How to Clean Kitchen Cabinets to Remove Stickiness & Grease

A hand opens a green cabinet door with a silver chrome handle in a mid-century modern design style.

From food splatters to fingerprints, your kitchen cabinets can get a little grimy from time to time. See our easy tips for how to clean cabinets.

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By Joanne Howard

Whether you’ve just had a colorful pizza toss competition in your kitchen or you’re noticing a lot of oily fingerprints on the silverware drawer, your kitchen cabinets can surprisingly take a beating from busy daily life. Fortunately, Clorox has the solution.

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Steps to clean & disinfect hard, nonporous cabinets

  1. Preclean

    Wipe cabinet surfaces with a wet sponge. For stubborn grease or food stains, clean with Clorox™ Scentiva™ Disinfecting Multi-Surface Cleaner and rinse with a wet sponge.

    A hand with pink fingernails cleans a set of modern kitchen cabinets with a white sponge.

  2. Mix

    Use the gallon bucket and measuring cup to mix 1/3 cup of Clorox™ Disinfecting Bleach with 1 gallon of water.

    Close-up of pouring Clorox Bleach from white bottle

  3. Wipe

    Use the sponge to thoroughly wipe the surface with the bleach solution.

    A person wearing yellow rubber cleaning gloves uses a sponge to wipe the exterior of a white cabinet door.

  4. Wait

    Wait 6 minutes for disinfecting. To keep the surface visibly wet for the entire wait time, reapply bleach solution as needed.

    White mechanical kitchen timer with dial set to 2 minutes.

  5. Rinse

    Rinse with warm water.

    A hand with pink fingernails cleans a set of modern kitchen cabinets with a white sponge.

  6. Dry

    Let air dry.

    open window ventilation

Keeping your kitchen cabinets clean is simple with the above steps but picking up a few routine habits can help minimize the mess. If you have cabinets near your stovetop, try to cook with a lid or grease splash guard whenever possible. You can also do a quick and easy sweep of high-touch surfaces like handles or pull-tabs with Clorox™ Disinfecting Wipes. 

It’s important to note that this method is only suitable for hard, non-porous surfaces such as sealed or painted wood.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does hard, nonporous surface mean?

Hard, nonporous surfaces are impermeable and without pores. Common examples of hard, non-porous cabinet surfaces can include latex enamel painted woodwork, stainless steel, plastic, glass and sealed solid surfaces.

What if I don’t know what material my cabinets are made of?

If you don’t know what material they are, test the steps above on a non-conspicuous area like inside the door.