Keeping the kitchen floor clean is a challenge. After frying something on the stove top, it is even a bigger challenge! Below is some helpful information to help with that “Uh-Oh, look at the floor!” exclamation.
Don’t “Just Mop” the Kitchen Floor
Ever fried chicken in a cast iron skillet and then looked at your kitchen floor afterwards? Even if you used a lid on the pan, every time you lifted it to flip the chicken, grease went on to the floor. So, you thought, I’ll just mop, right? Wrong! You can’t treat the floor like a regular mopping when you’ve got grease build-up in front of the stove. What you’ll do is smear a thin film of grease across the whole floor because there’s heavier grease on it than normal after you’ve been frying.
Why not the mop? Because you’re going to suck up pure grease into that mop off that kitchen floor. Frying in even a quarter-inch of cooking oil in the pan is going to lay a sheen of grease on the floor in front of the stove. If you just go and think you’ll mop that up first, you’ll end up spreading grease across the whole floor itself. Yes, you have to bend down to do it, but the end result is worth the effort. It’s also a safety issue because grease on the kitchen floor presents a slipping issue just as treacherous as water spilled on the floor. This way, you lengthen the usable life of your mop and the floor gets truly clean.
White Vinegar to the Rescue!
Use a white vinegar as a degreaser on the kitchen floor and clean in front of the stove with an old sponge you don’t mind using or an old but clean rag you can then throw away. Paper towels won’t cut the mustard (or the grease, as the case is) for this job. You need to wipe it up, rinse out the rag or sponge, and go over it again until you can run a finger across that spot in front of the stove and not have grease on your finger. Generally speaking, it’s about a two-foot area in front of the stove that grease splatter travels. So, that is the size of the area you can to clean with the rag and vinegar.
Now You Can Mop
Once you know the grease is gone, then mop the kitchen floor using your normal routine. It’s a good idea to go over it twice just in case any smaller splatters went beyond the two-foot area in front of the stove. You will have tracked some of that grease on the kitchen floor from your shoes while you were frying. Another thing is: This must be done the day of or right after you fried the food! Don’t wait! You’re just increasing the amount of time you or anyone else can walk into the kitchen and track it all over the floor including your pet if you have one. Plus, grease hardens over time. Don’t forget the slipping hazard and find out the hard way by slipping on your kitchen floor!
It only takes a few minutes to do this. Look, fried foods are messy. But these tips will save you time in the long run.