How to Clean Your Microwave

All it takes to turn your microwave from spotless to a complete mess is one leftover spaghetti dinner and you forget to take it out for a couple of extra seconds. A lot of people just avoid even cleaning their microwaves if they can help it, but we have good news for you. We’ve developed some fantastic tips for cleaning your microwave in the easiest ways possible. We understand you not wanting to stand there and scrub down your microwave for twenty minutes. You will need a few supplies, but chances are good that you already have baking soda, dish soap, and vinegar on hand to help you do the cleaning you need.

A word of warning, do steer clean or bleach for jobs like this. You just don’t really need them on these kinds of surfaces and they can even make the plastic parts of the microwave more brittle, as bleach is a pretty harsh cleaner.

Cleaning the Inside of your Microwave

1. Combine a cup of water, a few tablespoons of vinegar, and some slices of lemon into a microwave-safe bowl. The acid in the fruit will loosen up any stuck-on food stains on the walls.
2. Place a toothpick or some other small item in the bowl with the mixture. This will allow air bubbles to form against the wood as your water molecules heat up, preventing your mixture from deciding to explode rather than boiling as it should.
3. Put your bowl of mixture in the microwave and run it on high for 1-2 minutes, until you can see that the mixture has started to boil and steam up the inside of your microwave. Once you see this, shut off the microwave and let the steam sit in there and work for 15 minutes, this also allows the surface of the microwave itself to cool down.
4. Remove the bowl (check to make sure it’s safe to touch first). Remove the turntable and go ahead and wipe down the interior, including the door, with a sponge, rag, or paper towel. Any debris inside should now come off very easily with a simple wipe.
5. Hand-wash the turntable with soapy water, or throw it in your dishwasher. It should be pretty clean at this point, but this is a good final step to ensure it’s completely clean.
6. Wash off the rubber gaskets around the inside of the door with a sponge if they need cleaning.
7. The glass on the inside of the door may still feel greasy to you, and if so you need to dip your sponge into a mix of vinegar and water, it acts as a cheap degreaser of sorts and should give you the extra power you need to get rid of that grease. The inside of your microwave should be spotless now.

Cleaning the Outside of the Microwave

Get a cloth, and spray some all-purpose cleaner on it. You want to avoid spraying directly onto the machine so you don’t get it in the vent holes, as it can cause damage to it. You shouldn’t have any bad stains on the outside that need too much scrubbing, just general cleaning. Once you’ve wiped everything down the outside should look fantastic, you can even wipe off the buttons to really make it shine.

If you have any specific or particular issues with your microwave and getting it clean, reach out to us and we’ll offer you any advice we can. Some messes may be harder to get rid of than others. Charlotte maids can truly clean anything in your home you need to be cleaned.