The small appliances we choose to keep in our kitchen see a great deal of action and although we wipe them down after each use, we don't always have time to give them a thorough cleaning. So if your appliances could use a little elbow grease, we have a few tricks of the trade when it comes to cleaning out marshmallow fluff from who knows when — out of who knows where!
The suggestions below are things we use in our own kitchen to help get waffle batter out of crevices or brownie batter out from behind the handle on our mixer. Sadly, the above photo is our mixer in current state and will be getting a mini-spa treatment here shortly. Please don't just me. Honesty is love right? On to the tip!
• Butter Knife & Towel: Sure just a plain old towel works to remove most surface grime, but sometimes you need a little more oomph to your methods. A butter knife with a towel placed over the tip is a great way to get a little more scrubbing and scraping action without damaging the surface of your appliance.
• Baking Soda Paste & Toothbrush: As we're all familiar with by now, baking soda with just a touch of water, make a fabulous paste that cleans almost anything. But it can be hard to apply to smaller spaces without a mini scrubbing tool. An old toothbrush (though we keep one in our utensil drawer from the Dollar Store for just this purpose) will scrub away even the toughest residual "when was the last time I made cookies?-crusties" It's also fabulous to clean your stainless steel sink drains if you have any left!
• Metal Skewer: Seriously, we use it for everything and with its pointy end, it's perfect for cleaning out those small crevices that someone thought would enhance the design aesthetic of their product, but really all it does it hold flying flour dust in the real world.
• Magic Eraser: Whether you're a fan of them for everyday cleaning or not, they are one of the best tools when it comes to removing stuck on hardened foods. Their super-small holes take it all on without the risk of scratching your appliance. Plus, it generally holds onto the gunk and goo instead of leaving streaks on your appliance or falling off onto your counters and floors (no one likes double chores).
• Vinegar, Mineral Oil & Flannel: Although this sounds like a recipe for disaster, they are super preventative measures for down the road. Many of us have stainless steel in our kitchen and this is a great way to help give it a protective layer before it's next round of battle... we mean cooking task. Mix water to vinegar in a 2-1 ratio and wipe down your appliances after the heavy cleaning is done. It will leave streaks but that's ok. Next, slightly dampen a piece of flannel with mineral oil and buff onto your machine. This works for anything stainless steel, brushed or not. This should help keep things from sticking going forward — which means when you only have 30 seconds to wipe down an appliance before switching gears, you'll be removing more dirt making less work for later!
Do you have a small appliance cleaning tip? Let us know in the comments below!
• Related: How Do I Clean the Bottoms of My Pots?
(Image: Sarah Rae Trover)
How To Cook a Steak in the Oven
How To Cook a Steak: 15 Recipes for a Weeknight Valentine's Meal
Our reading list
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Four Colorful Nesti...
Before & After: MacBook Dye Project
Andy & Andrew's Vintage Modern
Comments (9)
Rather than use a metal skewer and risk scratching my appliances, I use a toothpick. The pointed end is great for removing the ring of grime around the sink and in crevasses. Toothbrushes, soap, water and a green mesh scrubby are wonderful cleaning items, too.
Bamboo skewers, the kind sold for kebabs or dengaku, are great (and don't scratch like a metal skewer).
one swipe of the magic eraser down the electric cord of all my appliances makes them look brand new. this is important if you do the (verboten) wrapping of cords around the appliance when you are storing them.
Magic erasers are a godsend, though I hate the milky residue it sometimes leaves behind.
My poor kitchenaid looks all too much like the one in the photo. When I give it a good hard clean I always find myself going "now what was THAT from?" "Oh look, when I made that green buttercream...3 months ago?!" Things find a way of hiding on that thing!
I typically only clean the parts of my small appliances that can go in the dishwasher. Every now and then, I wipe them with a dish towel dipped in very hot water, but that's about it. Perhaps I would clean them more if they sat on the counter, but they all go in a cupboard, so I don't think about it much.
@hmo, why is it verboten to wrap your appliance cords around them when you store them? My blender even has something in the base to wrap the cord around.
Tiamat_the_Red - Manufacturers cation against winding your cords to reduce the amount of stress put on the point where the cord comes out of the appliance. It's an easy place to strip wires and can end poorly if you say accidentally spill water on it while running. Liability.
sarahrae is right -- some manufacturers do not recommend this (hand mixers come to mind), whereas others provide this as an added feature (blenders and toasters most frequently feature this).
One simple way to soften hardened bits of gunk - just wet a dishcloth or washcloth in very hot water, squeeze it out until it's wet but not dripping, and drape it over the place you want to clean. Let it sit for about 5 minutes. The combination of water and heat will usually soften up the dried bits and make it much easier to clean it off with a single swipe.
I buy the multi-packs of cheap washcloths from Costco or towel discount store (they're usually sold to motels who buy in bulk) and use those as kitchen cleaning cloths. They're white, so they can be washed in hot water or even bleached, and they're cheap enough that they can be tossed if they get too stained after a while. The cheap ones are actually better - Costco recently upgraded to a fancier brand, and the new ones are too thick to be good cleaning cloths.