Turn to Mother Nature when you wish to clean and shine your oak kitchen cupboards so that you won’t have to inhale noxious chemicals while cleaning. Many modern cleaning and dusting products contain chemicals that produce your cabinets look good initially, but with time, they can harm your cabinet’s end. You can make your own products from ingredients in home or use green goods available where you shop.
Cabinet Finishes
The finish in your cabinetry determines the final polish to use to create your cupboards shine. For surface-sealed wood, covered with a varnish or polyurethane, you may use an oil to make it shine. But cupboards sealed with oil or wax need something which you reapply a pure wax or tung oil. To analyze for the end kind, rub boiled linseed oil onto the cupboards; when it beads up, your cupboards have a hard-surface finish; if not, it can be wax or oil. To analyze for wax, scratch an inconspicuous place on the cupboards. After creating the scratch, then rub the scratch using a soft fabric. If it evaporates, the cupboards have a wax finish.
Removing Dirt and Grime
Prior to adding a pure oil to earn your cabinets shine, you must clean them first. Wipe them with a dust rag to remove loose dust and debris. A spray-on natural citrus cleaner may efficiently eliminate grease and kitchen grime buildup. Look for products that contain D-Limonene on the label, as it indicates pine or citrus oils, which won’t harm cabinetry finish. Use this item with a natural or homemade furniture polish for your final shine.
Wax on, Wax off
Applying beeswax, a pure product is an Old World way of adding shine to wood products, including kitchen cupboards. After cleaning the wood, dab a bit of wax in the can onto a clean cloth to rub the wax onto the cupboards, working horizontally across the surface to get a coat. Following the wax dissolves, shine with a clean cloth to nourish your cupboards and make them shine. Choose only natural beeswax goods; some may possess fragrances added to these such as orange or lavender.
Homemade Cabinet Polish
A small condiment bottle with a squirt tip may house your homemade cabinet polish recipe produced from olive oil, pure essential lemon oil and white vinegar. This polish both cleans and shines your cupboards after you have eliminated dust and loose dirt. Pour olive oil into the squirt bottle, filling it 3/4 full. Insert a 1/4 teaspoon of pure lemon oil, and top it off with vinegar. The vinegar represents the cleaning agent; the lemon oil also gives it a nice odor, and also the olive oil causes your cupboards shine. Polish with a clean rag, working in circular movements.
Coconut Oil Polish
Instead of olive oil, then you might even use coconut oil as the base for a wood shine. Don’t use mineral oil, as t’s a petroleum-based merchandise that essentially dries out wood with prolonged usage. Fill a spray or spray bottle 3/4 full with coconut oil and add the juice of one lemon or 1/4 cup of juice into the mixture. Rub the oil to the cupboards, working in the direction of the grain.