TL;DR
Treat an unknown kitchen as if nothing has been cleaned in a year, because in the hidden areas that is usually true. Work in three passes: strip and clean every cabinet and drawer interior, degrease the surfaces cooking film reaches, then reset every appliance interior and filter. Plan on 90 minutes to three hours for an average kitchen, most of it spent on the oven and the refrigerator.
Where should you start in a kitchen you did not live in?
Start by emptying and cleaning cabinet and drawer interiors, before any of your dishes go in. Then degrease cabinet fronts, the range hood, and the wall behind the stove. Then work through appliance interiors and filters. Save counters, the sink, and the floor for last, since everything else drains onto them.
The logic is the same as in what to clean first in a new home: access first, appearance last.
Pass one: strip the cabinets
Every cabinet and drawer gets emptied, checked, and cleaned before anything of yours goes in. Once they are loaded, they will not be cleaned again for years.
Remove any shelf liner and check what is under it. Pull drawers out if they release and vacuum the cavity behind them. Vacuum first, always: a brush attachment on the shelves, a crevice tool in the back corners and the drawer tracks. Damp cloths on dry crumbs make paste.
Then wipe with a cloth dampened in warm water with a drop of dish soap, rinse with a second damp cloth, and dry with a third. Do not saturate. Most cabinet interiors are particleboard under a thin melamine face, and water at a seam swells the core permanently.
Check the under sink cabinet carefully. Water staining, a soft floor panel, or a musty smell points to a leak, which is a repair question. Photograph it and report it in writing rather than covering it with a liner.
Pass two: degrease everything cooking film reaches
Cooking releases an aerosol that lands as a thin tacky film across a wider area than most people expect. Assume it is everywhere and work outward from the range, in this order of severity:
- The range hood and its filter. Usually removable metal mesh that has never been washed. Soak it in hot water with dish soap, then rinse and dry.
- The wall and backsplash behind the range, including the grout line.
- Cabinet fronts flanking the range, especially the upper doors and their top edges.
- The tops of upper cabinets, often the worst surface in the kitchen and one nobody looks at.
- The sides of the range and the adjacent cabinet ends.
- The ceiling above the range and any fixture over an island.
Warm water with dish soap and dwell time does most of this. Let a damp cloth sit on a stubborn area rather than scrubbing harder. Test any degreaser in a hidden spot, since degreasers can burnish flat wall paint. The general method is in deep cleaning a kitchen.
Pass three: reset every appliance
Appliances hold more history than any other part of a kitchen. Reset each one.
Refrigerator and freezer. Shelves, drawers, door bins, and the door gaskets, which trap grime in every fold. Check the drip pan area at the bottom if it is accessible, and vacuum the condenser coils behind or below. Cleaning the refrigerator interior covers the sequence, including the detail that a strong smell often lives in the gasket rather than the box.
Oven. The slowest single item in any kitchen. Start it first so cleaner can dwell while you do other work. Oven cleaning without harsh chemicals works well but needs time and often a second pass. Do the broiler drawer and the door glass too.
Microwave. Interior, turntable, ceiling, and the vent grille if it has one.
Dishwasher. Pull and rinse the filter at the bottom, wipe the door gasket and the lower door edge where water never reaches, then run it empty on the hottest cycle.
Garbage disposal. Remove and clean the splash guard, which holds more than anything else in the sink. Its underside is usually the source of a sink smell.
Small built ins. Any warming drawer, wine cooler, or ice maker gets the same treatment.
The order of the last hour
With cabinets, degreasing, and appliances done, finish in this order:
- Counters, matched to the material. Marble, travertine, and limestone are etched permanently by vinegar and lemon, so use pH neutral products. Quartz takes no bleach, no abrasives, and no high heat.
- Sink and faucet. Descale the aerator if the water is hard. On stainless, clean with the grain and avoid chloride bleach, which pits it.
- Cabinet hardware, switch plates, baseboards, and the toe kick strip.
- Floor, edges and corners first. Damp mop only on hardwood, laminate, and luxury vinyl plank, and no steam mops on any of the three.
Then clean the touch points and, if you want to disinfect, do it now on already cleaned surfaces with the label contact time respected. The safety rules are in disinfecting a home someone else lived in. Never mix products: bleach with ammonia, with any acid, or with alcohol produces hazardous gases.
Signs to stop and report rather than clean
An unknown kitchen occasionally reveals something that is not a cleaning problem.
- Droppings, gnaw marks, or live insects. That is pest control, a separate trade. Do not sweep or vacuum rodent droppings.
- Visible mold growth, a soft cabinet floor, or persistent mustiness under a sink. That is remediation plus a plumbing check.
- A gas smell near the range. Leave the home and call the gas utility from outside.
- Scorching around an outlet or a scorched appliance cord. That is an electrician.
Photograph each, report it in writing the same day, and let the right trade handle it.
How long it takes
For an average apartment kitchen left in reasonable condition, 90 minutes to three hours covers the full pass. A kitchen with heavy grease or a neglected oven can take a full day. Those two items, the oven and the refrigerator, drive nearly all the variation.
FAQ
How do you clean a kitchen before moving in?
Work in three passes: empty and clean every cabinet and drawer interior, degrease everything cooking film reaches including the range hood and cabinet tops, then reset every appliance interior and filter. Finish with counters, sink, hardware, baseboards, and the floor.
Should I clean kitchen cabinets before putting dishes away?
Yes, and it is the highest priority item in the kitchen. Once cabinets are loaded they rarely get emptied again, so your dishes would sit on whatever is there now. Vacuum first, then wipe with a barely damp soapy cloth and dry immediately.
How do I get grease off kitchen cabinets from a previous tenant?
Use warm water with a few drops of dish soap and give it dwell time rather than pressure. Let a damp cloth rest on a stubborn area for 30 seconds, then wipe. Repeat instead of scrubbing, and skip abrasive pads, which dull cabinet finishes.
What kitchen appliances should I clean before moving in?
All of them. Refrigerator including gaskets and coils, oven and broiler drawer, range hood filter, microwave, dishwasher filter and gasket, and the disposal splash guard. Run the dishwasher empty on the hottest cycle when you are done.
Why does the sink still smell after cleaning?
Check the underside of the garbage disposal splash guard, which holds food residue and is almost never cleaned. Also check the dishwasher filter and, if the fixture went unused, run water to refill a dry drain trap that may be letting odor in.
This sits inside the broader whole-home work covered by house cleaning services.
An unknown kitchen is the room where move in cleaning either goes quickly or eats the whole day, and you rarely know which until you open the oven. Every home is different, so the real number depends on size, condition, and what you want covered. Get a quote and we will walk you through it.