How To Design A Kitchen That Is Easy To Clean Using Glass

Photo source: Gordon Reese Construction, Inc. in Walnut Creek.

The kitchen is where you prepare meals, spend time with friends and family and even entertain, so it’s essential to have a clean, well-organized and inviting kitchen. While you may love cooking and enjoy whipping up culinary masterpieces in your kitchen, you might not love cleaning up so much. With the fast paced and busy lives we lead these days, most of us want to spend less time cleaning up, and more time spent doing what we love. Here we look at how to start out with a kitchen design that incorporate low maintenance features and easy to clean surfaces, so that it’s easier and less of a burden to care for and clean.

1. Smooth Surfaces

While interesting textures, designs and patterns can add stunning style features to your kitchen, they can make your kitchen very difficult to clean. Wallpapered or painted backsplashes without glass can easily absorb food and grease splatters, and leave stains that are almost impossible to remove. Tiled surfaces also incorporate cracks and grouting that can absorb stains and leave your kitchen looking messy no matter how much you scrub. Glass backsplashes and wall coverings are perfectly smooth and can be cleaned with one simple wipe of a cleaning cloth. Glass painted countertops are incredibly durable, hygienic and easy to clean, while being smoother than most other surfaces. Likewise, stainless steel, quartz and laminates are countertop alternatives that don’t feature grout, nor do they require sealing. Granite is another popular choice for countertops, but requires occasional sealing.

2. Avoid Tiles

Although tiles are a popular feature in many kitchens, because they are prone to cracks and always need to be grouted, they are much more difficult to clean. While the surface of tiles is smooth and easy to clean, grout is absorbent and easily stains, and can also harbor germs and bacteria. Grout cleaning can be difficult and expensive, and it’s often impossible to get grout back to the gleaming white color that it was to begin with. For a truly low maintenance and easy to clean kitchen, tiles are best avoided.

3. Choose Glass

On the other hand, tempered glass is the ideal kitchen design element, as it is heat resistant, attractive, water and bacteria repellant, unstainable, and very easy to clean. Painted glass counter tops and glass backsplashes add appealing and stylish design features to your kitchen that are incredibly simple to clean and care for.

4. Prioritize Quality Hardware and Fittings

If you want to eliminate dirty hardware, fingerprinted fittings, or kitchen features and appliances you can never get quite clean, it’s important to prioritize high quality fittings and finishes. Choose door pulls and knobs for drawers and cabinets that open easily and oil-rubbed bronze, satin bronze, polished nickel, brushed nickel and white hardware as opposed to stainless steel and chrome to avoid fingerprints and grime showing.

5. Easy Access Drawers and Cabinets

Pull out shelves and large easy to access drawers make cleaning even the deepest corners of your kitchen easier. Choose glass cabinets for another easy to clean surface that allows you to see which areas of the kitchen need cleaning and organizing at a glance.

By choosing an easy to clean kitchen design, with naturally hygienic surfaces and low maintenance features and fittings, you can spend more time enjoying your kitchen, and less time cleaning it.