How To Clean Under The Refrigerator Without Moving It?
It’s all very well keeping your kitchen spotless – but what about the areas you can’t get to? How to clean under the refrigerator without moving it?
Moving the fridge is a big job, and not something that anyone really wants to do! Let’s look into how to do it so that you can enjoy your entirely shiny clean kitchen.
How To Clean Under The Refrigerator Without Moving It?
Moving the whole fridge to clean under it is a bit of a big job, as we all know! Thankfully, there is a way of doing it that doesn’t involve lots of heavy lifting.
- Sweep up or vacuum all around the fridge, to make sure that you have picked up as much debris as possible.
- Take a long thin stick, such as a bamboo pole, and tie a clean microfibre duster to the end of it.
- Poke this under the fridge, and sweep it around from front to back, pulling out any dust, hairs and other bits and pieces as you do so.
- Repeat this as often as it takes to make sure that you have got every last piece of debris from under the fridge.
- Vacuum up anything you have hooked out from under the fridge, unless it is too big to fit up the tube.
As you can see, you don’t have to save the job of cleaning under the fridge until the day you move out!
This is not a job that needs doing every day, or even every month – just once in a while, when you remember to do it, is fine.
This article explains the importance of cleaning under your kitchen appliances, and the best ways to do so.
What Do You Use To Clean Under Refrigerator?
Unlike a lot of areas in your house, you don’t need any kind of specialist cleaning solutions of gadgets to clean under your fridge.
In fact, this is one of the most low-fi cleaning operations you can find – all you need are a couple of bits that you will have lying around anyway!
A long thin pole is the most essential thing – this needs to be thin enough to fit under the fridge, and long enough to reach right to the back wall.
A microfibre cloth is the most ideal thing to tie to the end of your stick, but you can also use a dishcloth, a rag, or even an old pair of tights!
A vacuum cleaner is useful for getting rid of the bits and pieces that you will pull from underneath the fridge.
A dustpan and brush works just as well for this job – maybe even better if you turn up large pieces that won’t fit in the vacuum.
Do You Need To Clean Under Refrigerator?
Obviously, you don’t NEED to clean anything in your house – but not doing so will quickly turn your life into a living hell!
Cleaning under the refrigerator is a less common job than doing the dishes or the hoovering – after all, we can’t see under the fridge so we tend to forget about it, right?
However, if you never ever clean under your fridge, you may end up with bigger problems than people thinking your house is a filthy nightmare.
The kitchen is a place where bits of food drop, and although we try to pick them up there will inevitably be some that we miss, and which get flicked into place we can’t see.
If food crumbs sit for too long unnoticed, they can start to smell, rot, and worst of all, attract unwanted creatures into our living spaces.
If you never clean up under your fridge you may find that you develop a problem with insects – or worse, rodents.
Do yourself a favour and clean out under there once in a while – it doesn’t have to be every day by any means, but now that you’re thinking about it… Go do it now! Future you will thank you!
Should You Turn Off Fridge When Cleaning?
Whether you are cleaning under your fridge, or cleaning out your fridge itself, there’s actually no need to turn it off.
Yes, I know you will lose a few pennies if you leave the door open while you clean the shelves – but it’s generally easier to do it this way than to turn it off and on again.
If you are simply cleaning out under the fridge, there is no need at all to turn it off – you will not be opening the doors or defrosting anything.
When you get around to cleaning behind the fridge, a much bigger job, you may wish to turn it off as they can get pretty warm when they are on all the time.
This being said, it won’t take too long to clean behind or under your fridge, so in general it’s perfectly fine to leave it switched on.
How Do You Clean The Tray Under A Refrigerator?
The drip tray under your refrigerator may be removable, or it may be attached to the underside of your fridge.
They are there to prevent leaking all over your kitchen floor, as they catch the condensation or defrosted ice from areas in your fridge.
If it is removable, simply slide it out, empty any water into the sink and give it a good scrub with some dish soap and a cloth.
Allow it to dry out thoroughly, then place it back into its spot under the fridge.
If your drip tray is not removable, the cleaning method is the same as cleaning under the fridge – you will need a long pole with something attached to it.
For this job, you could tie a rag to the end of the pole then tie an antibacterial wipe to the end – this ensures that your tray is getting the best clean it can.
Here’s a video showing you how to clean out the removable kind:
Final Thoughts
Cleaning under the fridge needn’t be such a big job that takes up loads of time – it can be easy and simple, as you can see.
Once you’ve worked out how to clean under the fridge without moving it, it will make your life very much easier.
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Nicky Ellis
Nicky is an editor-in-chief at Clean House Fast. She is a mum of three and lives in London with her family. She enjoys keeping her house stylish and clean as much as her morning yoga sessions.
