A considerable amount of time is spent in the kitchen, especially if you enjoy cooking, love food, or enjoy experimenting on new dishes. The presence of pests such as cockroaches, spiders, and ants which tag along diseases can be quite a nuisance. Pests can chew through almost every packaging of food items, thus contaminating your food. They also leave droppings in drawers and other unidentified places that you may not suspect. Maintaining a clean kitchen is paramount to avoiding pest infestation.
Here are 15 organizing tips for a pest-free kitchen.
1. Be on the Lookout for Pest Activities Around Food Storage Areas
Observe your storage areas and look out for food droppings, pest feces, and chew marks on storage containers as this is confirmation you have pests in your habitat.
2. Pipes Maintenance
Regular maintenance of your pipes ensures there is no leakage. Pests are always looking for food, water, and shelter and pipes may be a good habitat providing all these needs. You do not want to promote the growth of pests, so focus on making conditions unfavorable for them.
3. Keep Kitchen Floors Clean
Before any pest ventures into your kitchen either the sink or under utensils, it has to first crawl on the floor to gain entry. If the floor is always clean, the chances of pests infesting your kitchen are reduced.
4. Keep Trash Bins Covered
Covering the trash bins will keep the foul smell inside the bin, which acts as an attraction for pests.
5. Avoid Placing Food in Open Areas
Placing food in exposed areas attracts pests since they are within their reach. It is advisable to store them in bags or inside the fridge.
6. Regular Cleaning of Kitchen Appliances
Cleaning your kitchen appliances regularly acts as a pest control measure as it eliminates possible droppings in these appliances. This includes, but is not limited to, cleaning the oven, microwave, coffee maker, toaster, and blender. If they are not in use, it’s advisable to keep them clean and packed away in their boxes. This also makes them easily accessible when you need to use them again.
7. Fill in Chips and Cracks
Broken walls or tiles may act as hideouts for pests as they enjoy dark spaces. Therefore, mending these chips and cracks reduces the chances of pests around your kitchen. If they are broken beyond repair, replace them with new pieces.
8. Take Trash Out Frequently
One of the things pests are attracted to is food leftovers. Frequently taking the trash out reduces the chances of pests around the kitchen. It is advisable to maintain the trash bins clean and dry to eliminate food residues that may have stuck on them.
9. Identify Moist Areas
Fix any leakages in taps and water traps to avoid moist areas. Ensure to dry out all surfaces after washing dishes as moist areas are hiding places for cockroaches.
10. Clean the Sink After Every Meal
Leaving plates and bowls in the sink with leftover food is a great attraction for cockroaches, ants, and drosophila melanogaster. A dirty sink might also act as pests hiding place, especially at night.
11. Identify Pest Entry Points
Once you identify pests’ entry points or their favorite hiding place, use saline or soapy solutions to clean the area and lure them out, which will rid you of them. Salt has been known to kill ants.
12. Clean Kitchen Cabinets Regularly
Regularly check your cabinets looking out for any exposed food, any sign of pests like droppings or dead cockroaches. While cleaning cabinets, check on storage containers that might not be tightly closed as is required. This not only keeps the food fresh but also prevents the possibility of pests getting into the containers.
13. Let Sun into Your Kitchen
A kitchen with sunlight is more likely to be pest-free than that with poor ventilation. To achieve a healthy kitchen, large windows or sliding glass doors may work as an option for they allow natural light and sun rays into the kitchen area.
14. Use of a Fly Screen
Flies are quite difficult to control in the kitchen. It is, therefore, advisable to reduce whatever attracts them. To manage their presence, avoid leaving food or liquids exposed around the kitchen or sink.
15. Keep Bulky Kitchen Equipment on Rollers
Keeping bulky kitchen equipment on rollers helps to move them around while cleaning. This reduced the chances of creating a habitat for pests such as cockroaches that like to hide in dark, moist, and warm places.
In summary, pest control is best tackled before you have a major break out, and following the above tips eliminates a breakout. However, suppose an infestation has become a menace and you find it difficult to manage. In that case, it is necessary to engage the services of a pest control company like Excel Pest Control to solve your issue.