What's the Skankiest Part of Your Kitchen?

[Mjx]

I have wormy spelt flour in the freezer. My boyfriend proudly bought up masses of it when it was deeply discounted (Huh. Wonder why...), but didn't notice that there were those webby-looking bits around the folds at the top and bottom of the bags. I didn't have the heart to mention it (it weighed a ton, and he did it as a special favour to me, because I don't tolerate wheat that well), and couldn't bring myself to toss it, either, since it's so expensive here, so I sifted a bag, and concluded that the worms were mostly on the outside, and shoved the lot into a plastic bin liner and put that in the freezer, where they've been sitting at -16C for a month or so.

The kitchen floor sometimes gets embarrassing (feet make sticking noises when I walk across it, although not since the flat's been up for sale), and the inside of the oven is atrocious looking with the polymerized and blackened fat of dozens of roast chickens. I'm afraid that if I try the pyrolysis feature, I might burn down the building, so nothing changes, apart from my scraping the inside of the glass door with a razor blade, giving a fine view of the encrusted interior. I console myself by reflecting on the fact that since the oven is used regularly, usually at 200 C or higher, it's actually not germy. I also have a really nasty-looking copper-clad frying pan that I have tried to clean on several occasions, but I cannot get the brasso to do its thing for me.

[Mjx]

Beneath my (gas) stovetop. I haven't been able to find a way to get the top off, so stuff that drops through is there forever. It's my theory (and I'm stickin' to it) that the heat from the burners keeps it a dead area.

Last time I had a gas stove, I decided to clean it after living in the place for a year, and found a wee, mummified mouse.

[JAZ]

Last time I had a gas stove, I decided to clean it after living in the place for a year, and found a wee, mummified mouse.

Holy crap! That happened to me too. Somehow I feel much better now.

[David Ross]

The floor level cupboard I forgot about where I had stored a trash can--full of kitchen garbage. It didn't smell, but a few months later I happened to open the cupboard, forgetting what was in there. There was literally a large green plant spear, with leaves, growing out of the garbage can. It was like something growing out of a body in Aliens. I did not attempt to determine which piece of garbage had been the planting seed for the evil weed. To this day it makes me feel ill to think about how long that stew was brewing in that cupboard.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Three major trouble points in mine.....the cat who has no respect for my rules about where she does or does not belong; the guinea pig, but really he and his messes stay on the floor, where they're regularly cleaned up; and the cabinet used for live food cultures for my aquarium fish--with the grindal worms, walter worms, vinegar eels, and sometimes confused flour beetles....

[ScoopKW]

The floor. Have I ever mention my hatred of tile, and grout in particular? I stopped even trying...

Epoxy grout.

Use a grout saw to remove 1/4" of your current grout. Then re-grout with epoxy grout. The next-generation epoxies spread as easily as regular grout. Once cured, it is 100% non-porous. It will not stain or bleach. It is stronger than the surrounding tile.

The only down side is the price -- about $1 per square foot. Easily 20 times the price of regular grout.

I have a tile floor, and I LOVE it. It is next to no maintenance. But I spent almost as much on grout as I did on the tile.

Edited February 17, 2011 by ScoopKW (log)