At a Glance:
Gather Your Microwave Cleaning Materials
8 Steps to Clean Your Microwave
How Often Should You Clean Your Microwave?
Check You Microwave’s Manual for Special Instructions
Too often, homeowners ignore their microwaves until they become gross. If you look inside your microwave now, do you see bits of reheated pasta sauce clinging to the walls? Do you continue to put off this chore because you don’t want to scrape off bits of old food? If so, you aren’t alone. Most people don’t know how to clean a microwave and frequently forget to make this activity part of their kitchen chores.
There are multiple ways to clean your microwave, depending on your personal chemical preferences. You can use natural items like lemon and vinegar along with stronger cleaning products bought at the store. Use this guide to learn the best way to clean microwave surfaces.
Gather Your Microwave Cleaning Materials
Before you start the microwave cleaning process, make sure you have all of the necessary materials beforehand. This will make the process faster because you won't have to run out to buy cleaning products halfway through the task. A few key items you need include:
- A microwave-safe bowl
- Water
- Vinegar (white or apple cider) or your desired choice of citrus (lemon, lime, orange, etc.)
- Oven mitts to handle the hot bowl
- A cloth to wipe down your microwave
- Paper towels
These materials are used for a cleaning method that does not use harsh chemicals on your microwave. However, you are welcome to replace most of these items with a spray-based solution and a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser or similar sponge-like product.
The goal of using the water and vinegar solution when deciding the best way to clean a microwave is to use steam to loosen most of the stuck-on food particles so they are easy to wipe off. Keep this in mind before you exclusively try to scrub down your microwave.
8 Steps to Clean Your Microwave
There is good news for homeowners who are looking for an easy way to clean a microwave. By using the vinegar or lemon method, you can run your microwave and let this solution do most of the work for you. These steps can be done with both countertop microwaves and over-the-range microwave models.
How to clean microwave with vinegar (or how to clean microwave with lemon):
- Fill a microwave-safe bowl with a cup of water if you are cleaning your microwave with a lemon. Use two cups of water if you choose to clean your microwave with vinegar.
- If you are cleaning with lemon, roll the lemon around the countertop to get its juices flowing. Cut it in half and squeeze the juice into the bowl of water. Place the lemon halves in the bowl as well.
- If you are cleaning with vinegar, add two tablespoons of vinegar to your cups of water in the bowl.
- Place the bowl with either lemon or vinegar in the microwave and run it on high for five minutes.
- Leave the bowl in the microwave for 10 minutes to allow it to cool.
- Once cooled, remove the bowl and the turntable (you should be able to run this through the dishwasher).
- Use a damp cloth to wipe down your microwave to remove stains. You may need to use a sponge to scrub away stubborn bits of food.
- Dry with a clean towel or paper towel your microwave and return the cleaned turntable.
When you run your microwave for five minutes, you are boiling the water solution and creating steam in your appliance. It’s okay if the water boils over and falls on your microwave floor. You can clean this up after you remove the bowl and turntable.
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MicrowavesHow to Remove Microwave Odors
If you don’t clean your microwave often, then you might start to notice unpleasant odors that linger long after you enjoy the food you heated. For example, a few overcooked kernels of popcorn can give your whole microwave a burnt smell.
You aren’t alone in trying to figure out how to get smell out of a microwave, and fortunately, it’s not hard to do so. If there is a light odor in your microwave, leave the door open. Most often, the smell will dissipate naturally. If you have a built-in microwave, where leaving the door open gets in the way of your kitchen, you can also eliminate light odors by placing an open container of baking soda inside and closing the door. Just remember to remove it before you heat up your next meal.
Some stronger odors might last longer than you expect. This is why so many people want to learn how to get rid of a burnt smell in the microwave. Wipe down your microwave to remove any residue. You can also go through the full microwave cleaning process to remove the odor. An odor-absorbing gel can also remove the smell, but you still need to remember to remove it before heating up anything else.
How Often Should You Clean Your Microwave?
There’s a difference between how often most homeowners should clean their microwaves and how often they actually complete this chore. Your microwave is similar to other parts of your home: there are different requirements to clean it, and it depends on how much work you want to do. Some people clean their homes a little each day, while others wait for their house to get messy and then spend a day tidying it.
Here is a useful guide for keeping your microwave clean:
- Immediately: Wipe your microwave down whenever you use it and notice spilled food. Air out your microwave after use—even for just a few minutes.
- Daily: Wipe down your microwave whenever you do the dishes or clean your countertops. If you missed cleaning any food bits earlier, this is the time to remove them.
- Weekly: Take a damp cloth and clean the inside of your microwave, along with the door and the handles.
- Monthly: Conduct a deep clean of your microwave with a bowl of water and lemon or vinegar every month or so.
Not everyone is diligent enough to wipe down the microwave as soon as something spills—and that’s okay. However, the more you let food stay in the microwave, the harder it will be to remove. Bits and particles will dry out and get crusted on, which means more scrubbing for you later.
When you ask how to clean the inside of a microwave, think about how labor-intensive you want this chore to be. It’s easier to remove fresh pasta sauce that just spilled than to wait until the end of the month for your lemon and water solution to steam off the food.
Check You Microwave’s Manual for Special Instructions
The steps illustrated in this guide can be applied to most microwaves. Almost any microwave can handle cleaning with water and lemon or vinegar. However, if you are concerned about your microwave, check the manual it comes with to see if there are any special instructions when cleaning.
For example, see if your microwave as a removable air filter and if there is a specific way to clean that. If you heat items with microwave drawers, check if to make sure food particles aren’t falling onto the rollers or see if the drawer should be removed or not. If your manual doesn’t have any specific instructions for cleaning a microwave, you can move forward with your standard sanitization practices.
Keeping your microwave clean means you’ll always have a place to prepare a quick meal or to help with making sides for dinner. While the average microwave around seven or so years, newer and upgraded models now feature stainless steel or enamel materials that make cleanup even easier. Other features such as steam cleaning can also help cut down on the task. If your current microwave doesn’t have these features and you want to make cleaning your microwave less of a chore, it may be time to consider a newer replacement, and East Coast Appliance is the best place to look.
FAQs
Here are a few follow-up answers to questions we often get about cleaning a microwave.
What is the easiest way to clean a microwave?
The easiest way to clean your microwave is to place two tablespoons of vinegar in a bowl with two cups of water. Turn the microwave on high for five minutes and then let it sit for 10 minutes. Remove the bowl and wipe down any food particles that were previously stuck on.
How do you deodorize a microwave?
The easiest way to remove an odor from a microwave is to leave the door open so it airs out. You can also place baking soda inside and close the door to absorb the smell. If any odors linger, you may need to conduct a deep cleaning on the microwave, so it smells fresh.
Why Trust East Coast Appliance?
Locally owned and operated since 1988, East Coast Appliance is the largest independent appliance dealer in Virginia. We sell it ALL — from new name-brand appliances to scratch-and-dent appliances to our very own refurbished appliances. Aside from our huge selection of every major brand and everyday low prices, what sets us apart from our competitors is that we service what we sell and that we are locally owned and operated with factory-trained associates. And if you’re a local, great news: East Coast Appliance is committed to providing the absolute lowest prices on the same available brand and model — simply bring in the ad of the local retail competitor while the lower price is in effect and you'll receive your price match.
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There is a reason we are dubbed “The Discount King” — for unbeatable deals, shop microwaves online at East Coast Appliance. Our friendly associates are always happy to help you learn how to clean a microwave and find the best one for your kitchen, whether you call us or use our online chat feature. Better yet, stop by one of our showrooms to see why we are the best appliance store in Virginia. Visit us today!
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