How To Clean Grime Off Wood Cabinets

Last updated on June 24th, 2021 at 09:12 am

What is the best way to clean kitchen cabinets? At first glance, it seems like a basic question with a basic answer. I certainly thought so. But after reading what the experts had to say, I was surprised that there a lot was more to it.

How to Clean Wood Kitchen Cabinets #woodcleaner #kitchen

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Why Clean Kitchen Cabinets?

Sure, cleaning your kitchen cabinets is part of a having a clean home. But did you know that if cleaned and kept properly, kitchen cabinets can last for a long time – up to 50 years? Kitchens are one of the hardest working rooms in our homes, lasting cabinets that can last 50 year is impressive! And that's a much longer lifespan than most other kitchen components, such as appliances, and certain types of countertops and kitchen sinks. Heck, 50 years is older than me, and I'm pretty old! 😉

But if you don't properly maintain your kitchen cabinets, they can show wear and tear only after 20-30 years. And then you will be looking at replacement.

5 Ways to Clean Wood Kitchen Cabinets from the Experts #woodcabinets #cleaningtips

And kitchen cabinet replacement can account for 60-70% of the cost of a full scale renovation kitchen. The average full kitchen remodel runs about $24,000 ($150 per square foot) according to HomeAdvisor. Using that average, about $14,000 to $17,000 of that $24,000 budget goes to kitchen cabinets.

That cost is nothing to sneeze at.

So for me, that's motivation enough to ensure I'm doing all I can to keep my kitchen cabinets cleaned and maintained.

Backstory

I love my kitchen cabinets. They are beautiful, high-quality Thomasville kitchen cabinets. I want them to last to that 50-year life expectancy mark. This kitchen is what sold me on this house. The minute I walked into this kitchen I knew this was going to be my home.

Kitchen cabinets with double ovens — Kitchen when we bought our house.
Double ovens?!?! Heaven!

But I'm hard on my kitchen. First, I'm a really messy cooker. And I have 3 precious little monsters who love to help their mom make an even bigger mess in her kitchen. Grease, grime and sticky toddler fingerprints quickly build up to embarrassing proportions on my kitchen cabinets. And with a busy lifestyle it's hard to keep them constantly clean.

Dirty kitchen cabinets with Lord knows what on them #dirtykitchen #cleankitchen — Cabinets with gunk, grime &
stuff I don't even recognize….

I don't know exactly how old my cabinets are. Based on just looking at them, they are definitely not original to the house. The family we bought the house from indicated that they did no major renovations. So these cabinet had to already be there when they moved in. When I traced the history of my old house, I knew that the last owner purchased the house in 2003, so our kitchen cabinets are already at least 16 years old.

That means they are getting close (or have reached) the 20 year mark where wear and tear start to show. I need to make sure I'm taking care of them properly to make sure they reach 50!

Who are the Experts?

So what exactly IS the best way to clean wooden kitchen cabinets? I took to the experts on-line.

Who were at the experts (i.e the top of Google results)? The sources were completely varied – from large major cable networks and national cabinet manufacturers to smaller scale bloggers. In alphabetical order, they are (drum roll please…..)

DIY Network – major cable network website with ties to the HGTV household name.
Everyday Cheapskate – blog by Mary Hunt, award winning and bestselling author and syndicated columnist who has been featured on major network television shows like Good Morning America and The Today Show.
Grapes and Splendor – a blog with a myriad of tips and tricks to manage and maintain a home, but with little information on the person or team behind this blog.
The Spruce – one of the top 10 largest lifestyle online according resources with more than 45 expert lifestyle writers to offer practical, real-life tips and inspiration to help you create your best home.
Thomasville – the largest cabinet manufacturer in North America established over 100 years ago in 1904.

After reading through the expert's posts, I was surprised at the variety of ways recommended to best clean wooden kitchen cabinets.

Before we start, I have two recommendations for you the reader:

If you plan to try out one of these ways, I'd recommend you visit the source and read the entire posts. While I've cut and pasted directly from these websites and only made slight edits for ease of reading, I'd recommend that you read the original source.
If you decide to try out one of these methods to clean wooden kitchen cabinets, first test out on a small discrete area of your cabinet. Wait at least a few hours to see how the area turns out to avoid ruining your cabinet's finish.

How to Best Clean Wooden Kitchen Cabinets

1. DIY Network

DIY Network's post "How to Clean Wood Cabinets" had two different strategies to handle general and deep cleaning kitchen cabinets.

General cleaning:

Vinegar is the go-to natural cleaner when faced with how to clean greasy cabinets. Mix a 50/50 solution of vinegar and warm water and put into a spray bottle. Mist on cabinets, let sit for a minute or two and then wipe clean with a soft cloth.
This step is optional. Add a few drops of liquid dishwashing detergent to the vinegar and water solution to clean extremely grimy cabinets.

Deep cleaning:

Make a paste of vinegar and salt. Dip a toothbrush into the paste and lightly scrub the stained area. Don't scrub too hard or use steel wool, as it will scratch the wood. Rinse the paste off with clean water and dry with a clean towel.
You can also put baking soda on a wet sponge and scrub the stain. Use a soft toothbrush or nylon-bristle scrub brush so you won't scratch the cabinet surface

Once cleaning is complete, the DIY Network website also recommended protecting from future stains:

Mix vegetable oil and vinegar in equal portions and apply it lightly on the cabinet surfaces. Rub it in with a clean, soft cloth. Buff till it shines.

2. Everyday Cheapskate

Mary Hunt, the columnist behind Everyday Cheapskate, addressed a reader's questions about what kind of cleaner to use on the wood kitchen cabinets with this answer:

If you are looking for a commercial product to clean those cabinets, you'll never beat the effectiveness of real orange oil polish to melt away grease, grime, polish, and wax buildup, leaving a fresh scent and beauty in its place. It's going to cost a bit to do your entire kitchen, should you decide to go the commercial route.

But she continued and recommended the following homemade concoctions for cleaning those wooden kitchen cabinets. Once clean, nothing additional is required to polish or protect.

General Cleaning:

In a spray bottle (I use these 16-oz. bottles for homemade cleaners) mix 2 tablespoons olive oil, 4 tablespoons white vinegar and enough warm water to fill the bottle (about 2 cups). Shake to mix then spray on one door or drawer front at a time. Scrub with a soft cloth to remove any dirt, then buff to a beautiful shine. Before each spray, give the bottle a shake to keep the oil mixed in.

Spraying Everyday Cheapskates homemade recipe for grimy kitchen cabinets #everydaycheapskate #cleaningktichen — Spraying on Everyday Cheapskate's homemade recipe

Deep cleaning:

In a small bowl, measure out 1 part vegetable oil and 2 parts baking soda (for example 2 tablespoons oil and 4 tablespoons baking soda—or 1 cup oil to 2 cups baking soda depending on the size of your job).
Using your fingers, mix this into a thick paste. Smoosh this a little bit at a time into the surface of that grimy cabinet, being particularly mindful of the areas close to the handles that receive so much handling and human contact.
Scrub with a soft cloth, sponge or your fingertips to get this paste into the grain. Use an old toothbrush to get it into all of the nooks and crannies. This paste is very thick, and as you begin to scrub and brush, it will fall off, along with a lot of grime.
Buff well with a soft cloth then step back to admire your beautiful work.

3. Grapes and Splendor

Blogger Grapes and Splendor had a different homemade recipe to Best Way To Clean Your Kitchen Cabinets-Without Hurting Them!

General cleaning:

Combine a solution of 1 cup of water, 1 teaspoon toothpaste and 2 tablespoons baking soda. Use a sponge or cloth to dip into the solution and use it to scrub the dirty areas of the cabinet.

Deep cleaning:

Place about 1/2 teaspoon of dish soap or oil soap wood cleaner on the scouring sponge. Wet the sponge slightly and gently scrub the cabinet allowing it to form a lather. Wipe with a slightly wet cloth with fresh water in it. Then dry it with a microfiber cloth.
Make a paste with baking soda and water, apply it to the greasy areas by rubbing it on in a circular motion, slightly press it into the grease to use the abrasiveness of the baking soda to lift the grease and leave it to soak for ten 10 minutes. Using a damped piece of clean cloth, remove the baking soda paste by wiping it off.

4. The Spruce

In Tips for Cleaning Food Grease from Kitchen Cabinets, The Spruce handled it differently from other sites in that they looked more towards products than homemade solutions with one exception (which I listed first).

Hot water and dish soap: Dish soap is an alkaline-based product that effectively cuts through grease, especially when mixed in hot water. Mix a squirt or two of grease-cutting dish soap into a bucket of very hot water (as hot as you can stand), and use a nylon scouring pad to attack cabinet grease. Keep the water hot, and use light pressure on the nylon pad to avoid scratching the surface. Rinse and dry the cabinets when done
Goo Gone: Make sure to wear rubber gloves, then apply commercial Goo Gone cleaner over the grease and let it sit for a minute or two. Heat a damp micro cloth in a microwave for 35 seconds, then use it to quickly wipe away the grease layer. Finally, clean the area with a mild wood soap and water, then dry completely.
All-purpose orange oil cleaner: If your cabinets are really grimy, let the cleaner sit for up to 10 minutes after spraying. Afterward, wipe the cleaner off using a warm, damp micro-cloth.
A wood cleaner containing Brazilian carnauba wax: Carnauba wax is an ingredient that's typically found in high-quality wood cleaners and polishes. One excellent product, called Magic Cabinet and Wood Cleaner, is a spray pump application.

5. Thomasville

Thomasville Cabinetry stamp. I love my kitchen cabinets! #thomasville — Thomasville Cabinetry stamp on my cabinets

This nationwide manufacturer and distributor of kitchen cabinets provides the following cleaning tips on their parent company's website from The Homeowner's Guide to Care and Cleaning.

Usually, a clean, soft cotton cloth —or microfiber cloth for laminate and high gloss cabinetry — dampened with warm water will do the trick!
For extra grime fighting, a mild solution of dishwashing liquid (not dishwasher products) mixed with fresh, clean, warm water will take care of dirt and grease. 5% dishwashing liquid to 95% water is a good ratio.
After cleaning your stained or painted cabinets, wipe them down with a clean, damp cloth and be sure to dry wet/damp surfaces with another clean soft cloth.
Your cabinets don't require waxing and we don't recommend it. Over time, waxing and polishing compounds may build up on cabinet surfaces forming a hazy, streaked or yellowed appearance. Wax build up is really hard to remove — no one has time for that!

Vinegar and Olive Oil: Good or Bad?

You'll notice that some of the homemade solutions to clean wooden kitchen cabinets contain vinegar and/or olive oil. Before I started this blog, I bought all my cleaning products from the store. But as I research and learn more about cleaning my house, vinegar seems to be an amazing option for homemade cleaning products. It's usually already in the house, inexpensive, natural, and tough on bacteria, mildew, and dirt.

Ways to Clean Kitchen Cabinets - make them shiny and new again! #cleaningexperts #cleaning

But interestingly, there seems to be an argument against using vinegar and olive oil to clean wooden kitchen cabinets. According to some cleaning experts, including Springtime Cottage, vinegar and oil is not a good option for cleaning wooden kitchen cabinets. Why?

Vinegar is a paint stripper and varnish remover and can destroy the coatings on many other surfaces. Each time it is used, it creates a thinner surface by slowly melting away furniture finishes.
Olive oil is a non-drying oil so when it's applied to the wood, it stays liquid and spoils. Eventually it will create a stench and attract noxious bacteria.

Are vinegar and olive oil good or bad for kitchen cabinets? Honestly, I'm not sure what to think.

So I tried all 5 cleaning methods on my kitchen cabinets

These 5 options are completely different from my go-to cleaner for wooden kitchen cabinets. For years I've automatically gone to one of my favorite products to clean my wooden kitchen cabinets- Murphy Oil Soap. I use diluted Murphy Oil Soap throughout my house – clean my wood floors, and clean the wood trim and baseboards in my house.

So I was intrigued by the fact that no of the experts were directly brought up Murphy's Oil Soap. I went direct to Colgate-Palmolive Company's website, the makers of Murphy Oil Soap. And it appears that I've been using the product wrong. Well, kinda wrong.

While I've been using Murphy Oil Soap solely to clean the grim and grease off my kitchen cabinet, I should have been using it in a two-step process. Murphy Oil Soap is meant to restore the wood's natural glimmer AFTER the initial layer of dirt and grime is gone.

Whoops.

I decided to experiment with each cleaning method on one of my kitchen cabinets to get my thoughts and find the best way to clean my wooden kitchen cabinets.

DIY Network and Everyday Cheapskate

I tried both DIY Networks vinegar/ water mixture and Everyday Cheapskate's olive oil/ vinegar/ water mixture for General Cleaning. While both did an excellent job cleaning my cabinets, I struggled with the lingering vinegar smell. It reminded me of Easter when we use vinegar to color eggs.

Grapes and Spendor

Next, I tried Grapes and Spendor baking soda/ toothpaste/ water mixture. While the smell was more palatable, the toothpaste smell reminded me that I needed to call my dentist for a check up. I think some folks will really like this method, but it just wasn't for me. And again, like the DIY Network and Everyday Cheapskate, it cleaned the grease and grime off my cabinets.

The Spruce and Thomasville

Onto The Spruce. If you remember, The Spruce recommended a few commercial cleaning products, like Goo Gone, orange oil cleaner, and canruaba wax. Goo Gone I've used several times in DIY projects, including removing stubborn glue to restore an old wooden rocking chair. It's an effective and powerful cleaner for spot cleaning.

But for general cleaning, I liked The Spruce's idea behind just good old dish washing soap and water. (It's the same method recommended by Thomasville, who manufactured my kitchen cabinets). Why? After thinking about it, it makes sense. Dish washing liquid is an alkaline-based product that effectively cuts through grease. Most of the grime on my cabinets comes from grease or food. So if dish soap that can cut through those things on my pots and pans, it should also work on your cabinets.

Wait a minute….. Wasn't that Dawn's tagline at one point? "Dawn takes grease out of your way" Insert cheezy 1990s Dawn dish washing soap commercial from YouTube here…..

(Side note for you folks who remember the 1980s and 1990s – It think the actress in the blue vest also played Andrea Zuckerman from Beverly Hills 90210…..agree?)

Ultimately, how did I clean my wooden kitchen cabinets?

For me, I found my favorite method to clean my kitchen cabinets is The Spruce and Thomasville's recommended method of dish washing soap (Dawn) for general cleaning, BUT with one change.

For extra dirty or grimy spots on your kitchen cabinet, scrub with an old toothbrush #oldtoothbrush #cleaninghacks — Another use for your old toothbrush

For general cleaning, I combined a squirt of Dawn dish soap into a bucket of hot water. If you want to get technical, it was about 1/2 teaspoon to 8 cups of water. I washed the cabinets with my favorite sponge (Scotch-Brite Heavy Duty Scrub Sponge) dipped into the solution. For areas that needed extra attention due to grease or grime, or intricate cabinet details, I scrubbed with an old toothbrush.

I thought the cabinets were a bit too soapy, so I wiped them down with a cloth dipped in just hot water.

But I didn't stop there. I filled up a bucket with around 1 gallon of water and 1/4 cup of Murphy Oil Soap (per the bottle's directions) and did another wipe to make the cabinets shine and have that oil soap smell that I'm so nostalgic about.

What did I end up with? These fantastic cabinets, all clean and with rich wood tones shining through!

What's up next? Tackling other parts of my kitchen…

4 Ways to Remove Black Scuff Marks from Porcelain Sinks – The black marks that accumulate on my kitchen sink drive me nuts. And if I have to wash dishes 3 times a day, I deserve to have a nice white sink, right?
8 Pros and Cons of Kitchen Cabinet Shelf Liners – Your grandma probably did it. Your mom probably did it. But should YOU put in the time and effort to line your cabinet shelves and drawers?
How to Clean Your Kitchen Cabinet Knobs and Pulls! (After experimenting, I found a secret ingredient to revive kitchen hardware and make them shine again! Shhhh! 😉)

The rich tones come out of kitchen closets with just soap, water and Murphy oil soap #cleaningkitchen #woodcabinets — My kitchen cabinets clean and the rich wood tones shining through!

Kitchen cabinets shiny and clean with soap, water and Murphy oil soap #murphyoilsoap — Kitchen cabinets shiny and clean using soap, water and Murphy oil soap

I hope this round-up post of 5 expert opinions on how to clean your kitchen cabinets helped. If it did (or didn't…) please let me know! And after you have tacked your kitchen cabinets, check out these related cleaning posts:

25+ Tips and Tricks for Washing Windows from 15 Experts! – Ready to get those windows sparkling?
Homemade or Store Bought Bathtub Cleaners – Which is More Effective? I tested 2 homemade and 3 store-bought tub cleaners. Find out which one cut best through the shower scum
How to Deep Clean Your Bedroom in Under 2 Hours – includes a checklist to keep you focused on the task so that by tonight, you will sleep in a calm, clean bedroom!

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