The kitchen is the heart of any home – and that’s why it’s such a big focus for everyone when they first see a home.

As a rule, it’s the first room owners consider renovating when thinking how they might maximize the value of their home before selling it.

There are many things you can do just to present your current kitchen in the best possible light. Below are some kitchen hacks that will help keep your kitchen sparkling clean and looking like new – regardless of its age.

Stop Scratches

Those plastic mesh bags that you get when you buy oranges and lemons have a cool, second use. They’re a great non-scratch scourer for cleaning non-stick surfaces without risk of cutting into the Teflon.

Rack It Up

Use your bathtub to clean oven racks – it’s a messy job at the best of times and few sinks or buckets are big enough to handle the job. Let them soak overnight. Clean up thoroughly afterwards.

Pipe Cleaner

After you’ve just cleaned your oven racks in the bath, pour a cup of baking soda and lemon juice down the pipe to get rid of any oil and grime. You’ll hear the concoction fizz as it hits the bad stuff down there.

What’s Cooking?

A spray can of cooking oil will do a great job of removing dirt and scum around all of your faucets. Wipe them down with a paper towel that you can throw away. If you use a microfiber cloth, you’ll have to clean it in hot water before you can reuse it.

Exhausting, But…

Use hot soapy water to clean the fat, grime, and dust that builds up on your cooktop exhaust fan. It’s not a fun job, but it needs to be done.

Cabinet Tops

It’s unbelievable how icky, waxy dirt accumulates on the tops of our kitchen cabinets, especially when they are so close to ceiling level. Avoid a big cleaning job here by laying wax paper over the tops of the cabinets. Replace them every three or four months.

Unlucky Break

Cups and glasses break all the time in the kitchen. If you’ve got shards and tiny pieces of china or glass on the floor, wipe the area with a slice of bread. The fragments stick to the dough. Caution: apply only minimal pressure to avoid cutting yourself.

Hair-Raising

If pet hair in the kitchen is a constant source of annoyance, you’ll find that rather than trying to pick it up with a cloth, you’ll have better luck by using rubber gloves.

Coffee Capers

Cups that have done loyal service often suffer blemishes of brown stain. Rather than throw out your favorite mugs, rub baking soda over the inside of the surface to bring them back to mint like condition.

Blender Tip

Don’t run a cloth over your blender blades and risk slicing into a finger. Fill the cup half full with warm water, put the top back on, and run it for no more than 20 seconds. Job done.