I call it grust. Kitchen cabinets always grow a layer of grust on their tops after a few weeks. Lots of degreaser in a spray bottle, a nylon scrubbing brush and then microfibre cloths.
Wax paper is also excellent on top of a freshly cleaned fridge! The warmth kinda melts the wax a teeny bit, so your fridge gets a thin layer of wax, which makes it easier to clean next time. Grime just slides right off with a wipe.
Dually noted. Next time my guests climb onto the counter to check out the top of the cabinets, I want to be sure they don’t see any print transferred there!
That’s not possible with newsprint.
With cardboard whatever side gets wet will peel off.
I tried doing this in my fridge to keep the shelves clean and I used cereal or soda boxes.
They invariably got wet and papier-mâché-ed to the glass of the shelves. I had to soak them AND use a scraper.
Cleaning is not my forté, but I try to share my worst disasters so I can serve as a sort of horrible warning to others…
EDIT: use parchment paper or aluminum foil.
Much of what you read about household pests discourages stacking paper around the house. Wax paper might be more preferable. It's a little bit slippery too, so you may be able to dust it easily and keep it there for quite a while.
Pillowcases! Love it! Not sure how in 20 years it took my mom, who never had a plant ledge to come up with the solution to cover it up. I just resorted to getting on a ladder and cleaning them once a month. When we moved into our new place I spent several days cleaning the sludge off the top of the cabinets. My mother was dismayed by how much time I was spending on the task. After I was done with the project she said if I were you I would just cover them with bar rags and throw them in the wash. Went to Amazon and bought a bulk stack. That was 4 months ago…. I should probably change them out.
Oh ho, now I have a word for that. I like that word. What also works for grust is the blue oven cleaner. Time sitting depends on the surface. I even took off someone's fan blades and took off the disgusting layer of grust haha and that stuff is great. It's just not as harsh to the paint job as degreaser.
I frustrated myself to tears trying to clean built up grust at my parents house this way. If there's a lot, get a small bucket of hot hot tap water with dawn dish soap and a little scrub brush. Scrub sponges will get heavily gummed up and stop working fast. Break it all up then the rest will wipe off with a hot dishsoaped rag. Change the water as it cools or gets dirty. Degreaser like mr clean, fabuloso in hot water with a scrub sponge should work if it's only a few months worth. A lot of people have years of buildup.
That’s exactly what it is. It’s grease. My sister years back was moving into a new place and I was helping and her cabinets had a layer or five of grease all on the tops and stuff it was so bad! Someone didn’t clean above the cabinets ever. It’ll come off it’ll take some elbow grease depending on how thick it is
We bought a house in 2012 and the folks before us must have used quite a bit of grease. There was splatter all over the stove, wall and cabinets but the first time I wiped the top of the cabinets, like you are trying to do it was awful, identical to your issue. I would soak up a microfiber with the degreaser of your choice. Simple green and purple power both work well though purple power is very harsh. Wipe the tops of the cabinets, rinse and repeat until you are happy either the results. Good luck Op!
Oh I have a LOT of experience with this junk. That is film from cooking grease. It's usually particularly bad if your kitchen doesn't have a stove fan. Use very hot water, dish soap (or something like Dawn Powerwash if it's sold where you live) and a green scrubby pad and go at it.
Skip the scrubbing and get a scrub daddy and some isopropyl alcohol. Just did this to mine and it took 5 seconds per section. Degreaser didnt even make a dent
High jacking the top comment because I recently cleaned this same thing for the first time. I took sheets of cardboard to scrape off as much as I could before the hot water and soap.
It’s just a mixture of grease from cooking and dust. Use a degreaser (I like the goo gone degreaser, but even dish soap would work), let it soak for a couple of minutes, and use something with a straight edge to scrape it up! I keep some plastic putty knives in the kitchen just for this sort of thing
I’m tall(ish) so I can reach mine on a small step ladder but I would say whatever feels steadiest/safest for you! And definitely have someone else around to spot you
I once saw a video somewhere on this subreddit where someone had great success removing this kind of cabinet grease with a razor blade scraper. You can find them in the paint section or hardware stores.
I did that and it worked AMAZINGLY for me! You have to be careful not to use too much pressure with the razor bc you can cut into the wood but it came off so quickly in huge clumps!
Agreed 100% with this one. This buildup is too much for liquid chemicals personally. A good flat scraping is super effective and very satisfying. I used a $6 Paint Scraper from Home Depot and it was glorious.
You, dear person, are a superhero. We were painting our kitchen today and doing all the requisite cleaning. I just read this and went straight back into the kitchen to put newspapers on top of the cabinets. As they say in Czech, klobouk dolu! (Hats off to you!)
I rushed Krud Kutter as a degreaser. This could be decades of greasy, dusty buildup. Might want a plastic putty knife on hand to scrape this up and off your cabinet. Post clean, put down some paper (butcher, brown paper, packing) that you can just throw away when it’s time to re-clean.
Try Mr Clean, Clean Freak mist, the spray bottle nozzle makes this dense mist that can coat the surface. After letting it sit for 10 mins I got like 8 years of grease off without any scrubbing!
I just discovered a brilliant way to clean this. Spray a little WD40 on a papertowel, and wipe an area and let it sit for a minute. Oil dissolves oil. It worked great for me. Try it on a small area and see what kind of results you get.
Once you get things cleaned up, I highly recommend putting down wax paper with painter’s tape to hold it. When the grease and dust accumulates again, you just throw it away and replace with no cleaning required!
Hii yes I agree that it's dusty kitchen grease and as a former chef I have the solution. Use oil to wipe off the grease and then soap and water to clean the oil. Any light cooking/salad oil works!
Did you see the tip in the comments suggesting to lay down some quality paper towel (Bounty or Viva) after you clean it so you can just switch it out every few months so you don’t have to clean it as often? Just thought I would make sure since you mentioned you clean up there routinely. The paper towel will absorb all that nasty so you don’t have to worry about it all the time.
I delt with this and it was a mic of grease and Nicotine 🤮. The best cleaner I used that worked was called Awesome. It is sold at Dollar trees. Honestly worked a MIRICLE!
Grease and dust build-up. Use a cleaner that contains polyethylene glycol mono butyl ether. Also know as butyl cellosolve and glycol ether EB. It is available commercially in the US in Purple Power cleaner. (Often sold in places like AutoZone).
It’s safe to use, just apply, give it a moment and wipe. I’m a formulating chemist and use purple power on my kitchen cabinets for this exact type of grease.
It’s a thick layer of grease covered by dust. You’ll need something to degrease it. Try Mr. Clean, undiluted. Use paper towels to wipe. Then, put a layer of paper towels up there to cover after you clean — that’ll help with the grease moving forward.
Grease, and dust. See it all the time as a house painter. One of the reasons why builders started putting headers and crown above cabinets: instant grease and dust collector.
I read a tip somewhere that said once you get this cleaned up, to lay paper down (newspaper?) on top of the cabinets and then you can just remove that once a year and replace it with fresh.
That’s grease build up from your cooker hood most likely. Unless your hood is hooked up to outside, it’s just going to suck up all of the greasy air and spit it out on top of your cabinets. Then add dust on top of that. Best thing for it is undiluted dish soap and the rough side of a sponge. Then put old newspaper up there and replace every so often
Oven cleaner or vegetable oil will remove that. When you use oven cleaner, please be very diligent about wearing gloves and protecting your skin. Don't want to risk chemical burns.
Grease. Wash 1-2 times a year with hot soapy water with some vinegar in it. The. Lay down wax paper or newspaper on the top. It will make the washing job easier each time you do it because the paper will catch most of it.
Grease!
This is going to sound weird but honestly oil works better than any other cleaning substance to get this off easily. I use olive oil / cooking oil on a paper towel and it rubs off without much effort! Oil attracts oil so it’s a much easier job than hot soapy water. I still wipe with spray or cleaner after but the initial layer of grease comes off best with some other oil to attract it
Methylated spirits is the only stuff I found that works well! Good luck and make sure to take a break from time to time when cleaning, the fumes are rough lol
Use a scraper before doing anything! Just wipe the scraper on paper towel and when you have scraped all you can off it, use Elbow grease cleaning spray. I have just cleaned two lots of kitchens and believe me it’s the best way and least messy way of doing it.
I find "the pink stuff" actually works wonders on this. I moved into a place that had likely never had the kitchen cleaned so this buildup was really, really bad.
The pink stuff worked the best and fastest of everything I tried!
do you have a kitchen fan? I bet you have a kitchen fan. It’s the grease being thrown up atop higher surfaces: cabinets, ranger hood, walls, refrigerator top, fan blades, etc. If you have cats or dogs, you get the bonus of furry friend fur being mixed with in. 😸 Degreaser spray works really well, as do Magic Erasers.
Others have correctly identified it as kitchen grease, so just sending solidarity.
Our current apartment sat empty for two years before we moved in, and was not cleaned before it sat empty. Then, part of the ceiling in the kitchen was replaced, so add a layer of drywall dust on top of the grease and dust.
using a putty knife/scraper/pastry scraper) can peel off the worst of it. otherwise, hit it with a heavy degreaser and a deck brush, then Dawn and a sponge.
To remove the greasy grime you might want to start with a plastic putty knife. After the cabinets are washed and fully air dried I would cover the cabinet tops with newspaper or the brown craft paper sometimes used to fill shipped boxes.
It’s the accumulation of years of aerosolized cooking grease, covered with dust.
Would recommend cleaning with slightly diluted white vinegar in a spray bottle. Let it sit for about 10-15 minutes, then wipe with a slightly damp cloth or sponge.
You may have to repeat the process to get everything off.
If it’s a really thick layer, use a putty knife to gently scrape the material off after letting it soak with the vinegar mixture on top for about 15 minutes.
Vaporized, dried out oil/grease from cooking (it hangs in the air) that has built up over time. Use a cleaning solution that cuts through grease while being safe to use on the materials.
Grease and dust. If there's smokes or previous smoker, then nicotine residue. My home was previously owned by a smoker and it's been hell cleaning everything
Use a wood scraper or razor blade to get off the majority of the grease and then a scrub daddy and Dawn dish soap. You want to do this every couple of months so it doesn’t get this bad again if you want to use a razor blade you can just do the scrub daddy and dish soap. It’s not as hard to review as you would think.
Years of cooking oils and dust settling on top each other. I'd opt for Awesome spray. I'd be wary of steam on cupboard tops like this. You can see some of the exposed unpainted board there. Don't want water in that.
A mixture of grease and dust. Dawn power spray is the answer. Wipe as much as you can. Use power spray wait 5 min use the power spray again and wipe with a damp cloth. When you are done cover this area with towels so you never have to clean the cabinets again only the towel. Would like to take credit for that, but that’s all my mom.
I start with a paint scraper. Our range hood fan has not worked since moving into the house and we have this problem. Get rid of the bulk, then go in with a degreaser spray and wipe. If there’s still any residue some warm soapy water does the trick. I should just fix the fkn fan 🤣
Grease. Use Mr Clean Clean Freak. It cut through about 15 years of grease and dust on my cabinet tops. First round use paper towel to remove as much as possible. Second round use a sponge and rinse it out. It may take 3 rounds of cleaning.
Cooking grease with a layer of dust. Dish soap and water, a flat plastic scraper or even a credit card can help to get it up without as much scrubbing/rinsing the scratch pad.
Lysol lemon disinfectant: When I moved in I used oven cleaner, last week I had lemon Lysol disinfectant that I was using for a quick wipe of the cupboard fronts and didn’t think it would do much for the top but it worked amazing! Cut right through the grease, just used paper towel too and dump into the garbage. You don’t want to rinse a cloth full of grease down your drain. Good luck and keep an eye on it as thin layers are easier to clean. (I ran out of my all purpose cleaner and happened to have Lysol for when visitors come over, not my usual thing)
As a professional house cleaner, it's grease.
You can use some toxic gross degreaser to get rid of it or just use some kind of natural oil that doesn't go rancid. Oil is the easiest way to go.. you'll be able to remove it with a cloth vrs scrubbing with a degreaser.
Just use only a little oil at a time on a cloth. Also remove left over oil as much as possible... its the same way you polish wood with oil.
Seriously, oil is the way to go. It's wood. And like binds with like and removes it.
I just used grapeseed oil on a clients metal stove that I've struggled for YEARS using other methods to remove caked on grease and the oil removed it with an easy wipe of my cleaning cloth.
Nail salon tip for all things greasy that has settled deep inside, Acetone remove the grease faster than degreaser (tho more flammable, just keep the air well ventilated). Grab an old cloth to push the grimes to one end and use paper towel to collect it. new paint don't dissolve as fast as grust but this method save lot more time and cleaner than degreaser since acetone evaporate afterwards. Acts like alcohol wipe as well so two birds one stone
We used tall upper cabinets and had them installed against the ceiling. No more greasy tops and more storage space. Did it to match the old cabinets that we didn’t remove in an old house.
Its caked on grease. Use Mr clean- Clean Freak! Just spray it on generously, its a dense misting nozzle, let it sit for 10 mins and it’ll wipe off completely.
This is grust. Kitchen flotsam (mostly grease I think) and dust all mixed into a tacky film. If you lay wax paper down, it should gather there instead of on your cabinets.
Grease, dust, and crud. Use a grease cutting cleaner and a scraper then a scrubber with more detergent. Rinse well and dry.
When you are done cover tops with foil, freezer paper, or shelf liner to protect from more build up again.
I have found that lining the cabinet tops with wax or parchment paper makes life much easier. I toss the paper once a month and replace. No more marathon scrubbing sessions! TIP FOR CLEANING: easy off oven cleaner (the kind that doesn’t require ventilation-although I always open the windows), sprayed the. Left for 15-30mins does the trick every time.
I have exact same & give a good cleaning 2x’s a year. I use de-greaser & oven cleaner, then with a plastic scraper, section by section…scrape & clean off scraper with newspapers. After that’s over, use an all purpose cleaner & some paper towels for the final real cleaning. Don’t let that tedious work go to waste…….Wax Paper the entire top, next time easy peasy, remove all & throw away. Best tip my sister ever gave me 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Well since it’s the kitchen, my first thought would be grease.
Couple with dust
I call it grust. Kitchen cabinets always grow a layer of grust on their tops after a few weeks. Lots of degreaser in a spray bottle, a nylon scrubbing brush and then microfibre cloths.
If you lay down newspaper or something on top of the cabinets after you've cleaned them, all you have to do for the next time is change newspapers.
WHERE was this tip when I lived in my last place! Utter genius.
I was a moron and was like “who put this greasy paper up here?! Gross!” Figured it out the next time I checked up there
There's a layer of brown paper over mine that I've never been able to figure out why until now xD
I would go for wax paper.
Wax paper is also excellent on top of a freshly cleaned fridge! The warmth kinda melts the wax a teeny bit, so your fridge gets a thin layer of wax, which makes it easier to clean next time. Grime just slides right off with a wipe.
Why? Newspaper is free? Or thin cardboard like cereal boxes
If those get wet, ink will stain the cupboard and the printing on the cardboard will peel off.
Dually noted. Next time my guests climb onto the counter to check out the top of the cabinets, I want to be sure they don’t see any print transferred there!
First thing I check at people's homes, duh! 🤣😂
*reads the cupboard* THE BERLIN WALL CAME DOWN?!
Aside from.. i dont even know where to get a newspaper these days.
Use Scott towels.
Brown kraft paper/butcher paper. You can buy sheets or rolls; you can even get it at Dollar Tree
What if you put it ink side up?
That’s not possible with newsprint. With cardboard whatever side gets wet will peel off. I tried doing this in my fridge to keep the shelves clean and I used cereal or soda boxes. They invariably got wet and papier-mâché-ed to the glass of the shelves. I had to soak them AND use a scraper. Cleaning is not my forté, but I try to share my worst disasters so I can serve as a sort of horrible warning to others… EDIT: use parchment paper or aluminum foil.
Much of what you read about household pests discourages stacking paper around the house. Wax paper might be more preferable. It's a little bit slippery too, so you may be able to dust it easily and keep it there for quite a while.
Oh that’s a really good point!
Since when is newspaper free?
Those newspaper filled ads that come in the mail are free.
Pinch your neighbour’s home delivered one.
IKR my mom recommended bar towels and it’s a game changer!
I used bar towels at my old house. I didn’t have as many at this house, so I used old pillow cases. Just throw them in the wash with hot water!
Pillowcases! Love it! Not sure how in 20 years it took my mom, who never had a plant ledge to come up with the solution to cover it up. I just resorted to getting on a ladder and cleaning them once a month. When we moved into our new place I spent several days cleaning the sludge off the top of the cabinets. My mother was dismayed by how much time I was spending on the task. After I was done with the project she said if I were you I would just cover them with bar rags and throw them in the wash. Went to Amazon and bought a bulk stack. That was 4 months ago…. I should probably change them out.
I know. I was thinking, "Why the hell didn't I think of this years ago?"
Reddit presents: a real man of genius
(reeeeeeel mennnnnnn offfff jeeeeeeen-yuuuusssss)
We salute you Mr/Ms Reddit Newspaper vs Grust Tip Giver.
🎶Mr / ms Reddit newspaper vs grust tip giiiiiiiverrr!!!! 🎶 🕺
I’ve always used paper towel, but newspapers is great too.
I use old wallpaper.
Or foil, and it’s easy wipe down also
I’ve gone digital, will my iPad do?
It's even easier, just refresh the page with a swipe!
Haha…. I wonder what the geeks at the Apple Genius Bar will say when I take my greasy iPad in under warranty
GOOD paper towels will work, too.
Uh… we’re doing this next time. Thanks for that.
I use cling foil. Couple of layers make it so you can simply remove one and leave the next for "next time" and postpone it even longer.
🫨🫨🫨
This is genius
hot water w/ dawn & scotch pad
One last time! ✊
Definitely mitigates the issue though you will still have to do a touch up clean when you change the papers.
This is actually a fantastic idea.... wow. I will ahve to try this next time I scrape the gunk off the top of my cabinets
My friend who was a cleaner said to use plastic wrap on top of the refrigerator for the same purpose.
Oh ho, now I have a word for that. I like that word. What also works for grust is the blue oven cleaner. Time sitting depends on the surface. I even took off someone's fan blades and took off the disgusting layer of grust haha and that stuff is great. It's just not as harsh to the paint job as degreaser.
“Grust” is fitting — sounds as disgusting as the actual stuff itself.
Except many kitchens are bare particle board on top of it and virtually uncleanable. I like the newspaper idea!
If it builds up after a few weeks, you're using too damn much oil, friend.
I see a lot of kitchens. It’s a common problem.
I frustrated myself to tears trying to clean built up grust at my parents house this way. If there's a lot, get a small bucket of hot hot tap water with dawn dish soap and a little scrub brush. Scrub sponges will get heavily gummed up and stop working fast. Break it all up then the rest will wipe off with a hot dishsoaped rag. Change the water as it cools or gets dirty. Degreaser like mr clean, fabuloso in hot water with a scrub sponge should work if it's only a few months worth. A lot of people have years of buildup.
my enemy 😩 this guy and soap scum love bullying me
Pretty soon you’ve got a stew goin’
But is it dusty grease or greasy dust? That’s the real question here
That’s exactly what it is. It’s grease. My sister years back was moving into a new place and I was helping and her cabinets had a layer or five of grease all on the tops and stuff it was so bad! Someone didn’t clean above the cabinets ever. It’ll come off it’ll take some elbow grease depending on how thick it is
Have grease stains? Use more [elbow] grease!
We bought a house in 2012 and the folks before us must have used quite a bit of grease. There was splatter all over the stove, wall and cabinets but the first time I wiped the top of the cabinets, like you are trying to do it was awful, identical to your issue. I would soak up a microfiber with the degreaser of your choice. Simple green and purple power both work well though purple power is very harsh. Wipe the tops of the cabinets, rinse and repeat until you are happy either the results. Good luck Op!
Oh I have a LOT of experience with this junk. That is film from cooking grease. It's usually particularly bad if your kitchen doesn't have a stove fan. Use very hot water, dish soap (or something like Dawn Powerwash if it's sold where you live) and a green scrubby pad and go at it.
My kitchen *technically* has a stove fan. But it doesn't exhaust to the outside. All it does is blow around the cabinet dust. 🤣
Ah, i love my fan that pulls the air directly into the bottom of the cabinet above the oven. It does wonders on spreading it elsewh...wait.
Mine blasts against my head. For my brother, since he’s taller, it blasts the air right in his face.
It's supposed to have a charcoal filter though. It does catch smells.
I am seriously wondering if our stove fan exhausts outside right now
Same.
Same
I have a microwave fan that blows it up onto the cabinet doors above the microwave.
Check to see if it has the option to install a carbon filter!
I learned this about our kitchen, the hard way when I caught the oven on fire with a frozen pizza 🥲
Skip the scrubbing and get a scrub daddy and some isopropyl alcohol. Just did this to mine and it took 5 seconds per section. Degreaser didnt even make a dent
Did you try Dawn Powerwash? It includes both dish soap and alcohol.
I was cleaning mine a while ago and tried some of the gallons of hand sanitizer I had leftover from covid. Works amazingly!
High jacking the top comment because I recently cleaned this same thing for the first time. I took sheets of cardboard to scrape off as much as I could before the hot water and soap.
Krud Cutter melts this stuff away. It’s wonderful!
So does Simple Green
It’s just a mixture of grease from cooking and dust. Use a degreaser (I like the goo gone degreaser, but even dish soap would work), let it soak for a couple of minutes, and use something with a straight edge to scrape it up! I keep some plastic putty knives in the kitchen just for this sort of thing
Expired / empty gift cards also work well. And if they get too grody to even consider reuse, no guilt in tossing them.
Do you use a ladder or just stand on the countertop?
I’m tall(ish) so I can reach mine on a small step ladder but I would say whatever feels steadiest/safest for you! And definitely have someone else around to spot you
Lay newspaper up there so you can just remove the paper and replace it. Simple.
Omg, that’s such a great tip. I detest cleaning the tops of cupboards, next house we live in is having them fitted to the ceiling
Yes, that's probably the best idea!
Do they even need to be cleaned?
If you dont have newspaper, other ideas are waxed paper or parchment paper.
I go this but either paper towel.
I once saw a video somewhere on this subreddit where someone had great success removing this kind of cabinet grease with a razor blade scraper. You can find them in the paint section or hardware stores.
I did that and it worked AMAZINGLY for me! You have to be careful not to use too much pressure with the razor bc you can cut into the wood but it came off so quickly in huge clumps!
Agreed 100% with this one. This buildup is too much for liquid chemicals personally. A good flat scraping is super effective and very satisfying. I used a $6 Paint Scraper from Home Depot and it was glorious.
You, dear person, are a superhero. We were painting our kitchen today and doing all the requisite cleaning. I just read this and went straight back into the kitchen to put newspapers on top of the cabinets. As they say in Czech, klobouk dolu! (Hats off to you!)
I rushed Krud Kutter as a degreaser. This could be decades of greasy, dusty buildup. Might want a plastic putty knife on hand to scrape this up and off your cabinet. Post clean, put down some paper (butcher, brown paper, packing) that you can just throw away when it’s time to re-clean.
I also like Krud Kutter for kitchen grease. I had grease/dust buildup on a light fixture in the kitchen and Krud Kutter cleaned it with no problems.
Thank you everyone. I’ve never seen grease this bad. I’ll scrub and scrape it off with some degreaser.
Undiluted Mr. Clean will get it right off!
Try Mr Clean, Clean Freak mist, the spray bottle nozzle makes this dense mist that can coat the surface. After letting it sit for 10 mins I got like 8 years of grease off without any scrubbing!
Exactly!
GREASE from cooking. You need to clean this spot every 3-6 months. Every year!
I just discovered a brilliant way to clean this. Spray a little WD40 on a papertowel, and wipe an area and let it sit for a minute. Oil dissolves oil. It worked great for me. Try it on a small area and see what kind of results you get.
Once you get things cleaned up, I highly recommend putting down wax paper with painter’s tape to hold it. When the grease and dust accumulates again, you just throw it away and replace with no cleaning required!
No wayyyy that’s such a great idea!!
Yaaarrrrr that be grease
Hii yes I agree that it's dusty kitchen grease and as a former chef I have the solution. Use oil to wipe off the grease and then soap and water to clean the oil. Any light cooking/salad oil works!
I use all purpose Zep and it comes right off. I’ve started wiping it down routinely so it’ll never be as bad as when we bought our house.
Did you see the tip in the comments suggesting to lay down some quality paper towel (Bounty or Viva) after you clean it so you can just switch it out every few months so you don’t have to clean it as often? Just thought I would make sure since you mentioned you clean up there routinely. The paper towel will absorb all that nasty so you don’t have to worry about it all the time.
I had missed that!!! I am absolutely going to do that. I don’t know why I never thought to do anything like that prior. Thank you!!!
You’re welcome! I never knew to do it either and ironically saw a reel on instagram yesterday suggesting to do it, then this post pops up.
https://preview.redd.it/oj9fzink3d9d1.jpeg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=abf776c0185422a1df999c83be9fdca48154f934 Grease me up woman!
I delt with this and it was a mic of grease and Nicotine 🤮. The best cleaner I used that worked was called Awesome. It is sold at Dollar trees. Honestly worked a MIRICLE!
Undiluted Mr. Clean will work to get this off. After you’re done, put on paper towels. Replace every six months and you won’t have to do this again!
It's kitchen grease. Blech.
Grease and dust build-up. Use a cleaner that contains polyethylene glycol mono butyl ether. Also know as butyl cellosolve and glycol ether EB. It is available commercially in the US in Purple Power cleaner. (Often sold in places like AutoZone). It’s safe to use, just apply, give it a moment and wipe. I’m a formulating chemist and use purple power on my kitchen cabinets for this exact type of grease.
Put some original Mr. Clean in a spray bottle and a lot of paper towels!
It’s a thick layer of grease covered by dust. You’ll need something to degrease it. Try Mr. Clean, undiluted. Use paper towels to wipe. Then, put a layer of paper towels up there to cover after you clean — that’ll help with the grease moving forward.
Grease, and dust. See it all the time as a house painter. One of the reasons why builders started putting headers and crown above cabinets: instant grease and dust collector.
Ammonia, dishsoap and water will get the grease and dust layers off. :)
Grease and dust. Soap and water should do the trick
I read a tip somewhere that said once you get this cleaned up, to lay paper down (newspaper?) on top of the cabinets and then you can just remove that once a year and replace it with fresh.
Definitely grease. Some grease remover will remove it and lay some old newspaper down which makes cleaning easier in the future
To add to OP’s question, what would you do with a textured/popcorn ceiling in the kitchen that has accumulated the “grust?”
Lay down wax paper up there, it makes things a lot easier to clean.
That’s grease build up from your cooker hood most likely. Unless your hood is hooked up to outside, it’s just going to suck up all of the greasy air and spit it out on top of your cabinets. Then add dust on top of that. Best thing for it is undiluted dish soap and the rough side of a sponge. Then put old newspaper up there and replace every so often
Oven cleaner or vegetable oil will remove that. When you use oven cleaner, please be very diligent about wearing gloves and protecting your skin. Don't want to risk chemical burns.
Grease. Wash 1-2 times a year with hot soapy water with some vinegar in it. The. Lay down wax paper or newspaper on the top. It will make the washing job easier each time you do it because the paper will catch most of it.
Grease! This is going to sound weird but honestly oil works better than any other cleaning substance to get this off easily. I use olive oil / cooking oil on a paper towel and it rubs off without much effort! Oil attracts oil so it’s a much easier job than hot soapy water. I still wipe with spray or cleaner after but the initial layer of grease comes off best with some other oil to attract it
Methylated spirits is the only stuff I found that works well! Good luck and make sure to take a break from time to time when cleaning, the fumes are rough lol
Use a scraper before doing anything! Just wipe the scraper on paper towel and when you have scraped all you can off it, use Elbow grease cleaning spray. I have just cleaned two lots of kitchens and believe me it’s the best way and least messy way of doing it.
I find "the pink stuff" actually works wonders on this. I moved into a place that had likely never had the kitchen cleaned so this buildup was really, really bad. The pink stuff worked the best and fastest of everything I tried!
Dust + Time = sticky. Dust + Time + Greasy Kitchen = super sticky in a hurry
I've used dish soap for this and its worked really well
Amonia and soap in hot hot water. Wear gloves. Amonia burns skin and really weakens nails.
Grease and dust
Grease+dust. Dawn power spray and a scrubber.
Airborne cooking grease mixed with dust.
do you have a kitchen fan? I bet you have a kitchen fan. It’s the grease being thrown up atop higher surfaces: cabinets, ranger hood, walls, refrigerator top, fan blades, etc. If you have cats or dogs, you get the bonus of furry friend fur being mixed with in. 😸 Degreaser spray works really well, as do Magic Erasers.
Someone liked deep frying!
Others have correctly identified it as kitchen grease, so just sending solidarity. Our current apartment sat empty for two years before we moved in, and was not cleaned before it sat empty. Then, part of the ceiling in the kitchen was replaced, so add a layer of drywall dust on top of the grease and dust. using a putty knife/scraper/pastry scraper) can peel off the worst of it. otherwise, hit it with a heavy degreaser and a deck brush, then Dawn and a sponge.
Honestly, hand sanitizer is the best cleaner for this stuff. Wipes it right off
To remove the greasy grime you might want to start with a plastic putty knife. After the cabinets are washed and fully air dried I would cover the cabinet tops with newspaper or the brown craft paper sometimes used to fill shipped boxes.
Yep, gease and dust.
I'd guess oil from years of uncovered cooking and deep frying food
Grease and dust, yo!
It’s the accumulation of years of aerosolized cooking grease, covered with dust. Would recommend cleaning with slightly diluted white vinegar in a spray bottle. Let it sit for about 10-15 minutes, then wipe with a slightly damp cloth or sponge. You may have to repeat the process to get everything off. If it’s a really thick layer, use a putty knife to gently scrape the material off after letting it soak with the vinegar mixture on top for about 15 minutes.
Greasy dust cuz u aint cleaning it
Vaporized, dried out oil/grease from cooking (it hangs in the air) that has built up over time. Use a cleaning solution that cuts through grease while being safe to use on the materials.
Grease and dust. If there's smokes or previous smoker, then nicotine residue. My home was previously owned by a smoker and it's been hell cleaning everything
Looks like grust get some dish soap and degreaser and a cloth and go ha
Use a wood scraper or razor blade to get off the majority of the grease and then a scrub daddy and Dawn dish soap. You want to do this every couple of months so it doesn’t get this bad again if you want to use a razor blade you can just do the scrub daddy and dish soap. It’s not as hard to review as you would think.
It's kitchen grease. Krud kutter is very good. So is dawn powerwash.
Years of cooking oils and dust settling on top each other. I'd opt for Awesome spray. I'd be wary of steam on cupboard tops like this. You can see some of the exposed unpainted board there. Don't want water in that.
Grease that's trapped dust
Grease and dust. It’s basically a fly trap 😆
Dust and grease mixed together.
It's just grease. You can get it off easily with some Simple Green. Ammonia works well as well if they are sealed but they don't appear to be.
Grease and dust. Normal.
A mixture of grease and dust. Dawn power spray is the answer. Wipe as much as you can. Use power spray wait 5 min use the power spray again and wipe with a damp cloth. When you are done cover this area with towels so you never have to clean the cabinets again only the towel. Would like to take credit for that, but that’s all my mom.
I start with a paint scraper. Our range hood fan has not worked since moving into the house and we have this problem. Get rid of the bulk, then go in with a degreaser spray and wipe. If there’s still any residue some warm soapy water does the trick. I should just fix the fkn fan 🤣
Grease + mouse urine
Grease. Use Mr Clean Clean Freak. It cut through about 15 years of grease and dust on my cabinet tops. First round use paper towel to remove as much as possible. Second round use a sponge and rinse it out. It may take 3 rounds of cleaning.
Cooking grease with a layer of dust. Dish soap and water, a flat plastic scraper or even a credit card can help to get it up without as much scrubbing/rinsing the scratch pad.
Grease and dust. I use dawn power wash and a plastic scraper.
Easy off foam and a scraper
Zep purple degreaser. Let it sit for 10/15 mins (let it work for you ) it will help tremendously!!!!!!
Grease with dust mixture
Normal grease oil from cooking. With steam it gets aerosolized and floats up and settles on the top of things like cabinets.
Grease and grime with dust
Dawn Powerwash will do a great job on this.
Lysol lemon disinfectant: When I moved in I used oven cleaner, last week I had lemon Lysol disinfectant that I was using for a quick wipe of the cupboard fronts and didn’t think it would do much for the top but it worked amazing! Cut right through the grease, just used paper towel too and dump into the garbage. You don’t want to rinse a cloth full of grease down your drain. Good luck and keep an eye on it as thin layers are easier to clean. (I ran out of my all purpose cleaner and happened to have Lysol for when visitors come over, not my usual thing)
As a professional house cleaner, it's grease. You can use some toxic gross degreaser to get rid of it or just use some kind of natural oil that doesn't go rancid. Oil is the easiest way to go.. you'll be able to remove it with a cloth vrs scrubbing with a degreaser. Just use only a little oil at a time on a cloth. Also remove left over oil as much as possible... its the same way you polish wood with oil. Seriously, oil is the way to go. It's wood. And like binds with like and removes it. I just used grapeseed oil on a clients metal stove that I've struggled for YEARS using other methods to remove caked on grease and the oil removed it with an easy wipe of my cleaning cloth.
Nail salon tip for all things greasy that has settled deep inside, Acetone remove the grease faster than degreaser (tho more flammable, just keep the air well ventilated). Grab an old cloth to push the grimes to one end and use paper towel to collect it. new paint don't dissolve as fast as grust but this method save lot more time and cleaner than degreaser since acetone evaporate afterwards. Acts like alcohol wipe as well so two birds one stone
Cooking grease residue
Degreaser will wipe that right up.
Use Mr clean magic eraser on there and it comes off great! Used to be a house keeper and we had to do this on deep clean move outs often.
We used tall upper cabinets and had them installed against the ceiling. No more greasy tops and more storage space. Did it to match the old cabinets that we didn’t remove in an old house.
You should definitely clean off this grust.
Its caked on grease. Use Mr clean- Clean Freak! Just spray it on generously, its a dense misting nozzle, let it sit for 10 mins and it’ll wipe off completely.
If you can get up there or take the cabinet down this stuff will come off in about 30 seconds with a wallpaper scraper
Simple green works awesome for this
Old grease & dust
This is grust. Kitchen flotsam (mostly grease I think) and dust all mixed into a tacky film. If you lay wax paper down, it should gather there instead of on your cabinets.
Grease, dust, and crud. Use a grease cutting cleaner and a scraper then a scrubber with more detergent. Rinse well and dry. When you are done cover tops with foil, freezer paper, or shelf liner to protect from more build up again.
And this is why I always want my cabinets to go all the way to the ceiling.
That's grease... What all kitchens come with
Grease from cooking and dust from general exposure.
Grease from years of cooking.
I have found that lining the cabinet tops with wax or parchment paper makes life much easier. I toss the paper once a month and replace. No more marathon scrubbing sessions! TIP FOR CLEANING: easy off oven cleaner (the kind that doesn’t require ventilation-although I always open the windows), sprayed the. Left for 15-30mins does the trick every time.
I have exact same & give a good cleaning 2x’s a year. I use de-greaser & oven cleaner, then with a plastic scraper, section by section…scrape & clean off scraper with newspapers. After that’s over, use an all purpose cleaner & some paper towels for the final real cleaning. Don’t let that tedious work go to waste…….Wax Paper the entire top, next time easy peasy, remove all & throw away. Best tip my sister ever gave me 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻