Want a cleaner kitchen floor? Don’t overlook a simple sweeping.
Q: What’s the best way to clean my kitchen floor — broom, vacuum, mop?
A: A quick sweep every day — or even twice a day if you have messy cooks or eaters and pets running through — can do wonders to keep a kitchen looking tidy. Vacuuming also works, as long as you avoid using a beater bar, but it’s noisy. Plus, hauling out a vacuum cleaner, hose and wand takes a lot more effort than picking up a broom and dustpan.
Sweeping sounds like child’s play, and it can be, which is why toy companies sell kid-sized brooms and mops. But when your focus is cleaning, there is a process for getting the job done efficiently. Here are answers to some common questions about sweeping.
Should I sweep away from or toward me?
Toward you usually works best, but sometimes you need both techniques. If your kitchen is one big open room, you can sweep toward you and collect a pile in the middle of the room. Sweeping away would just push dirt into the places where it’s hardest to clean, such as the toe kick space under base cabinets. But if your kitchen has a nook — maybe an attached pantry or laundry area, for example — or if your kitchen is L-shaped, it works best to start in the small area. Sweep toward you at first, then step over the crumbs and sweep away as you move into the main space. There, you can return to sweeping toward you.
How vigorous should I be?
Outdoors, vigorous brushing from side to side clears brick or concrete paths in a flash. But indoors, putting too much energy into sweeping just stirs up dust. Use the broom more like a mop, pulling the dirt into a pile where you can sweep it into a dustpan. As you clean, keep an eye out for bits of food stuck to the floor or smudges from spilled yogurt or other things that don’t come free by sweeping. A quick wipe with a damp cloth removes these.
What type of broom should I use?
Outdoors or in a garage, sweeping with a wide push broom can be very efficient, especially if it has thick, stiff bristles to dislodge clumps of leaves and dirt or other messes. But in a kitchen, choose a brush with soft bristles that have split tips, which are better for collecting dry debris, dust and hair, whether from animals or people. An angled broom makes it easy to reach under base cabinets to clean toe kicks and other tight spaces. But a thick, non-angled brush with multiple rows of bristles also works surprisingly well. For years, I have used a 12-inch-wide Harper “upright broom” ($29.99 at DoItBest), which resembles a push broom except that the handle is at a 90-degree angle to the brush block rather than 45 degrees. The multiple rows of bristles efficiently collect dust, and I’ve experienced no problems reaching into toe kicks or corners.
What about dust pans?
Once you’ve swept the debris into a pile, you need a good dust pan to help you get that dust into a trash can. A dust pan with a handle that opens when you set it down saves you from bending over, but make sure the lip is straight from side to side and angled to a narrow tip so you can sweep the debris into the pan without leaving a lot of it under the dust pan or on the floor in front of it. A dust pan with a tip similar to a squeegee blade works especially well, provided the edge is straight. Some broom-and-dust pan sets have a set of teeth that allow you to clean out the brush bristles into the dust pan, such as the Kelamayi Upright Broom and Dustpan Set ($38.99 on Amazon).
If bending over isn’t a problem for you, another good option is a handheld metal dustpan with a squeegee-like lip, such as the Range Kleen Copper Hooded Dust Pan ($11.99 online at Ace Hardware). The metal in this pan is relatively thin, though, so check before you buy to make sure the lip is straight, and store the pan where the lip won’t bend.
What else do I need to do?
Sweeping, even daily or twice a day, won’t keep a kitchen floor clean forever, of course. At some point, you’ll need to clean more thoroughly. For any kind of kitchen flooring, you can use a cloth or a microfiber mop moistened with water or a mixture of water and a tiny amount of clear hand dishwashing soap, followed by a clean, dry cloth or mop pad so you don’t leave swirls. Microfiber cloths and mops work especially well because they don’t leave lint and are easy to wring out. The key is “damp” — not sopping wet — especially if you have a floor made of wood or wood fibers. You need to clean the finish on a wood floor, but you don’t want to soak through that or between planks into the flooring itself. On all floors, avoid using harsh abrasives, such as steel wool or the kinds of scrub pads you’d use to clean pots. A string mop and a bucket of hot water with a little hand dishwashing soap works well on ceramic or stone tile. Special cleaners are available for sheet vinyl and true linoleum.