Cleaning a REALLY dirty kitchen

jk0

I have this with tenants occasionally. I suggest scraping the worst off with a plastic fish slice, then wet with boiling water, and sprinkle on Vim.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

From bitter experience - Steel scouring balls, boiling hot water and granulated sugar soap, using extra as a scouring powder.

OK, things will be scratched - but at least they won't be filthy.

Owain_Moneysaver

Just throw the chip pan out. It's unsaveable.

Steam clean to soften the grease, then oven cleaner or ammonia, cover in cling film to stop it evaporating, then steam again and loads of old towels to absorb the muck.

Wear appropriate protective clothing and respirator.

You can hire commercial kitchen steam cleaning machines from HSS etc if your domestic machine isn't up to the job.

pollyanna_26

Oddly enough I was talking about scourers a day or so ago on another thread . The Wilko All Purpose Silver Scourers in the 3 pack are great . £1 pack but often a little less . They have been the scrubby thing of choice for years firstly for me then the rest of the family .
I always use them damp or wet . I've cleaned matt and polished stainless steel and millions of dishes with them . Used them around the kitchen and other parts of the house . They last a long time and when a bit tired get used to clean plant pots and other outdoor things .
Only thing i wouldn't try is on an enamel bath although I've used them on enamel dishes and pyrex casserole dishes with no scratches .
OP I know cleaning is your profession and you probably do this already but if you resort to mr muscle and caustic cleaners use a decent mask not one of the little disposables . Your lungs will thank you

PN has reminded me of all the dirt dust and gunk in that coating I had carefully consigned to a locked memory box .

Monna If this kitchen was like the one I faced in my daughters very expensive rental house Don Aslett would have fallen to the floor and wept , I would have done so myself if the floor hadn't been so filthy .

OP It could be worth covering the tops of wall cupboards with shelf paper or whatever is to hand . Ditto shelves it makes keeping on top of things easier if you can scoop it up and give a quick wipe and recover .
polly

Eenymeeny

Surprisingly, I've found that WD40 is a good grease remover for cupboard tops and extractor fan after the top layer has been scraped off (yuck!) (Recommended by OH as he watched me struggle with a dish of hot soapy water, whilst standing on the worktop!) I did forgive him when I found that it did work though. Much easier

System

Another recomendation for sugar soap. Brilliant stuff that.

trailingspouse

I bought a house that had a kitchen like this once. We cleaned it with a crow bar...

Not much use to you, I realise - but we found it very therapeutic.

coffeehound

Further on the scraping, those cheap scrapers you see in bargain shops that take Stanley knife blades (aka carpet knife blades) are very effective for taking gunk off smooth surfaces like worktops. Experiment with using a steep or shallow angle for best results.

I agree with the ammonia suggestion, it's super effective on organic grime, but avoid using it where you've already tried other cleaners since they can react to form toxic gas :eek:

AElene

Another +1 for sugar soap (as long as the surfaces aren't painted?). I've found the powdered variety to be more potent than the liquid! Make sure you use protective gloves

Chris25

There's an old thread here extolling the virtues of sugar soap. One of the posters used it effectively after getting no satisfaction from using soda crystals. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/303552