A microwave is the one appliance where scrubbing is entirely the wrong approach. Baked on splatter comes off with steam and about five minutes of doing nothing, and people who attack it with an abrasive pad end up with a scratched interior and the same stains.
The Method
Fill a microwave safe bowl with about a cup of water. Add a few slices of lemon, or a couple of tablespoons of vinegar, or a couple of tablespoons of baking soda. Any of the three works and lemon smells best.
Run it on high for four to five minutes until it is clearly boiling. Then leave the door closed for another five minutes. That second part is the part everyone skips and it is the part that does the work: the steam condenses on the interior and softens everything on it.
Open it carefully, since the bowl and the steam are genuinely hot, and use an oven mitt. Then wipe everything down with a cloth. Splatter that would have needed a scraper comes off with a wipe.
If a stubborn patch remains, put a paste of baking soda and water on it, wait five minutes, and wipe again.
The Parts Nobody Removes
The interior walls are the easy part. These are the ones that actually make the difference.
The turntable and the roller ring. Both lift straight out. The glass plate is usually dishwasher safe. The roller ring underneath collects a sticky ring of spilled food that is invisible until you lift the plate, and it is often where a lingering smell is coming from.
Under the turntable. The recessed floor beneath the plate collects whatever ran off the edge. Wipe it while the plate is out.
The door seal and the inside edge of the door. The lip around the door frame never gets sprayed by anything and collects grease.
The vents. Usually on the top or side, and they collect greasy dust in a kitchen that cooks.
The waveguide cover, which is the small rectangular panel of light grey or beige material on the interior wall. Wipe it gently with a damp cloth and never scrub or remove it. It is a functional part, and a damaged one causes arcing.
If It Is an Over the Range Model
These have a second job, and it is the one that gets ignored for years.
Underneath the unit there are metal mesh grease filters that slide out. In a household that cooks regularly they saturate, and a saturated filter is doing nothing at all for your kitchen air. They soak in hot water with a degreaser and go back in.
Many models also have a charcoal filter behind the front vent grille, used when the unit recirculates rather than venting outside. That one is not cleanable. It is replaced, typically every six to twelve months, and almost nobody has ever replaced theirs.
What to Keep Away From It
No abrasive pads, no scouring powder and no metal scrapers on the interior. The coating scratches, and a scratched interior holds stains worse than it did before.
No oven cleaner. It is far too aggressive for a microwave interior and is not intended for it.
And do not spray anything directly into the vents or onto the door seal. Spray the cloth instead, so liquid is not running into places electricity lives.
Keeping It From Getting Bad Again
A cover over the plate, even a plate turned upside down, removes almost all of it. Wipe spills the same day, since they harden with each subsequent use rather than staying soft. And leave the door open for a few minutes after cooking something wet, so the interior dries instead of staying damp.
Two minutes once a week and you never do the steam method again.
The Rest of the Kitchen Is in the Same State
If the microwave has reached the point where you are searching for how to clean it, the same cooking residue is on the cabinet fronts above the range, in the dishwasher filter and gasket, in the refrigerator drip tray, and on the wall behind the cooktop. Those are the ones nobody looks at.
Call (214) 430-4447 or request a free quote online and ask about a kitchen deep clean or a full deep clean. We will tell you what is included, what belongs to a technician instead, and give you a real number before we start.
We serve McKinney, Frisco, Allen, Prosper, Celina and the surrounding communities.
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Rather hand the work to a team that does this every day? See our deep cleaning service or call (214) 430-4447 for a free quote.
