Cleaning and maintaining your kitchen appliances

A coffeemaker, toaster, blender and microwave — no kitchen should be without them. But even though these gadgets make life easier, they still need regular cleaning and maintenance.

Most kitchen appliances run on electricity, therefore special care should be used when cleaning them. The first step in cleaning all types of kitchen appliances is always to pull the plug, then detach all removable parts and wash them or put them into the dishwasher.

• Decalcify your espresso machine or coffeemaker regularly using a mixture of equal parts vinegar and water. Add the solution to the reservoir and run it through just as if you were making a pot of coffee. Repeat the process twice with water.
• Fill your kettle with the same solution (equal parts vinegar and water). For significant calcium deposits, bring the mixture to a boil. Let it sit for 30 mintues, empty it out and rinse thoroughly. If necessary, scour with steel wool.
• Before cleaning your microwave, add a slice of lemon to a bowl of water and heat until steam forms, then simply wipe out the appliance with a cloth. Vinegar and water work just as well.
• Rub a little cooking oil into the rubber gaskets of kitchen appliances to ensure they close tightly. This task should be performed occasionally.
• Make your hand mixer's beaters easier to insert and remove by putting a tiny drop of olive oil into the installation sockets.
• Empty the crumb tray of your toaster and shake out the crumbs over the kitchen sink.
• Spread a layer of baking soda on the oven bottom to clean a non-self-cleaning oven. Spray with enough water to make the soda damp. Let sit for a couple of hours, then wipe clean.
• Garbage disposals are self-cleaning, but they can get smelly. To keep them running smoothly, operate with a full stream of running cold water and flush the ground up debris away after. At the first sign of an unpleasant odour, tear up the peels of oranges or lemons and run them through the garbage disposal.