Quick tips to clean small kitchen appliances

Small appliances can be difficult to clean, but since we use them every day, it is an important task to undertake. Here are a few tips to make cleaning these useful appliances easier.

• If your toaster is clogged with hard-to-reach crumbs, unplug it and loosen the crumbs with a small paintbrush or soft toothbrush.
• Brush lightly to avoid damaging the machine's heating elements.
• Once you've broken the stubborn crumbs apart, turn the toaster upside down, hold it over the kitchen sink and gently shake out the debris.

If the window of your toaster oven gets so caked with grime that you can barely see inside, try one of following fixes:

• Open the oven door and the spray the glass with a solution of two parts hydrogen peroxide, two parts white vinegar and one part dishwashing liquid. Let stand for half an hour. Or you could wipe the window with household ammonia and let stand for 20–30 minutes.
• Wipe off either substance with paper towels. If any residue remains, scrape it off. Finally, clean the oven window with a spray of vinegar.

If you inadvertently leave a plastic bag or plastic wrap so close to a toaster that it touches the metal surface, the plastic will melt onto it when you toast bread — and it won't come off with normal washing. To get rid of it, let the toaster cool and try one of these removal methods.

• Rub the melted plastic vigorously with a damp sponge coated with baking soda.
• Coat it with petroleum jelly and then toast a slice of bread. The heated jelly will soften the plastic and make it easier to wipe off with a soft cloth. When the toaster cools, scrub away residue with baking soda and a damp sponge.
• Spray the plastic with a multi-purpose lubricant and let it soak in for a few minutes. Then wipe the goop off with a damp cloth.

• One of the leading causes of toaster oven fires is the greasy, grimy wire rack.
• The next time you clean your (real) oven, wipe the toaster oven racks down with non-toxic oven cleaner and simply place them inside your oven to be cleaned.

• Sure, you always rinse out the blender jar under the kitchen sink faucet, and sometimes you even give it a proper washing. But that's hardly enough to keep it hygienic.
• Pour 250 millilitres (one cup) of water and 50 millilitres (1/4 cup) of vinegar into the jar and add a squirt of dishwashing liquid.
• Put on the jar top and blend the mixture for one minute. Now rinse the jar and wipe it dry, and your blender will be ready to whir germ-free.

• It's easy to forget that electric juicers are traps for all manner of food particles. Keep it clean as a whistle to prevent bacteria build-up by cleaning it thoroughly.
• Disassemble it, wipe out the pulp and discard it, and fill your kitchen sink with hot, soapy water.
• Soak everything but the motor casing for 10 minutes, remove the pieces from the sink and scrub with a soft toothbrush. Dry well, reassemble, and juice for all you're worth!

Before cleaning a meat grinder, run a piece of bread through it to clean fatty meat particles out of the feed screw.

Keep your small kitchen appliances squeaky clean, and they'll last longer — because you know your kitchen wouldn't be the same without these handy little items!