Instead of “How to Clean the Tops of Greasy Kitchen Cabinets”, this post really should be called “The Horror That Lies Above” because that’s exactly what was I found. You see, this is an area that I don’t clean on a regular schedule. I think I mentally put it off because I know how icky it gets. All that dust that’s mixed in with cooking grease = sticky gross gunk. The only reason I even made it up there was because I was hanging some decorative plates above the cabinets.
Now, if you’re faint of heart, easily grossed out, squeamish, or faint easily…don’t scroll down.
I’m giving you fair warning!
Are you ready for the horror?
*Cue the horror music* Here it comes….
EEEEeeeewwwwww!!!!! So GROSS, right?!
I was so mortified, that I immediately sent my hubby to the store to fetch me some heavy duty grease cleaner and went to work. I also tested a natural way to clean this greasy gunk off using only vinegar and baking soda, which was something I’ve seen done on Pinterest. Here’s what I did.
How To Clean The Tops Of Greasy Kitchen Cabinets
Supplies (chemical way):
- SECRET TIP – old credit/store card, putty knife, or paint scrapper – this makes cleaning so quick and easy!
- paper towels
- Fantastik Scrubbing Bubbles Heavy Duty All Purpose Cleaner or your chosen heavy duty cleaner
Supplies (natural way):
- old credit card/store card, putty knife, or paint scrapper
- vinegar in a spray bottle
- baking soda
- lots of paper towels or reuseable towels
Chemical Cleaning
For the chemical way of cleaning, I used Fantastik’s Scrubbing Bubbles Heavy Duty All Purpose Cleaner. I am not sponsored, nor was I compensated for this post. This is just what the hubby brought home from the store and what I used.
- Don’t faint. Generously spray the tops of the cabinets with your chosen heavy duty cleaner. Let it sit for a few minutes.
- Get some paper towels and an old credit card/store card or anything with a sturdy straight edge. Begin to scrape off the sticky greasy gunk. Use the paper towel to wipe off the gunk from the card. Continue to do this until the entire top of the cabinet is clean. *Tip- using a plastic card makes it so much easier to scrape off the gunk. Much faster than trying to wipe it up.*
- Spray once more and give the cabinets a final wipe down.
- To prevent having greasy gunk build-up, cut and lay some type of paper on the tops of the cabinets (wax paper, wrapping paper, cut cereal boxes, etc…)
It’s not pretty, but it will help prevent greasy build up on the cabinets. Just change out the paper when needed.
Natural Cleaning
After using a chemical heavy duty cleaner, I wondered if just using vinegar and baking soda would be able to cut through the sticky greasy gunk. So, I poured some vinegar onto the top of one of the cabinets and sprinkled some baking soda on top. It immediately began to fizz and I could see some of the greasy begin to appear in the bubbles.
- Generously spray vinegar onto the cabinet tops and let this set for a minute or two. Sprinkle baking soda on top. Start scrubbing while the vinegar and baking soda is bubbling. Once it stops bubbling, you just have ‘water’, so scrub while the mixture is actively bubbling. Another option would be to make a baking soda paste with just water and baking soda. This will require some scrubbing, but the baking soda will help scrub off the grime. *Tip – Do not pour vinegar onto the top of the cabinet. I did this and some of the vinegar seeped down into my cabinet and made a small mess. Use a spray bottle to spray the vinegar onto your cabinet tops.*
- Get some paper towels and an old credit card/store card or anything with a strong straight edge. Begin to scrape off the sticky greasy gunk. Use the paper towel to wipe off the gunk from the card. Continue to do this until the entire top of the cabinet is clean.
- Wipe down again with straight vinegar until all the grit from the baking soda is gone.
- To prevent having greasy gunk build-up, cut and lay some type of paper on the tops of the cabinets (wax paper, wrapping paper, cut cereal boxes, etc…)
UPDATE: I’ve had a lot of people asking me which method I prefer better, the natural or chemical way. Both methods clean off the grime very well using the plastic card to scrape it off. So really, it is up to you which method you use. The only real difference is that the baking soda way does require wiping down the cabinet a little more to remove the gritty baking soda.
Glad you made it this far without fainting 🙂 
When was the last time you cleaned the tops of your kitchen cabinets? What are your tips/tricks to keeping this area clean?
For cleaning grease off the top of cabinets use Clorox cleanup, the grease will wipe right off!
Awesome advice, thanks for those tips! I was planning on putting all my small appliances up there and just didn’t really know where to start in the cleaning process. The only thing now is, all my appliances will get that buildup on them. 🙁 Any tips on that conundrum? Although they would probably be a lot easier to clean then the cabinet itself.
I’m so glad this helped. I have some things above my cabinet too. If you don’t care about aesthetics and I’m assuming you aren’t planning on using these appliances on a regular, you can use plastic wrap to cover/wrap around appliances. I used plastic wrap to cover the opening of our cotton candy maker so that it wouldn’t get greasy and dirty inside. Another option would be to sew matching covers to place over the appliances.
This is the most amazing cleaning tip that I have ever used! I sprayed Fantastik kitchen cleaner, let it set for 10 minutes as directed, then easily scrapped the yuck with a 4 1/2 inch putty knife. It’s a great feeling knowing that even the hidden parts of the kitchen are clean. Thank you!
Thanks for taking the time to comment. So glad this worked for you. It’s so satisfying seeing all the guck come up 🙂
Great ideas for clening! This is an amazing article. Thanks for Sharing such a great post. Keep Posting!!
Thanks for this post! I’m reading this while stuck at home with my kids during the Coronavirus quarantine. With everyone at home, I’ve decided to deep clean my kitchen and I’m glad I came across this post because my cabinets were filthy. I followed your instructions and got them so clean, I was shocked! I’ve been reading all kinds of of cabinet cleaning blogs to help me with cleaning my cabinets, but this has by far been one of the most helpful!
Rubbing alcohol cuts right through the grime!!
I tried soap and water, and some spray degreaser which didn’t really work. What worked though was some orange hand cleaner – the kind mechanics use. Made quick work of it!
Just wondering. We keep covered baskets on top of the cabinets for storing pasta and bulk spices. These get filthy with the same grime as the top of the cabinet. Any ideas on the best way to clean the baskets. Don’t want to throw them out.
Thank you so much.
Are they natural woven baskets? If so, you could try using some Dawn soap mixed with hot water and a toothbrush to scrub it clean.
Thanks! Unfortunately, I cleaned mine the hard way already but I will put your idea to use on the top of my kitchens half wall that is dirty/greasy. Hopefully, I’ll be able to paint it after! I used Glad Press’n Seal Food Plastic Wrap (clear) on my cabinets because the tops can be seen going down the stairs. It also sticks to tops which keeps it in place when I put/remove items! 😉
Using clear press on food wrap is an awesome idea and smart if you can see the tops of the cabinet.
Your blog on cleaning grease off the top of kitchen cabinets really saved me a lot of grief! I also appreciate how you tried both the chemical & natural method.I chose the natural method because fumes trigger my lungs to easily. It didn’t seem it was all that much effort to wipe the baking soda at all, for anyone who was wondering. What I really wanted to share is my accidental discovery. I decided to put down parchment paper to cover the tops of my cabinets per your recommendation. I did find that the parchment paper was a hassle. It has to be cut well and it’s not very malleable so it’s hard to work with. I didn’t have time to cut and measure perfectly. I thought tin foil would be very bendable and quick. Not only was it easy to work with, I didn’t have to measure or wrestle with it, I have decorative items on top of my cabinets. When I put the tin foil up there, it’s reflective qualities makes it look like I have fancy back lighting to showcase my items. Thanks for sharing your method.
Tin foil is a great idea! It will help reflect more light from my string of lights I have up there. I am so glad I found this article because I’m cleaning above my cabinets today.
Thanks for this! That greasy gunky build up is awful! I haven’t had a clue how to get it really clean
Le sigh, We are in the process of renovating and I know that I need to pay extra attention to the tops of my cabinets but I wasn’t sure exactly how until now!
Would this work on the top of my microwave too?
I would just use the baking soda and a bit of water to make paste(not runny) and spread it on the top. Then just wipe off with a little bit of scrubbing. It would be a little messy though.
Thanks for this great hint with photos. I started prepping my kitchen walls and ceiling before painting and was horrified to see the inches of greasy gunk up there. I hadn’t looked up there since moving into this apartment four years ago, and it looks like nobody else did either in the 30 years this apartment complex has been sitting here. I will get to work on the cabinet tops as soon as the prep paint dries on the walls. I’m glad I got this info before having my handyman come to install a new kitchen light. I would have been so embarrassed to have anyone see that mess up there.
We’re running out of storage space and I recently purchased beautiful baskets to set atop the deeper cabinets in my kitchen. After spending so much on these natural baskets, I couldn’t stomach setting them on at least a decade of grease. This is by far the grossest thing I’ve ever done… and Pinterventures’s advice made it so EASY. I opted for Scrubbing Bubbles/chemicals because I have extra laying around the apartment. The pictures of this method are VERY accurate. I used an old debit card, but later wished I had one of those wide scraping tools that painters and masons use; it would have sped things up. Per the advice, LET THE SOLUTION soak on the grease for some time. I opted for 10 minutes. My cabinet tops are so clean that I’m now storing my larger crockpot and kitchenaid mixer there, knowing that pulling these down 2-3x/month will eliminate grease accumulation on my beloved appliances. I plan to take a sponge and solution to the tops semi-annually to maintain the hard work I put in. THANK YOU for sharing this gross yet brilliant option for cleaning cabinet tops.
Scrapping off the gunk with a card works much faster.Also baking soda and vinegar cleaning action surprised me.Very informative article.Waiting for next post.Keep it up man!
Wow! I skeptically just tried this with a cleaner i bought and it worked like a charm! The secret really is the credit card scraping.
Yay! Glad it worked for you. It’s always a great feeling when the gunk gets cleaned.
Thank you for the Great info. I’ve been dreading this.
1 question though because my horrific cabinet tops are so full of dust on top of the 7 or so layers of grime . Should I remove the dust 1st? Or can I just do as you’ve done ?
I didn’t remove any of the dust before doing this because it was really sticky. If you can remove some of the dust, it would be less to wipe up later, but I didn’t find it necessary.
Have you tried washing with a thin paste of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. It works well on grime. Vinegar is acidic so might not be good for stone or wooden surfaces. The reaction between vinegar and baking soda erodes a little of the underlying wood.
Thank you! Worked. Never would have thought of using basically bathroom cleaner. But it was otherwise not coming clean.
The cleaner my hubby bought was a basic kitchen cleaner, but the secret is scrapping off the grease with something flat, like an old credit card or putty knife.
Thank you so much for your advice!
I have just moved into an old renovator that has been terribly neglected.
Take your before photos and times the filth, grease and dirt x 10. I am actually ready to tear the cabinets down.
Tonight I will try your methods and see how we go.
It’s such a great and efficient tips! I just finished the thorough cleaning of my kitchen and the last thing I did was to clean the tops of all cabinets – everything looks much better now 🙂 After the big cooking sessions during the holidays, my kitchen looked like it hasn’t been cleaned for years, although I made a deep clean just in the beginning of December. The idea with the cart was great and I’m definitely sharing your post with some friends. Thank you for this useful tip and have a great year!
Thank you for the tips. My New Years resolution is to get the top of those kitchen cabinets clean. I’m going to try your tips. There’s hope now that they won’t be a gunky mess in 2016.
worked like a freakin charm! i was completely flabbergasted! thanks!!!! nothing else would even touch the disgusting grime. The tops of the cabinets haven’t been cleaned since 1997….completely revolting!
Thank you for the great instructions! Was dreading doing mine with visions of hours of scrubbing. Following your instructions i set about all the tops my cabinets today (and they were pretty gunky ) anyway did what you did and an hour and a half later I have sparkly clean cabinets! I ended up using a shop bought cleaner and a plastic artex scraper as had them to hand but I know bicarb and vinegar is pretty wonderful stuff so I’ll be maintaining with that in the future.
Thanks again!
Rachelle x
Thanks for the thorough, insightful guidance on how to tackle this nasty project. At least you made it something to look forward to, with the anticipation of getting rid of that awful looking mess, once and for all!
AMAZING & GRATEFUL:
Thank you for posting this info on line.
It made a huge difference for me.
Just moved into new apartment that is pre-war bldg & the top of kitchen cabinets were SO very GROSS which made that space unusable, functionally or decoratively.
After reading your info & applying your techniques, I was able to clean my cabinet tops & I am thrilled w/the results. The for posting. I don’t usually post, but I’m so grateful that I feel I must.
BTW, I used a scraper from local Home Depot (not credit Card).
YAY!!!
–Susan
I’ve tried it yesterday and I must admit the effect is immediate and just amazing! I recommend it! Hopefully more people will read this post, it’s really worth you time people!
I have used The Victorian House Finish Rejuvenator for over 25 years for cleaning the greasy buildup on cabinets, antiques, floors, doors and all the wood in my home and told everyone I know about the product. It was only available in antique stores years ago but now its online. Its manufactured in Oklahoma..makes it even better since thats where I am from. It was invented for removing white rings and faded areas from antiques but works for All wood. Hope this helps you out.
Luckily our cabinets go all the way to the ceiling, so I don’t have to clean these. Even if they didnt, I don’t know that I would have thought to clean there. What an insightful post. Pinning. Thanks for linking to Tips & Tricks. I can’t wait to see what you link up next. 🙂
These are great tips, I also experience cleaning that kind of mess. Thank you for sharing this one it helps me a lot to know what to do in cleaning that kind of grease.
Wow!!!! This is awesome. And I wish I would have known about this when we moved into our house in June. It was DISGUSTING. And I spent hours trying to clean everything up. It was nasty. Thanks so much for linking up at Come Along Ponds.
This is such great advice and I think “The Horror That Lies Above” would adequately describe the tops of my supposed-to-be-white-kitchen-cabinets.
Thanks for sharing with our #ThrowbackThursdayLinkup. Pinned to our Linky board and will pin to my Green Cleaning board too.
Thank you so much for linking up with us at Home Matters Linky #1. This is an excellent tutorial with good advice. I do not want to know what lurks on top of my cabinets! It may look even worse! I like the credit card tip! Good thinking!
Please be sure to come back next week and link up with us again!
Hi Shirley. Thanks for the fun party and taking the time to visit me. Glad to have the opportunity to share my tip 🙂 Hopefully it will help someone else with their greasy cabinets too.
Congratulations! You’ve been featured on Wicked Awesome Wednesday! Using the card to get the gunk up is brilliant! Stop by the website to grab your “I’ve been featured!” button.
Thank you. Added your button to my feature widget.
Oh I hate climbing up there. Great tips and I will be putting paper down this time! Thanks for sharing with Creative Spark Link Party!
Glenna @ My Paper Craze
I like another idea…sometimes I buy some cheap self sticking floor tile and put in my cupboards in place of paper.probably would work well for cupboard tops too Very.Easy to clean.
What a great idea! I am going to have to try it. Great blog by the way!
Great tip, I’ll keep it in mind. Thanks for linking up to Sweet and Savoury Sunday, stop by and link up again. Have a great day!!
Awesome tip! Pinned. Thanks again for stopping by! Lou Lou Girls
Eww. Eww. Eww. You just made me really glad my cabinets go all the way to the ceiling. BUT I really need to do a deep clean on the cabinet doors. The idea to put down some kind of paper is BRILLIANT! Love it! If I ever have a house with open cabinet tops I will be doing that! Thanks for sharing via Family Fun Friday where you are one of this week’s features.
Sorry didn’t mean to gross you out…lol. Thanks for coming over and for the feature!
Do you have any hints for cleaning grease from dark cherry cabinet doors?
You can try using diluted Dawn dishliquid and a soft towel or try some vinegar or lemon. Test in an inconspicuous area first to make sure it doesn’t lift your finish.
Hi Erlene,
I wanted to let you know that I have featured this project on this week’s Party in Your PJs link party. Thank you so much for linking up with us last week. Have a great day!
Thank you so much. Will hop over and link up.
Thanks for hosting a great party. I always find great things there.
Thanks for sharing especially in the Pintastic Pinteresting Party
You’re welcome. Thanks for coming over.
Thanks for joining in with the Say G’Day Saturday linky party! I really appreciate your support.
Best wishes,
Natasha in Oz
I liked the comparison of the natural and chemical way of cleaning. I’m still not clear which required less elbow grease?! I want to do it the easy way!
The grime came off easily both ways. The natural way just requires more time to clean because you have to wipe it down more because of the grit from the baking soda.
I’ve had success with the vinegar water cleaning solution as well. Good tip about scraping with the plastic credit card though! I pinned this 😉 Thanks for linking up at #smallvictoriessunday!
Oh Erlene…………only you can make cleaning greasy gross cabinets so much fun. Thanks so much for sharing this over at Let’s Get Real. We now have no excuse for having greasy cabinets.
Well, I guess it was kind of fun after the initial scare…lol. And yes, there is no more excuse for greasy cabinets.
Thanks for sharing with #SmallVictoriesSunday linky. I am not brave enough to peek at the top of our kitchen cabinets. Kudos for getting it done!
The credit card works so much better than just scrubbing at it with a rag! I’m going to give it a whirl when I start scrubbing down the house next month. 🙂
I’m so glad I’m not the only one with horrible looking cabinet tops! I use ammonia to clean my cabinets, though I haven’t tackled the top. I love your idea of laying paper down to keep the cleaned tops clean.
Thanks for sharing your tip at Motivation Monday!
The card is the key!! I know…we all have those places in our houses that we don’t want to admit or share. Thanks for being brave enough to share here, so we can all clean it up!! Great post!
This is great! I moved recently and apparently the former people that lived here were big on frying food. Soooooo I’ve struggled with this. Thanks!
The plastic card trick makes it so much easier than wiping. Good luck!
I know how bad the top of cabinets can get so I try to do this every few months. I’m not getting any younger and it’s getting harder to get up there. When we finished our basement I had the kitchen cabinets go to the ceiling so I didn’t have two areas to deal with! Thanks for sharing your tips with SYC.
hugs,
Jann
Smart girl! I wish my cabinets went to the ceiling. I know how greasy it gets too, but I just hate cleaning up there because of how sticky it gets. Now that I found the trick with the credit card/plastic card, I won’t be avoiding it anymore. Plus, the paper should help a lot too.
Fortunately my cabinets are attached to the ceiling so I haven’t had cabinet gunk! I think it is so smart to put paper up there. Much easier to clean!
I do live in a very dusty place, and dust gets where you would least expect it. One day I looked up at the vent in my bathroom and was horrified at the dust/lint/God knows what crusted on the outside. I guess I don’t look up much! I tackled that bad boy with my vacuum.
Thanks for sharing on Hump Day Happenings : )
We live in a dusty place too (desert) and I know what you mean about the dust. I can wipe down daily and still find a layer of it.
Thanks for stopping by. Will be back to share again.
I did the same thing about a month ago, but I did not put paper down. Great idea and I will be doing that. Thank you for sharing them on our Four Seasons Blog Hop
Shawna I think putting down the paper will save SO much time the next time you go up there. I want to buy some cheap plastic place mats and cut them to size and put them up there. That way I can just wash them in hot water/vinegar. Thanks for taking the time to stop by.
Thank you so much for sharing this tip at Party in Your PJs! What a wonderful idea of lining the tops with paper once you get them clean….I love that! Thanks for linking up with us!
Thanks Kim for coming by. We’ll see how effective the paper is in about a month. Got the idea off of Pinterest and I’m hoping it’s a keeper.
I like that vinegar and baking soda trick!
Fortunately, my cabinets go all the way to the top. My house is over 80 years old, so I have plenty of dirt in other places. lol
You’re so lucky, but I guess you’re right. You still have to clean the kitchen gunk off the front of the cabinets, but at least you can see it. I bet you’re 80yr old house is lovely…I love old houses. So much more character than new track homes.
Hi Erlene! This was a timely post for me as you have seen my nasty renovation, lol. So what would you recommend for cleaning gunk off the front of cabinets? I think mine are veneered rather than polyurethaned. I would be worried about scraping them with a credit card but maybe that is better than scrubbing to death. I also tried some sort of orange cleaner. It left a residue and didn’t really clean anything off. Hugs, Rachel
Honestly, I’ve tried the oil and baking soda trick seen on Pinterest for the front of cabinets and I hated it. The baking soda kept falling and making a mess all over the counters/floors. I would stick to a good commercial degreaser for a deep clean and then you can keep up with more natural methods of lemon or vinegar wipe down. Good luck.
Oh thank goodness my cabinets go all the way up 🙂 However…..the top of the fridge and freezer might need some scraping…..Thanks for making the comparison for us!
Wasn’t that horrid! You’re so lucky that yours go all the way up 🙂
I love using vinegar and baking soda to clean. I haven’t looked at the top of our kitchen cabinets in a while, and am kinda scared too but definitely will after seeing this post! haha.Thanks for sharing at The Makers!
Isn’t it amazing all the things you can clean with vinegar? The sooner you do it and put down some paper the better 🙂
Thanks for sharing this tip. I really kind of thought that layer was on there for good unless I wanted to strip the wood! This sounds so easy and I love the natural version. You have proven that you don’t need harsh chemicals to do a good job.
I was actually really surprised that the vinegar and baking soda worked really well. You just need to make sure that both of them are fresh for the best results.
Did you have a preference as to which way worked best?
I can’t even remember the last time I went to see the tops of my cupboards but we must be talking 5 years at least (life is short, I have crafts to try!)
Your paper over the newly cleaned surface is brilliant, when I do get to cleaning up there I will definitely be trying that. It will make my life much easier in another 5 years time!
Well, there are pros/cons to both. Pro- I like the chemical method because you just spray right out of the bottle and scrape. Con- Since the cabinet tops are right at nose level, you risk breathing in all the over spray. It’s more costly to buy. As for the natural way – Pro- Don’t need to worry about chemicals. Cost very little money. Con- There are more steps and it takes more effort to wipe up the baking soda grit.
Overall, I don’t really have a preference. Both ways work to clean the gunk off. Although, if I didn’t have a chemical cleaner, I would go the baking soda/vinegar route. However, if I wanted to be quick and fast, I would do the chemical route.
Erlene, so glad I’m not the only one that peeks at the top of my cabinets and notices a gross horrendous mess! I did this a couple of months ago and it looked just like your pics lol! I use a grease remover spray and leave it on for a few minutes and then wipe down and go back over it with dish soap and water. I need to remember to do this monthly so it doesn’t get so bad but I probably won’t. I hadn’t thought of an old credit card as a scraper – good idea! Just stopping by. I was delinquent on looking at my twitter notices and stopped to check out your Monday (May 4th) party. Sorry I missed it.
Yes a credit card or anything that’s sturdy enough to scrape the gunk off makes it SOOOO much easier than wiping. I’m going to check the paper in a month and see how this goes.
The party is still open or you can link up to Tasty Tuesdays too 🙂