Must-Have Kitchen Appliance Maintenance Tips for Foodies

Why Regular Maintenance of Household Appliances is Essential

Regular kitchen maintenance is an investment in the longevity and efficiency of your appliances. Here's why:

• Boosts efficiency and food quality: Regular maintenance ensures your kitchen appliances are always at their best, providing energy savings and superior results in your cooking.

*Extends appliance lifespan: Regular cleaning prevents the build-up of harmful dirt, grease, and debris, thereby increasing the lifespan of your appliances. Timely intervention can stop minor issues from becoming major, costly problems.

• Prevents breakdowns and expensive repairs: Regular inspections allow you to spot potential issues before they lead to breakdowns, helping you avoid unexpected repairs and expenses.

Annual professional maintenance of your kitchen appliances can magnify these benefits. A Sears Home Services technician can visit you home to thoroughly check and maintain all of your kitchen appliances in one convenient visit. A technician can spot potential failures and help prevent breakdowns before they occur. Schedule professional maintenance service for your kitchen appliances now.

Must-Have Maintenance Tips for Your Refrigerator

Keeping your refrigerator clean and well-maintained is key to preserving food freshness and ensuring optimal performance. Here are some must-have kitchen appliance maintenance tips for foodies:

Cleaning the Refrigerator

Regularly clean your refrigerator, both internally and externally. Use a mild detergent mixed with warm water to wipe down the interior, ensuring to clean stains or spills. Avoid abrasive cleaners or pads.

For the exterior, a soft cloth and a gentle cleaning solution work best. Don't forget to clean the handles, control panel, and door seals.

If you have a stainless steel refrigerator, follow the tips in this helpful video to polish the cabinet:

Cleaning the fridge will help your fellow foodies have confidence in eating your creations with the confidence that everything is sanitary and safe.

Maintaining the Coils

Dusting the coils regularly is critical for optimal performance. Unplug the refrigerator, locate the coils and clean them using a brush or vacuum. Refer to the directions in your owner’s manual if you need help finding the coils in your model of fridge.

We recommend doing this at least twice a year.

Replacing the Water Filter

If your refrigerator has a built-in water dispenser or ice maker, remember to replace the filter every six months or when the indicator light comes on. Fresh-tasting water and ice will enhance the taste of your meals. Cooking with filtered water helps foods taste better.

Avoid the Thrill-Kill of a Dirty Microwave

Perhaps nothing can turn dinner guests off more than a dirty microwave. This high-profile kitchen appliance is the one that family and guests look at first when they enter your kitchen. It just takes one glimpse of food splatters inside this appliance to turn the tide against your image as a great cook.

Keep the microwave clean at all times to give your guests confidence in your cooking. Use a microwave food cover to help prevent food from splattering all of the inside of the microwave cavity.

Maintaining Your Oven and Stove

Ensure your oven and stove are always ready as well with these maintenance tips.

Cleaning the Stovetop

Clean your stovetop and oven regularly to keep them in optimal condition. Use a mild cleanser and a soft cloth for cleaning the cooktop. If you have a glass top stove, follow the expert tips in our How to clean a glass cooktop video.

For a gas stovetop, follow the tips in this video to clean burners thoroughly for best cooking performance: How to clean grates and burners on a gas cooktop video.

Cleaning the Oven

Cleaning the oven is a breeze when your model has the Self Clean feature. Simply start the Self Cleaning mode and the oven will heat up to extremely high temperatures and burn residue inside the oven cavity to ash. Follow the directions in your owner’s manual to use the Self Cleaning mode on your model.

If you don’t have a self-cleaning oven, use an oven cleaner to clean spills and residue from the inside of the oven cavity. If you use the oven often as a foodie, consider upgrading your range to a self-cleaning model. Our Sears.com Upgrade page has special offers and financing that make it easy for you to replace your oven right away.

Check the oven seal regularly for signs of wear or tear. If you find any issues, replace the seal promptly.

Cleaning the Oven Door

One particular place that’s hard to clean is the glass inside the oven door. Spill often drip down the top vents in the door to stain the glass. Cleaning that glass is fairly complicated – even for an accomplished appliance repair DIY’er. Here’s a video that shows that procedure for disassembling and cleaning oven door glass for a common oven:

If this procedure is beyond your DIY capabilities, schedule repair service and we’ll send a Sears Home Services technician to your home to clean the oven door glass. The technician can personally advise you on how to prevent spills from dripping down into the inner oven door. While the tech is there, you can also have him or her clean and maintain all of your kitchen appliances for a modest fee.

Maintaining Your Dishwasher

Keeping your dishwasher in top shape will help ensure a smooth clean-up after every delicious meal that you prepare. Here are some essential dishwasher cleaning and maintenance tips:

• Clean the dishwasher filter: Over time, the dishwasher filter can become clogged with food particles. Regular filter cleaning ensures your dishes always come out sparkling clean. As a foodie, you know that presentation on sparkling dishes is important.
• Clear residue out of spray arm holes: Hard water deposits eventually begin clogging spray arm holes and inhibiting their spray patterns. Use a bamboo skewer to clear residue and deposits from the holes.
• Perform thorough dishwasher maintenance: Use these tips from Sears Home Services Tech Tom Charland to keep your dishwasher in top shape and running smoothly:

By following these expert kitchen maintenance tips, you can ensure your kitchen appliances remain in excellent condition for years to come, making your culinary adventures even more enjoyable. Remember, maintenance of home appliances is not only about extending their lifespan but also about enhancing your cooking experience.