General Question

LeavesNoTrace's avatar

Need Help from a Clean Person: Dirt in Nooks and Crannies?

Asked by LeavesNoTrace (5677points) July 23rd, 2015

Hey everyone! I’ve been on a bit of a cleaning streak lately but am running into a frustrating problem with dirt under my bottom kitchen cabinets that I just can’t reach. It’s also an issue in the crevice between the counter and the oven. Any advice is appreciated since this is a really gross and annoying problem.

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

12 Answers

cookieman's avatar

“dirt under my bottom kitchen cabinets that I just can’t reach”
I use a hard bristled toothbrush duct taped to a hard wooden dowel. You can spray the bristles with cleaning fluid first – rinse, repeat.

“in the crevice between the counter and the oven”
I use a thin metal ruler (with NO cork bottom. Slide it in, angle it, and pull up crumbs and gunk. Repeat.

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

I use a Swiffer cleaner, it has a short handled one and a longer on for floors. I also thought of the metal ruler, but I might wrap a paper towel around it so I could get some cleaning fluid in there.

snowberry's avatar

If it’s greasy or wet a Swiffer won’t work.

It sounds like your oven is free standing. If so you should be able to simply pull it out, clean it all and put it back.

Here2_4's avatar

I too use a toothbrush for many applications. Stiff bristle is super hard to find nowadays though. Bottle brushes have very stiff bristles and come in all sizes. Home stores also have wire brushes in toothbrush size.
Pulling a stove out to clean can be a real trick if it is boxed in, but not impossible. Sometimes a very tight crevice can present quite a problem especially if accumulated gunk is found. I have used a nut pick to scrape gunk from tight crevices and a blow drier or air pump to blow the debris clear of the area first, then brush the remainder using cleanser. In areas like that you want to use as little soap as you can get away with, because the residue accumulates, and eventually attracts dirt.

Coloma's avatar

Yes, a ruler, long handled spatula or any implemnt that you can wrap with damp paper towels with a cleaning solution to wipe down the cracks and crevices. You can use rubber bands to secure a small cloth or paper towels to the tool you use.

flo's avatar

How wide is the distance between the oven and the counter? Maybe the bottle cleaning brush that looks like this
You probably tried it?

sahID's avatar

Thank you for the excellent suggestion, @ibstubro. Somehow I was not aware such things existed.

ibstubro's avatar

I was only peripherally aware of them, @sahID. Rang a bell, did a search, and there you have it!

:-)

jca's avatar

@ibstubro: My mom has that thing.

ibstubro's avatar

If I run into one second hand (in the package), I’ll have one too, @jca.

snowberry's avatar

Is it only an oven, or a stove and cook top combination? That’s called a “range”. The tops of many ranges lift off. If you can’t move it, you might be able to lift off the top and clean that part, and then seal as @ibstubro says.

Answer this question

Login

or

Join

to answer.

This question is in the General Section. Responses must be helpful and on-topic.

Your answer will be saved while you login or join.

Have a question? Ask Fluther!

What do you know more about?
or
Knowledge Networking @ Fluther