to clean wooden kitchen cabinets, there’s nothing stopping you from achieving gorgeous, pristine wood cabinets. Ideally, you should follow these steps at least once every few months to keep your kitchen looking as clean and stylish as possible. If you’d like to learn more about kitchen cabinets or where to buy the best kitchen cabinets in 2023, be sure to check out our offerings at New Cabinet Company.