Having an outdoor kitchen can be a great place to spend hours and hours with your friends and family. However, keeping this area clean can be a headache. Luckily, there are some things that you can do to make it easier to keep this area free of debris, dirt, and pests.
To help you see how this can be done, here are three tips for keeping your outdoor kitchen clean.
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Always Clean Areas Where Food Has Been
At the end of a fun night enjoying your outdoor kitchen, the last thing you might want to do is clean everything up. But to ensure that your outdoor kitchen doesn’t become a kitchen for all of the pests and animals in your neighborhood, thoroughly cleaning all areas of your outdoor kitchen after every use is vital.
Especially when it comes to features that are used to cook food, like your grill, you should clean these items each time you use them. And if you have prep space for food, or you’ve eaten the food outside, you should also clean off those areas so that no leftovers start to lure in animals. And for any food or scraps that you’ve discarded while cooking or eating, make sure you either put that garbage in your main garbage can or store it in an area where it won’t be reached by pests.
Use Covers Wisely
When you aren’t out using your outdoor kitchen, one way you can make sure that it’s ready for you when the time comes is to use covers over certain areas.
If you have a grill or other cooking feature, keep that area covered when you’re not using it. This will ensure that no dirt or other debris gets onto the food areas—although you might want to give these parts a good cleaning before you use them again anyway. Additionally, if you have outdoor furniture that you’re keeping as part of a dining set or lounge seating, you should cover these items up as well so that they’ll be clean when you want to use them again.
End The Season Properly
If you live in an area where you can use your outdoor kitchen all year long, you won’t ever have to worry about closing down the area for a few months. But if you have your outdoor kitchen in a place with a rainy season or hard winters, you might want to close up shop for a few months until the weather improves.
To do this, you’ll want to give every inch of your outdoor kitchen a good scrub down, especially your grill or other food features. If you have appliances, make sure you unplug them and protect them from the elements. And if you have running water in your outdoor kitchen, be sure to shut off the water supply so that it won’t freeze in the winter.
If you have an outdoor kitchen that you’re struggling to maintain, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you with this.