Keeping a kitchen between visits

The kitchen is the room that decides how hard the next visit will be. Almost all of the work in it comes from things that were easy for about ten minutes and then were not.

While it is still easy

• Wipe the hob while it is warm, not hot and not cold. Cold grease needs a product; warm grease needs a cloth.
• Dry the sink after the last wash of the day. Water left to dry is how limescale starts.
• Keep the bin lid closed and the bin itself washed — the smell in most kitchens is the bin, not the food.
• Deal with a spill in the fridge the day it happens.

What to leave to the visit

Inside the oven, behind the appliances, the extractor filter and the top of the cupboards are not weekly jobs and are miserable to do without the right equipment. Leave them, and book them as add-ons when they are due.