In many homes, your kitchen is on display. In others, you can see it through a door that faces the living room and then there's a few that have the luxury of having it totally concealed. Because it's always being seen, try making a cleaning checklist by having a staring contest with it. You're destined to lose, but you'll be the winner on grime.
So often in our own kitchens we're worried about the basics. Cleaning dishes, wiping dwn surfaces, mopping floors... you know, the usual. When you sit down and enjoy your living areas, if they happen to face your kitchen or it's on display you can see a whole new world of things.
Now it's easy to just say, well if your kitchen was really clean you wouldn't have to worry, but that's not always the case. Sitting back and checking things out and focusing on what really could stand to be cleaned or touched with a dust mop can be a huge help.
Did you know you can see under your raised cabinets? Did you know there was a dog toy and small bottle of nutmeg down there? Can you see bugs collecting in your chandelier? What about along the edge of your cabinets up high?
When you have your daily radar on, these aren't things that we really have our brain and eyes set to see. We're just doing good if we can get our kitchen prepped for another meal. Start now and make a list and it will give your kitchen a great top to bottom cleaning between now and your next dinner party. Just tackle one or two things a day or even a week depending on your schedule.
Related: Our Readers' Favorite Kitchen Cleaning Tools
(Image: Caleb Wilkerson)
10 Low-Budget Pantry Items Everyone Should Have
Summer Recipe: Gluten-Free & Vegan Strawberry Shortcake
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
TW Salt Mill by Wil...
Small Cool Lessons: Discovering Small Space Design Ideas That Really Work
Marisa and Peter's Playfully Eclectic Home
I discovered the easiest way to take a cold, hard look at any space, be it a room, your yard or your front porch--photographs. Take a picture from every doorway, looking in and out, and then stand in the center of the space and take pictures as you slow turn around. Then lay them all out and you have a 360 degree panorama. Study them closely and you'll see all the flaws. For the kitchen, that could be dirty areas or the need for a curtain, in the garden maybe it's the view of a neighbors' garbage, on the porch it could be the recycling bin you never really notice. Bit by bit you can eliminate or screen the unpleasant views, repair/clean the not-so-pretty spots and enhance the rest. Then stage it as if it's about to be featured in an article and the difference will be amazing--and you'll have the pictures to prove it.
Escondido- that's a great idea!
I also sit on the floor of my kitchen. Then I really see how the cabinet doors need cleaning. That I should also remove the toe kick & get the bits of dirt out from under the cabinet. That my oven door also needs cleaning. An alternate view helps every time.
I also check out my friends' kitchens. I see how they organize everything to see if it will help improve my space. Of course, I ask first :)
I think Flylady's system is simpler.
Also, I hate to be a grammar nazi, but
" If your kitchen was really clean" should be: "if your kitchen *were* really clean." The subjunctive is the correct usuage here.
@Sarah ... so true.
@Edmondido, love your idea! Reminds me of preparing to put a house on the market.
Cleaning a floor by hand occasionally (instead of mop) reveals nooks, crannies, corners, etc. galore ... eye-opening even! Doing this for the first time after a move isn't fun; but, now you know.