Worst kitchen chore?

[snowangel]

I'm going to have to second cleaning out the refrigerator.  I try to keep up with it, I really do, but it would be a safe bet that there is some variety of "refrigerator soup" a-brewin' in my crisper drawers as we speak.  Bleck indeed.

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Best check out, too, what's slipped under that drawer. Eewww! I never knew that green onions could morph, but they can.

Anyone pulled their fridge out lately and looked underneath it? We did. You don't want to, but should. Especially if you have boys who love science experiments.

[andiesenji]

I hate cleaning the refrigerator. Just hate it. And, thus, I haven't done it in ages. I hate pulling out old jars of stuff and emptying them and rinsing them. Hate scrubbing muck off of shelves. Bleck.

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This used to bother me until I thought up a very handy way of doing it.

I have several bins or trays of various sizes, solid bottoms, mesh or perforated sides, in which all the bottles and jars are stored (mostly up-side-down as that keeps the contents freshers longer because if you keep air away from the contents, it can't oxidize and molds and spores can't take hold). Short jars in shallower trays, grouped by contents, mutards, jams/jellies, hot stuff in its own tray.

When time to clean, just pull the bins or trays out, wash the refrigerator shelf and the sides of the fridge.

Then with the tray on the counter, remove all the containers from the bin, wipe the bin or wash if needed, replace the containers you want to keep and slide the bin back onto the shelf of the fridge and toss out the stuff that is old or no longer viable.

I find that this is the best way to keep the fridge clean - get rid of outdated or unusable stuff and if you haven't used something for some time, it is probably time to dump it.

You end up with a clean fridge, cleaned more often and with more room in it.

****That being said, I do have to admit that now I have a housekeeper and she loves to clean.

Edited February 8, 2006 by andiesenji (log)

[wattacetti]

Anyone pulled their fridge out lately and looked underneath it?

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Yes, I did. Green cabbages become dark purplish liquidy ones given enough time.

Still it's better than cleaning the blower hood vent.

[Sugarella]

I have several bins or trays of various sizes, solid bottoms, mesh or perforated sides, in which all the bottles and jars are stored (mostly up-side-down as that keeps the contents freshers longer because if you keep air away from the contents, it can't oxidize and molds and spores can't take hold). 

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But..... then the air is at the other end of the jar, so the bottoms (now the tops) go moldy and you can't see it.

I think I can top all of these chores combined. The worst kitchen cleaning chore is:

cleaning out someone else's grubby disgusting kitchen every time you move to a new apartment!!!

Bleagh! Having moved no less than 13 times since I first left home, I can assure you there are some truly sick filthy people out there. I've cleaned dried barf from walls, dog poopoo from behind the stove, (lots and lots piled about 2 feet high....I guess they didn't have a trashcan?) and even found a crackpipe hidden taped up on the underside of a kitchen drawer. I have used a bench scraper to remove a good inch or so of crusted charcoal from the inside of all 13 ovens, a long stick with a scrubbrush taped to it to tackle the actual fur growing inside refridgerators, and actually paid carpet cleaners 3 times once to come and clean the kitchen carpeting in one place because I couldn't get rid of the smell. (Actually, I'm pretty darn sure somebody died in there on that very carpet and probably fermented for a couple of weeks before anybody noticed.... I left that place abruptly in the middle of the night without paying rent because the smell was so sickening, and upon being taken to court by the landlord, had about 20 friends show up to back up my story and the judge actually let me off without paying!)

There, top that!!!

ETA: And don't even get me started on bathrooms......

Edited February 8, 2006 by Sugarella (log)

[Kouign Aman]

I had to clean a fridge when the tenant left food in it and had the power turned off. There were maggots in both the fridge and freezer compartments. But I doubt a judge would have let me break the lease.

[sazji]

Anyone pulled their fridge out lately and looked underneath it?  We did.  You don't want to, but should.  Especially if you have boys who love science experiments.

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Ah damn, you beat me to it. I don't like cleaning ovens and refrigerators, and I also hate cleaning the plastic dishrack I have (I have to take it all apart and there is always a brown slick film growing on it...). But nothing compares to pulling the stove and/or refrigerator from their places and cleaning all the stuff that slips down there, mummified in dust and old sticky oil. Especially as my floors are "mosaic" (like tiles made of conglomerate, very hard to clean, most people do it with hydrochloric acid). Last time I found olives, a piece of dried up cauliflower, a carrot mummy, a spoon I'd been wondering what happened to, a couple packs of matches, a lighter I'd accused a smoker friend of pocketing (but didn't eat any crow there as he had pocketed at least two during that visit anyway), half an eggshell, lots of peppercorns that escaped during an ill-fated attempt to reload my pepper mill, and a mysterious yellow thing that was probably feta cheese at one time.

When I was a kid, I was always bringing home frogs, salamanders, etc., and there were occasional escapes. Their mummies usually turned up eventually under a refrigerator...

[sazji]

I think I can top all of these chores combined. The worst kitchen cleaning chore is:

cleaning out someone else's grubby disgusting kitchen every time you move to a new apartment!!!

Argh...I was about to mention that too, but left it out because it wasn't (thankfully) a regular kitchen chore. The most recent place I moved into has this "mosaic" floor in the kitchen, and the last tenants had decided for some godly unknown reason to put indoor-outdoor carpeting down in the kitchen. And of course had then spelled everything possible on it. It was glued to the floor by a combination of some syrupy concoction that looked like a combination of molasses and cooking oil. The floor was literally black underneath, and took about five or six washings with a stiff brush and scouring powder before it got back to something like normal. The place before was almost as bad; they had put down linoleum flooring, on top of a previous linoleum flooring, on top of a yet-previous one, and below that was a layer of thin cardboard (?!). It was all glued together by ancient cooking grease. I'm sure the woman never once cleaned the kitchen. There were tile walls, and I spent an hour or two removing old congealed grease with a spackling spatula. The shelves, slightly depressed inside, old wall dishrack had about an eight of an inch of completely black grime, and the dust on the top (mixed with oil) was about a quarter of an inch thick. You couldn't even see out of the windows, they were so caked in grease; and nothing ever got them really transparent again. Which I was sort of grateful for when the drunk guy and his equally drunk girlfriend started making a practice of rooftop lovemaking on the house next door (yes, in Istanbul!). (The other apartments had been remodeled so that they no longer had a window there...they were lucky I was the one who saw them and not my very conservative landlord from the East...)

[Pookie]

I hate cleaning the toaster. All those little crusty crumbs get everywhere. They burn and stick and some how seem greasy eventhough the toast doesnt get buttered until after........

[joey madison]

I couldn't agree more with the folks who hate to clean-up the messy kitchens of previous tenants. My current kitchen -- 1930s vintage, barely bigger than most people's closets -- was especially bad.

Unfortunately, the vintage kitchen also came with a vintage refridgerator. One of the last hold-outs that still requires you to defrost the freezer.

That is what I nominate for my most hated kitchen cleaning project. It takes forever... you have to let all of your food get warm... foul smelling water inevitably gets everywhere in the kitchen... and worst of all, since the rest of the fridge is empty, you almost feel compelled to clean that, TOO!

[eJulia]

Has anyone ever dropped a full pot of deep frying oil (thankfully cooled) on their kitchen floor? YUCK!

I don't know if there is an easier way to clean it up, but I used an entire roll of paper towels to try to mop it up, then used about every cleaning product in the house to attempt to clean up the residue. It wasn't safe to walk on with socks for several routine cleanings later! Come to think of it, it wasn't safe to walk on at any quick speed either!

[Darcie B]

Gosh, I have had fun reading this thread. Truth is, I *like* to clean. I like to clean so much I volunteer to help my friends do it. There is such a sense of satisfaction when it is all done. So give me your crusty oven, your oozing fridge drawers, your furry behind-the-appliance crevices, and I'll come back for more.

However, there is one thing I don't really like to clean: Venetian blinds. I just buy new ones every year or two. I cut up the old ones (after hosing them down outside) to make plant markers. I don't have any in the kitchen because they would need to be cleaned more often than the ones in other rooms.

[petite tête de chou]

Has anyone ever dropped a full pot of deep frying oil (thankfully cooled) on their kitchen floor?  YUCK!

I don't know if there is an easier way to clean it up, but I used an entire roll of paper towels to try to mop it up, then used about every cleaning product in the house to attempt to clean up the residue.  It wasn't safe to walk on with socks for several routine cleanings later!  Come to think of it, it wasn't safe to walk on at any quick speed either!

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I haven't dropped a whole pot of oil but I usually use either salt or flour to clean smaller spills.

[YoChefGregg]

Cleaning a commercial kitchen grease trap, mid August, temp. 88ºF, humidity above 90%.

Hehe, I was the Sous Chef and was supervising. Bad enough just getting within 10 feet of the pit.

After cleaning the pit, I allowed my crew (2) guys, to take the rest of the day off. It was a slow day anyway. I'm such a nice guy.

[R.E. Turner]

Gosh, I have had fun reading this thread. Truth is, I *like* to clean. I like to clean so much I volunteer to help my friends do it. There is such a sense of satisfaction when it is all done. So give me your crusty oven, your oozing fridge drawers, your furry behind-the-appliance crevices, and I'll come back for more. 

How hard would it be to recruit you as my new friend, Darcie? Seriously, I'm anticipating a weekend spent moving the fridge, stove, and dishwasher to clean under/behind, plus cleaning the interiors and scrubbing/relining shelves and drawers. Yech! (Although Kouign Aman reminds me that the job isn't quite as awful as it could be. I, too, once moved into a house after a previous tenant just abandoned it with no power. At the end of the first day of cleaning maggot-infested fridge and other unmentionable horrors, I questioned whether even the several thousand dollars I saved on that purchase were worth the "ick" factor. Just the memory makes me dread this weekend's cleaning chore a lot less!)