How to clean greasy/oily surfaces in kitchen above/near stove.
 

The top of my fridge, the wooden cabinets directly above my stove, and the microwave (also above the stove) all seem to have this.. greasy, sticky, and oily substance on them.. it's really weird. I have no idea wtf it's from, but I'm guessing it's from cooking, although it baffles me how a layer of grease just makes its way over everything. Even the liquor bottles I have on top of the fridge are coated!

I have NO idea how to clean this or remove this substance. I tried putting dishsoap (the kind that removes grease) on a sponge and wiping the surfaces down, but it's still there, and on top of that it ruins the sponge.

Any ideas on what chemicals/cleaners I could use? Or better yet, how the heck do I prevent this from happening?

I think it's just the oils in the cooking fumes, smells, etc. Just floats on up there and coats everything. If you've got a range hood above your stove, turn the fan on high when you're cooking and i should suck most of the fumes away.

I really don't think it's some sort of super-slime. A strong dishwashing detergent, cleaning agent, anything used to clean stoves should do the trick. Perhaps you'll need a bit of scrubbing too (I'm sure there's an 'elbow grease' pun here somewhere, but I'm not that clever!) and you'll go through a few scrubbing sponges, but if it comes off now you won't have to clean it for a long time before it builds up again.

I find that the citrus-based cleansers work pretty well on stuff like that. I'd try some Orange Clean or De-Solvit. Usually the citrus stuff is pretty cheap, and it works on all sorts of surfaces, and it smells good. It's worth a shot.

I found that TSP is the best grease cutter out there.
Good to prewash walls for painting etc. - Be careful this stuff can soften paint a bit.

Takes grease off metal/glass/hard surfaces like crazy.

Trisodium phosphate would be my first choice, with several precautions. It doesn't soften paint so much as it is a deglosser. Wear safety goggles and gloves, as TSP doesn't know the difference between grease on the walls and fats in your skin. Avoid contact between TSP and aluminum-they are reactive.

A simple way to clean this is to use a spray bottle w/a dilution on bleach and water. Odds are this is from basic cooking, and what floats through the air. Dish soap isn't made to cut it.

I would also recommend cleaning your filter in your hood fan, I use a little powdered ajax/comet... remove filter (its metal and shiney), wet the filter, sprinkle on, let sit for 5 min, then rinse off in hot water, this will get most of the grease off, with no real effort. As far as getting rid of the grease, are you cooking a lot of hamburger, do you have a frier?
The only time I have seen the kind of airborne grease you speak of is in a commercial type kitchen.

I just moved into an ex-rental house and had this exact same problem.

Three solutions in order of effectiveness.

1) Auto degreaser. The stuff you use on your drive. Works like a wonder. Just be neat and careful when applying.

2) Sugar Soap. I have no idea what's in this stuff, but it's an old style cleaning product and works wonders.

3) Citrus cleaners. Pretty good, nice smelling and generally works well.


Mr Mephisto

Try simple green. I first learned about it in college when my friends swore by it for cleaing smoking accessories. Now I use it around the house any time the other cleaners don't cut it.

simple green is good. if that fails you can move on to mineral spirits and scoth-brite pads. use gloves and turn the fan on, tho!