The kitchen is often the heart of the home but is everything in yours actually safe enough to use?
From your dish sponges and tea-towels to the wooden chopping board, most kitchen essentials have a shelf life. We asked cleaning experts how often we should really be washing or replacing the items we reach for every day.
Kitchen sponges
Primrose Freestone, an associate professor in clinical microbiology at the University of Leicester, says that after just a few days, the humble sponge could be harbouring salmonella, E. coli or staphylococcus bacteria and there’s no way of telling by looking at it or smelling it.
A study by the US-based National Sanitation Foundation that swabbed 30 household items found coliform bacteria on 75 per cent of dish sponges and cloths. And a 2026 German study found that food poisoning bacteria can grow within everyday kitchen sponges and the pathogens on the sponge could transfer to kitchen worktops in one wipe. “The bacteria could survive for at least two weeks even if the sponge has dried out,” adds Freestone.
She recommends washing sponges every day with a disinfectant like bleach, and changing it every week or, for more reassurance, using a new sponge every day.
Swap tea-towels every day
“Your tea-towels are dirtier than your toilet seat,” says Lynsey Crombie, a professional cleaner, broadcaster and author known as Queen of Clean. “I hate going into people’s kitchens and it looks like their tea-towel could walk off because it’s covered in stains and smells.”
She uses a different tea-towel each time she dries and cleans surfaces and dishes (around six per day) but advises everyone to do it at least once a day.
Freestone adds that dish cloths and tea-towels should be washed each day or immediately after being contaminated. “Hot soapy water or washing at at least 60°C kills most food poisoning germs. It’s very important to let the cloths dry completely before you use them again, as damp cloths and towels are environments in which bacteria can more easily grow.”
Chopping boards
These should last between 10 and 15 years, says Crombie. “If you look after them they’ll last so never put them in the dishwasher because the hot water can make them slightly crack and those seals are where germs will get inside. Always clean them with a juicy lemon and a bit of salt, and I nourish mine in coconut oil.”
Freestone adds that “surfaces with scratch grooves tend to retain food debris and water. When coming into contact with bacteria, this provides germs with a comfortable living environment to grow.” She says not to use the same chopping board for cooked and uncooked foods and to wash in very hot soapy water and dry completely after every use, whether they’re plastic or wooden.
Which? guidance says wooden utensils and chopping boards absorb odours and flavours quickly, so should be washed in soapy water quickly after use but not left soaking in water as wood can swell.
Fruit bowls
“Any utensil which stores perishable food such as fruit bowls should be cleaned in hot soapy water at least weekly, or as often as needed if fruit goes mouldy or leaks juices. Washing is advised to remove germs attached to the bowl transferred from the fruit,” says Freestone.
And it’s not about something looking clean. “Dirty or clean looking can have the same infection risks,” she says. “Visibly dirty means germs are present but it’s riskier in terms of picking up infections if surfaces are clean-looking but contaminated. It’s safer to assume any surface is contaminated and always clean with an antibacterial spray before using anything.”
The kitchen bin
Freestone says bins that contain potentially contaminated food need to be cleaned and disinfected regularly, even daily if it’s often very full.
Bread bins
“Bread bins should also be washed at least weekly, to avoid fungi and bacterial build up as bread is not sterile,” says Freestone. If bread has gone mouldy, the spores can contaminate the bread bin and will impact fresh bread so needs to be thoroughly cleaned weekly to stay on top of it.
Electrical items
Crombie gets the crumbs out of her toaster once per week and cleans it once a month. She cleans her air fryer after every use using soda crystals or washing-up liquid but says the key is silicone air fryer liners which are disposable and can be put in the dishwasher. She does a deep clean once a month on her microwave and dishwasher.
Fridge
In a Which? investigation, 19 of 50 swabs taken from fridges showed “worrying levels of germs, including bacteria associated with respiratory, urinary and food-borne illness”. Perishable food, says Freestone, should have a close eye kept on it to make sure it’s being stored at the correct temperature and eaten, or removed from the fridge, by their use-by date. “How perishable food is stored is key in avoiding food poisoning illness.
“How often you should clean your fridge depends on how it is used. For a frequently used one that’s opened many times a day with incoming food arriving weekly, weekly cleaning is essential, which means removing all contents, washing shelves in hot soapy water, rinsing in clean water and then drying.”
Crombie has “Fridge Fridays” where she takes out her fridge and freezer drawers and wipes everything down. She also uses fridge storage organisers to save on cleaning time. She always cleans the top and underneath a fridge as food can fall or get stuck.
Hob and oven
After every use Crombie wipes down her oven and hob to keep on top of the cleaning but once a month she deep cleans her oven.
The appliance manufacturer Beko UK says that “maintaining the cleanliness of your oven can lower the chances of any fire hazards and health risks”. Their rules of thumb include doing a quick clean after every use, when the oven has cooled, and a deep oven clean twice a year.
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