While it’s an easy step of cleaning your kitchen to forget, you’ll be in for a nasty surprise if you don’t clean your microwave often enough. Luckily, when it comes to maintaining cleanliness, even with the smallest microwaves out there, there are quite a few different ways to clear your microwave of gunk and grime, including how to clean a microwave without vinegar in the process.
Ever Open Up Your Microwave and Faced a Distinct Odor?
Have you ever opened your microwave door only to be faced with an unpleasant smell as soon as you open the odor?
While a bad smell can signal an aging microwave when it’s in use, a smell when you open the microwave usually just means it needs a good cleaning. We’ll help you learn how to get your microwave back in tip-top shape!
What You’ll Need to Clean a Microwave Without Vinegar
- Microwave safe bowl
- ½ cup of water
- 1 lemon
- You’ll need these lemons for their juice, so you’ll want to cut the lemon in half before getting started or make sure that you have a knife handy for this step.
- Dry rag or paper towel
How Do You Clean a Microwave with Lemon Juice?
Reference tutorial: YouTube
Step 1: Preparing Your Cleaning Solution
The first thing to do is to prepare the solution you’ll be cleaning your microwave with. For this, start by grabbing your microwave safe bowl – that’s where you’ll mix the ingredients. To this bowl, add your ½ cup of water and squeeze your lemon halves into the bowl.
Once you’re done with that, though, don’t just throw your lemons away! Instead, place them in the water with the open sides facing down towards the bottom of the bowl.
Step 1: Fill a microwave-safe bowl 1/2 full of water. |
Step 2: Squeeze a whole lemon into the water. |
Step 2: Bringing in the Microwave
The good news is that the next step doesn’t require any heavy-duty scrubbing. All you need to do is place the bowl in the microwave and close it. Then, just microwave it for three minutes just like you would if you’d put food inside.
Once it’s done, don’t open the door! The thing here that’s going to break up tough stains in your microwave is the steam. Keep the steam trapped in by not opening the microwave door will continue to break down these stains, so keep the door shut for an extra five minutes.
Step 3: Wipe It All Down
Once you’ve let the steam sit in the microwave for five minutes, open the door and remove the bowl of lemons and water. Remember, be careful in case the bowl is hot, even though it’s been sitting for five minutes. The microwave likely retained a portion of that heat.
Then, take out your dry cloth and wipe the microwave down. You’ll likely see those stubborn spots start to wipe away without much effort on your part.
Step 4: Optional Extra Measures for Stubborn Stains
If you have some particularly difficult stains that won’t come out, you can use a damp cloth or wet sponge dampened with the lemon water you microwaved earlier to scrub them out.
They shouldn’t stand up to much of this direct approach.
Try it out. I know you’ll be glad you did!
How Do You Clean a Microwave with Baking Soda?
- To clean your microwave with baking soda, you’ll just need baking soda, hot water, a microwave safe bowl, and a cloth or sponge.
- Put the baking soda in the bowl and add the hot water.
- Microwave the mixture for five minutes.
- Remove the bowl from the microwave and wiped down the inside of the microwave with a cloth or sponge.
How Do You Clean a Micro-wave with Vinegar and Water?
- To clean your microwave with vinegar and water, you’ll need these two ingredients as well as a dry rag and a microwave safe bowl.
- Add two cups of water to the bowl along with two tablespoons of vinegar.
- Microwave the mixture for five minutes.
- Let the mixture stand in the microwave for two or three extra minutes without opening the door.
- Remove the bowl and turntable. Then, wipe down the interior of the microwave with the cloth.
How Do You Clean a Microwave with Soap and Water?
- Alongside soap and water, you’ll need a microwave safe bowl, a damp towel, a dry towel, and baking soda, if you want to deodorize your microwave.
- In the bowl, mix the water, a bit of dishsoap and a dash of baking soda, although the last ingredient is technically optional.
- Microwave the mixture for five minutes.
- Let the mixture sit in the microwave for an additional five minutes before opening the door.
- Remove the mixture and wipe the interior of the microwave down. Start with a damp towel and then go back over it with a dry one.
What Can You Use to Clean the Inside of Your Microwave?
As we’ve seen, you can use a variety of materials to clean your microwave. If you want to dip into the usual items that you might use in cleaning your home, you can opt to clean your microwave with vinegar or baking soda.
If you want to go a natural route with a citrus twist, you can use lemons. Even just a little soap and water can do the trick!
How Often Should You Replace Your Micro-wave?
What about when cleaning isn’t enough? After all, there are times that a simple cleaning can’t save a microwave that’s outlasted its lifespan. For that matter, how long does a microwave work before you should start looking for a new one to replace it?
Well, you actually don’t have to worry too much because a microwave can last as long as 10 years when taken care of properly. You can check here the best microwave models you can buy today.
How Often Should You Clean Your Micro Oven?
Once you’ve cleaned your microwave once, you aren’t done. Unfortunately, these appliances see regular use and, thus, come into contact with messes more often than you might like.
If you want to keep your microwave looking pristine, what’s the best way to go about it? How often should you clean your microwave?
As for regular cleanings with normal use, you can probably get away with a weekly cleaning for a microwave. However, you’ll also want to clean it if it gets noticeably messy.
Conclusion
Did you like this tutorial? It can help you make sure that your microwave is always sparkling.
If you liked it, make sure to share it and let us know what you thought below!