How to Clean Kitchen Surfaces: A Surface by Surface Guide With One Concentrate

To clean kitchen surfaces well, match the cleaner strength to the mess: a light everyday spray for benchtops and splashbacks, a stronger mix for greasy stovetops and range hoods, and a diluted bucket for floors. Work top to bottom, give the cleaner a few seconds to dwell, then wipe and buff dry.

How to clean kitchen surfaces, in short

If you only remember one thing, remember this: nearly every kitchen surface comes clean with the same approach, only the strength and the method change. Spray a plant based cleaner at the right dilution, give it a short dwell so it can do the chemical work for you, wipe with a clean microfibre cloth, and buff dry where the finish matters. Get the order of work right (top to bottom, least greasy to most greasy) and the whole room falls into place. The rest of this guide walks every surface in the kitchen, with the exact dilution and a few honest limits, so you can do the job once and properly.

I run a cleaning business, so the dilutions and methods below are the ones I actually use on real kitchens week in and week out, not numbers invented to fill a label. I built HomeKind around a single concentrate because the kitchen is the room that makes the case for it better than any other.

Why one concentrate can do the whole kitchen

Most kitchens collect a small graveyard of half used sprays: an all purpose cleaner, a glass cleaner, a bathroom spray that drifted in from next door, and a floor wash that only comes out on the weekend. Each one is mostly water, sold in its own single use plastic bottle, taking up the space under your sink where the bin bags should go.

The reason you can collapse all of that into one product comes down to what kitchen mess actually is. The grime on a benchtop, the film on a range hood, the splatter behind the stove and the smear on a glass cabinet are nearly all the same handful of things: food fats and oils, sugars and starches, proteins from meat and dairy, and ordinary dust bound up in the lot. A cleaner that breaks those four categories down will work almost everywhere in the room. The differences from surface to surface are mostly about strength and method, not about needing a different chemistry each time.

That is the idea behind the HomeKind All in One Cleaner Concentrate. It is plant based and enzyme activated, which is the part that matters for a kitchen. The enzyme blend includes protease (works on protein, think egg, meat and dairy residue), amylase (works on starches and sugars, think sauce, dough and dried cordial) and lipase (works on fats and oils, the greasy film that builds up around any cooking zone). Pair that with plant and coconut derived cleaning agents and a touch of citrus D limonene, and one bottle genuinely covers benchtops, splashbacks, glass, mirrors, stainless steel, sealed stone, appliances, tiles and floors. If the idea of enzymes doing the scrubbing is new to you, our explainer on what an all in one cleaner concentrate is goes a level deeper.

One more practical point before we walk the room. Because it is a concentrate, a single 1L bottle makes up to 100 standard spray bottles when diluted for everyday use, which works out to roughly 40c per made up bottle rather than the five to seven dollars a ready to use supermarket spray tends to cost. Treat those as derived estimates: they depend on your dilution and how heavily you clean. Either way, you are buying cleaning power and adding your own water at home, which is cheaper and means far less plastic shipped around the country.

Why enzymes need a moment to work

The single habit that changes kitchen cleaning the most is also the easiest: stop scrubbing straight away. Most people spray and immediately wipe, which means the cleaner never gets the chance to do the part that saves your arm. Enzymes are catalysts. They latch onto a specific kind of soil (protease onto protein, amylase onto starch, lipase onto fat) and break it into smaller, looser pieces that lift off with a light wipe. That reaction takes a little time, usually somewhere between ten seconds for a fresh bench and a few minutes for cooked on grease.

So the rule across the whole kitchen is: spray, wait, then wipe. On a benchtop the wait is barely a pause. On a greasy range hood it is a couple of minutes while you do something else. The dwell is where the work happens, and it is the difference between wiping grease away and smearing it around.

Set up before you start: dilutions and kit

Get the dilutions right once and the rest of the kitchen is easy. The concentrate is dosed in millilitres per litre of water, so a cheap measuring cup or even the cap as a rough guide is all you need. Here is the full range for kitchen jobs, and if you want every room mapped out the same way, the cleaning concentrate dilution ratios chart lays it out surface by surface.

For kit, you want as little as possible: two or three microfibre cloths, a 1L spray bottle, a mop and bucket, and an old soft toothbrush for grout lines and appliance seams. Keep one cloth for glass and shiny surfaces and a separate one for general wiping, because a cloth that has mopped up bench grease will smear glass no matter how good your cleaner is. Microfibre matters more than people think: it lifts and holds grime rather than pushing it around, and it is what lets a streak free formula actually finish streak free.

A quick note on water. If you are on rainwater or a softer town supply, the lighter 5ml dose is usually plenty. Harder water (common across parts of regional Australia) can leave its own mineral haze on glass, so for very shiny surfaces a final buff with a dry microfibre cloth does most of the work regardless of the cleaner.

A quick safety and suitability check

This is a gentle plant based formula, but it is still a cleaner, and a kitchen is where food is prepared, so a few sensible habits are worth setting before you spray anything.

• Patch test first. On any surface you have not cleaned with it before, especially older or unknown finishes, try it on a small hidden spot and check after a minute before doing the whole area.
• Ventilate and avoid your eyes. Open a window while you work, particularly during the heavier grease jobs. The formula carries citrus D limonene and essential oils for scent, so mist rather than fog the air, and rinse with water if any gets in your eyes.
• Keep it off unsealed and waxed timber. Bare, oiled or waxed timber benchtops and unsealed timber floors should not be wet cleaned with any spray cleaner. Stick to sealed surfaces, and if you are not sure whether a timber bench is sealed, treat it as unsealed and ask your supplier.
• Rinse food preparation zones. On the boards, benchtops and chopping areas where food sits directly, give the surface a quick wipe with a clean water dampened cloth after cleaning, so nothing transfers to food. This is simply good kitchen practice with any cleaner.
• Store it sensibly. Keep the concentrate capped and out of reach of children and pets, and label any spray bottles you make up.

Clean in the right order: top to bottom, dry to wet

Before any product touches a surface, fix the order you work in. Cleaning a kitchen out of sequence is the single biggest reason people feel like they are going in circles. Two rules cover it.

First, work top to bottom. Range hood and the top of cabinets first, then benchtops and splashbacks, then appliance fronts, then the sink, and the floor dead last. Anything you knock loose up high falls onto something you have not cleaned yet, so gravity does some of your tidying for you.

Second, go from least greasy to most greasy with your cloths. Wipe the glass and clean benchtop zones before you tackle the stovetop, so you are not dragging cooked on fat across surfaces that were nearly clean. By the time you reach the floor, every crumb and splash from above has already landed, and you do it once.

Surface by surface

Here is the room itself, worked in the order above. Each surface gets the right dilution, the method that makes the difference, and an honest note on where a general cleaner stops being the right tool. Skim to the surface in front of you, or read straight through for the full top to bottom run.

Benchtops and splashbacks

This is the everyday workhorse zone, so the light 5 to 10ml per 1L mix is right. Mist the surface lightly, give it ten to twenty seconds to sit (this short dwell time is where the enzymes start working on yesterday's food residue rather than you scrubbing it), then wipe through with a microfibre cloth. For laminate, stainless and sealed stone benchtops this is all you need day to day. On the boards and bench zones where food is prepped directly, follow with a quick wipe of a clean water dampened cloth.

For natural stone like marble or honed granite, two cautions that apply to any cleaner, not just this one. Wipe acidic spills (lemon, wine, vinegar, tomato) up quickly and clean with the gentle everyday dilution, since prolonged acid contact can etch the stone itself. And keep your stone sealed on the schedule your supplier recommends. A cleaner sits on top of a seal; it is not a substitute for one. We go further into this in our guide to cleaning sealed stone benchtops safely.

Glass, mirrors and cabinet fronts

This is the surface that usually forces people to keep a second product, so it is worth getting right. The HomeKind concentrate is formulated to be streak free on glass and mirrors, which is the main reason it can replace a dedicated glass cleaner as well as your all purpose spray.

The method matters as much as the product. Use the light everyday dilution, mist sparingly (over wetting is the number one cause of streaks), then wipe with one cloth and immediately buff dry with a second clean dry microfibre cloth. The two cloth method (one to clean, one to dry) is what delivers a clear finish on splashback glass, glass cabinet doors and any mirror in the kitchen. Done this way you genuinely do not need a separate blue bottle, and our full walk through of cleaning glass and mirrors streak free covers the technique in detail.

When this is not the right fix: baked on grease spots on glass splashbacks behind the stove are a grease job, not a glass job. Hit those with the heavier 10 to 20ml mix and a dwell time first, then finish with the light mix and dry buff for clarity.

Stainless steel appliances and sinks

Stainless shows everything: fingerprints, water spots, and any smear you leave behind. The trick is the grain. Stainless steel has a direction, like timber, and you always wipe along it, never across or in circles. Use the everyday dilution, wipe with the grain, then buff dry with a clean cloth along the same direction. That dry buff is what removes water spotting and leaves the even sheen. There is a bit more to it on big reflective panels like fridge doors, and we cover the lot in how to clean stainless steel streak free.

For a stainless sink, the heavier dilution helps cut the greasy film that builds at the bottom, and an old toothbrush with a few drops of neat concentrate gets into the seal around the tap base and the overflow.

The stovetop, range hood and the greasy zone

Now for the part where enzyme cleaning earns its keep. The cooking zone is mostly lipase territory: oil that has aerosolised, drifted and cooled into a sticky film on the range hood, the wall behind the stove, the knobs and the splashback. This is where you step up to the 10 to 20ml per 1L mix and, more importantly, where you give it time.

1. Spray the heavier dilution onto the greasy surface and leave it to dwell for two to five minutes. Do not scrub straight away. The dwell is doing the work.
2. For range hood filters, if they are removable, lay them in the sink and spray both sides, or soak in a basin of hot water with 20 to 30ml added.
3. Come back and wipe with a microfibre cloth. The softened grease should lift rather than smear.
4. For stubborn cooked on spots around burners, use the soft toothbrush with a little neat concentrate, then wipe clean.
5. Finish the whole zone with a light pass of the everyday mix and a dry buff so nothing is left tacky.

When this is not the right fix: burnt on carbon inside an oven, or scorched food welded to a cast iron burner grate, is a job for a dedicated oven treatment, soaking and mechanical effort. A general cleaner softens surface grease beautifully but it is not a caustic oven stripper, and it should not be sold as one. Glass and ceramic cooktops are fine with this formula, but check your manufacturer's advice for any specially coated induction tops before going at them hard.

Microwave, kettle and small appliances

For a crusty microwave, spray the inside with the everyday dilution, close the door and leave it a couple of minutes (a quick blast of a microwave safe cup of water to steam it first makes this almost effortless), then wipe out. For appliance exteriors, the kettle, the toaster body, the coffee machine, spray onto your cloth rather than onto the appliance so liquid never runs into buttons or vents, then wipe and dry.

Sink, tap and drainboard

The sink is the dirtiest spot in most kitchens, so save it for after the benches. Use the heavier dilution, work the toothbrush around the tap base and any seals, and pay attention to the rim where the bench meets the sink. For composite or ceramic sinks the everyday mix is enough day to day; the heavier mix is for the weekly proper clean.

Tiles, grout and splashback joins

Tiled splashbacks clean with the everyday mix and a wipe. Grout lines are where grease and steam leave a dull film over time. Spray the heavier dilution along the grout, let it dwell, then work it with the toothbrush and wipe. This will brighten dingy grout considerably, but be honest about the limit: deeply stained or mouldy grout in a wet, poorly ventilated corner may need a dedicated mould treatment and, eventually, resealing. A cleaner lifts soil; it does not rebuild grout.

Floors, last of all

Floors come last because every crumb and splash from the rest of the room has now landed. Add 20 to 30ml to a bucket of warm water and mop. The same plant based formula is fine on sealed timber, vinyl, laminate and tile. The key with timber and laminate is to wring the mop well so the floor is damp, not wet; standing water is the enemy of any floor, regardless of cleaner. Unsealed or waxed timber is the exception, so leave those to a method suited to the finish. A barely damp microfibre flat mop is ideal and dries in minutes.

What not to use it on, and what not to expect

A genuinely useful cleaner is honest about its edges. Here is where this concentrate is the wrong tool, so you do not waste effort or risk a surface.

• Unsealed, oiled or waxed timber. Bench or floor, if it is not sealed, do not wet clean it with a spray cleaner. Water and unsealed timber do not mix.
• The inside of a hot oven. Baked on carbon needs a dedicated oven product, soaking and elbow grease. This softens surface grease, it does not strip carbon.
• Deeply stained or mouldy grout. It brightens grease film on grout, but it will not rebuild grout or kill established mould in a poorly ventilated corner.
• Cast iron pans and seasoned cookware. A general cleaner can strip the seasoning you have built up. Wash those the way the cookware maker recommends.
• Hot surfaces. Let the stovetop and oven door cool before spraying, both for safety and because cleaner flashes off a hot surface before it can work.

Knowing which problem you actually have saves a lot of wasted scrubbing. Most of the kitchen is a wipe; the few jobs above are genuinely different tasks.

The greywater and septic question, answered properly

If your kitchen drains to a septic system, or you reuse greywater on the garden (increasingly common across drier parts of Australia), what you tip down the sink genuinely matters. Harsh surfactants and certain preservatives can knock back the bacteria a septic tank relies on. Residues can also build up in soil over time.

The HomeKind concentrate is greywater and septic safe, with no phosphates, no synthetic dyes, no parabens and no SLS. It uses food grade preservatives (sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate) at the small levels needed to keep a water based product stable on the shelf. For a busy kitchen where wash water goes down the drain constantly, that is a meaningful difference, and it is one of the practical reasons a single gentle formula across the whole room is easier to live with than a cupboard of stronger, mismatched products. If you are on a tank or a greywater system, our guide to septic and greywater safe cleaning goes into what actually makes a product safe to send down the drain.

A realistic weekly kitchen routine

You do not need to deep clean every surface every day. A sustainable rhythm looks like this:

• Daily: light mist and wipe of benchtops, the most used appliance fronts and the stovetop after cooking, while spills are fresh and lift in seconds. Everyday dilution only.
• Weekly: the full top to bottom run, including the heavier grease pass on the range hood and behind the stove, the sink seals with the toothbrush, glass and mirrors with the two cloth dry buff, and the floor.
• Monthly: the jobs that hide, range hood filters soaked, grout lines worked over, the top of the cabinets and the fridge seals.

The whole point of getting your dilutions sorted is that the daily wipe is so quick it stops being a chore, which is what keeps the weekly clean from ever becoming a battle.

The HomeKind All in One Cleaner Concentrate

HomeKind is an Australian eco cleaning brand. The All in One Cleaner Concentrate comes in a 1L recyclable bottle (currently $39.99, with bundles if you want to stock up or mix scents: two bottles for $70, or three for $95, which brings the per bottle price down to around $35 and then under $32). One bottle makes up to 100 everyday spray bottles. It is plant based and enzyme activated, streak free on glass and mirrors, and greywater and septic safe, which is exactly the combination a kitchen asks for: grease cutting power, glass clarity and a formula you are happy to send down the drain. Because it replaces your all purpose, glass, bathroom and floor cleaners, a bundle is less about stockpiling and more about clearing the cupboard out in one go. The wider case for that is in our piece on how one cleaner replaces four sprays.

It comes in four scents on the same formula, so you can match it to your taste: Lemon Myrtle and Eucalyptus Radiata, Mandarin Peel and Rosemary, Peppermint and Pine Needle, and a Fragrance Free option for anyone sensitive to scent. The brand is in stock now, which means you can buy at today's price and your bottle is posted same day if you order before 1pm, otherwise the next business day. The dilutions above are the ones we use on real cleaning jobs, not numbers invented for a label.

You can read more on the All in One Cleaner Concentrate product page, and the room and surface guides in this pillar cover the rest of the home with the same single bottle approach.