Use Steam to Clean the Grimiest Spots in Your Kitchen

Welcome to Clean Enough, a new kind of cleaning column for busy home cooks who have better things to do than scrub and sanitize around the clock. Every other week, neurodivergent writer and mom Emily Farris shares tips, tools, and products that can help you stay on top of the dirtiest spots in the kitchen while also dispelling a few cleaning myths and cutting down on clutter.

If you want a sparkling kitchen but you don’t want to use harsh chemicals or expend too much elbow grease, there’s a safe, eco-friendly alternative: steam.

Steam is a fantastic tool for cleaning the kitchen because it can dissolve dirt and grime, consumes less water than most other wet cleaning methods, and when used properly, it can also kill many viruses and bacteria. It does require a little patience (more on that later) but the good news is that it’s actually pretty fun.

A steam cleaning machine, or steam gun, is a handheld device that heats water (usually to somewhere between 200ºF and 300ºF) and expels piping-hot steam, similar to a garment steamer. But unlike the kind of steamer you use for clothes, a cleaning steamer has a long nozzle that can get into crevices and corners. There’s also a trigger button that allows you to control the release of pressurized steam. Pew-pew! (See? I told you it was fun.)

How a steam cleaner works

When water gets hot enough to become a gas, it gets agitated in the airtight chamber of a steam cleaner. And because it stays in there until you release it via the trigger, the steam will build up and come out of the machine with a little bit of force. The pressure on my Bissell Steam Shot is comparable to what comes out of a can of compressed air duster—which is all to say that a steam gun isn’t anywhere near as powerful or satisfying as something like a pressure washer. So depending on what steam gun you get, you may need to spend some time focusing the steam on your kitchen’s gunkiest spots.

Luckily, most steam cleaners come with brush attachments that help to dislodge the worst messes more quickly. And no matter what you clean with steam, you’ll want to go over it with a microfiber or paper towel as soon as you’re done spraying, because while steam is wonderful for dislodging gunk and grime, it can’t make it disappear into thin air.

17 ways to use a steam cleaner in the kitchen

Because steam is just a gas created by hot water, it can be used on most (but not all) kitchen surfaces. While you want to avoid using it on water-based paint and porous surfaces like butcher block countertops and wood cutting boards, you can safely steam nearly any non-porous surface. Here are 17 common kitchen messes you can remove with steam:

1. Baked-on gunk from the crumb tray of your countertop/toaster oven
2. Baked-on gunk from inside of your full-size oven (racks, too!)
3. Greasy gunk from your stovetop
4. Scum and other buildup from inside of your sink
5. The “solid matter” that settles into the little rubber feet on your protective sink rack (you can also replace those)
6. Mineral buildup from the base of your faucet
7. Mineral deposits from the spout of the ice and water dispenser that’s built into your fridge door (I dare you to look up into it)
8. Rock-hard mystery goo on the back of your fridge shelf
9. Grease and dust from the mesh filters on your range hood (just be sure to remove them first so the gunk has somewhere to go)
10. Dirt and buildup from tile and grout
11. Greasy kitchen gunk from any nonporous items that get stored on high kitchen shelves
12. Grimy baking sheets
13. Annoying fingerprints from the stainless steel handles on your large appliances
14. Mildew spots from that damp kitchen towel you wadded up and forgot to wash
15. Whatever is lurking in your sponge, dish brush, or scrubby cloth
16. Buildup on the top of the casters on your kitchen island or cart
17. All the gross buildup in and on your trash can and recycling bins

Can you clean your kitchen with a clothing steamer?

Because even a cheap garment steamer could effectively clean a surface in a pinch (steam is steam), I tried using one in my kitchen. The verdict: Don’t try this at home on any surface that isn’t vertical unless you want to burn your hands with scalding hot water. It’s definitely worth it to spend a little more and get a proper steam cleaning machine for the kitchen.