Cookaholics Bulletin Board

I have hickory and glass cabinets in my kitchen. The ones above my hood (while looking fantastic) have become sticky with grease. They are custom-made cabinets, and while finished, I would still consider somewhat porous. Suggestions on the best way to clean the wood?

Amy

Hickory and glass above the hood?!? Orange-glo makes a wood cleaner. Faced with your dilemma, it's what I would try first. Maybe someone here has some actual experience with this problem. Whatever you do, you may need to give them a touch of oil after since anything that will cut the grease will be drying.

I'd try liquid gold. I'm highly sensitive to any of the orange cleaning products. They literally gag me!
fitzie

The latest issue of CI featured a test of 9 such cleaners. The winner was Method All-purpose. I would recommend reading the article or trying it on a spot where it wouldn't show. I've tried it on my painted kitchen cabinets and it worked marvelously.

Murphy's Oil Soap?

Wino,
Thanks for the pointer. I no longer get the magazine but this topic is timely. I've been putting off this job!
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/equipment/overview.asp?docid=36059

I use Murphy’s oil soap, but grease on cupboard doors near the stove may need a bit more aggressive solvent.

I have found that it is much easier to clean a greasy door by removing it from the cupboard so it can be laid flat for cleaning. It is easier to see, more pressure can be applied, and cleaning fluid or solvent will stay put for a few seconds and not run all over everything.

My favorite cleaning cloth for cupboard doors is a ShamWow synthetic chamois knock off from a dollar store. They are more absorbent than Microfiber cloths and neither will scratch the finished surface.

In cases where the oily haze has completely polymerized and resisting safe cleaning fluids or solvents, light wet sanding, steel wooling or polishing with pumice may be the best answer. Both mechanical methods are routinely used in woodworking and are safer than escalating the solvent action to the point where it will soften the finished wood surface.

Related to this, what solvents do people use to get a polymerized film of grease off kitchen utensils? Given our tiny kitchen, all of the pots we use infrequently tend to develop such a film if they're not in closed cabinets (most aren't).

I was thinking Goo Gone, but suggestions welcome.

Try soaking in a strong Dawn-and-water bath. It's what they use to get crude off of albatrosses.

If it can take a powder and a scrubbing, Bar Keeper's friend is excellent for grease. Dawn Power Dissolver, if you can find it, does a decent job as well.