Question from Colleen
Hi Debra,
I have original Scheirich wood kitchen cabinets in our kitchen. How do I go about cleaning and fixing water damage on the front of the cabinets below the sink and cleaning grease and greasy fingerprints off them. I don’t know what type of finish is on them. Can anyone help? I have MCS and anything with fragrance cause migraines and breathing problems. Thank you!
Debra’s Answer
The first thing I would do is contact the manufacturer to find out the standard care instructions and then figure out how to do the same thing in a nontoxic way. But looking online it seems like this brand is no longer being sold.
Here’s a whole pinterest page about “restoring mid-century wood cabinets”.
I had to smile when I saw this.
I grew up in a mid-century suburban house. My parents bought it in 1962 when I was 7 years old for $19,000. Now those homes are about $500,000.
Here’s an article about cleaning kitchen cabinets using Murphy Soap.
However, Murphy Soap contains fragrance. I see you can substitute unscented liquid castile soap for Murphy’s Soap.
Maybe my friend Gina will jump in and tell us how she cleans wood cabinets. She’s been a professional natural cleaner for as long as I have been writing about toxic-free products. Gina!!! Come help!!!
JUST AN ASIDE: While I was researching this I came across an EWG review of Murphy’s Oil Soap. Fragrance is NOT listed on their list of known ingredients (though it does say citronella oil) and it says “ingredient disclosure: poor” All they need to do is go to the Murphy’s Oil Soap website to find out there is fragrance. This is just one example of why I do my own research and don’t rely on EWG.
Hi Debra & Regina,
Thank you for your help! I’ve tried to find the manufacturer (Scheirich) on the internet and have had no success. There is very little water damage below the sink but was really noticeable wear I hung my towel to dry my hands on when we first moved in 20 years ago before I knew better. I got desperate a few years ago and used mayonaisse on most of the cabinets in spots and covered the entire cabinet where my towel was hanging and it seemed to help. My dogs wants to lick the cabinets when I put mayo on them so I was hoping to find another alternative. It just darkened the wood a little. There is no mold. There are greasy finger prints around the hardware mostly because I’m always using hand lotion. We use the stove fan but it doesn’t vent to the outside. Thank you for all your help! Sincerely, Colleen
Colleen,
So tricky to know what to use on your cabinets, not knowing anything useful about the existing finish. If it were me, I’d clean all the mayo off (can go rancid), and experiment with mineral oil.
f that doesn’t work, think about refinishing if you can handle that. AFM makes some coatings that some of my MCS customers have tolerated. http://www.afmsafecoat.com/
Hope you can get your stove fan vented to the outside, to prevent mold. And I hope you’re using electric stove, not gas, after the recent bad IAQ news about all gas cooking.
Good luck!
I’ve always used a 50:50 mixture of olive oil and apple cider vinegar on my wood cabinets. The results have been outstanding. And it’s so simple and non-toxic!
Hey there Coleen!
Regina, here, the cleaning pro Debra invited to help on this. I’m a least-toxic cleaning pro who uses no synthetic fragrances. http://reginaryerson.com/
Careful! I once used (unscented) castile soap on a customer’s old wood cabinets with a mystery finish— and ruined that finish.
So Debra’s right— if you can, find what type wood and finish, and manufacturer’s tips for maintaining it. Based on that, I may know of a fragrance-free cleaner that’s compatible with the finish. I’m no wood specialist, so fingers crossed! Knowing the following may help:
Do you own your home?
Water damage— how bad? Only on the finish? Any mold?
How extensive is the grease? Below the sink only?
As a last resort— A few MCS homeowners have had me foil their fragrancy kitchen cabinets. Hope it doesn’t come to that for you!
And you are using your stove fan?
In other words, how to clean any wood, least-toxically, really depends on wood type and finish type. And I’ve much to learn.
It doesn’t help that my computer died, and I can’t type much on my phone. Will get a new (refurbished) computer ASAP!
I have an old cabin and clean my wood cabinets with Dr Bronners, Sal Suds , biodegradable soap. It doesn’t harm the finish. I also use baking soda as a scrubbing agent if needed…for the greasy finger prints. Sometimes the finish needs to be redone…and at that time I have the doors taken off and give them to a handyman to sand, stain and polyacryllic over the stain for a durable and lasting finish that cures in just a day. I have had MCS since 2005 and have honed this way of cleaning and maintaining my rental property kitchens …along with my own. If the stain on the boxes needs to be redone…With some proper attention to sanding with a sander that catches the dust in a bag, a heap air filter and a fan blowing out the door…this too can be handled fairly inexpensively and very efficiently…with just a bit of cleaning at the end. I am fastidious about all repairs and restoration as this is the exact reason I was poisoned in the first place 13 years ago. But, I still have rental properties that need work and the work Must be done Harmlessly. So, prep well and smart and then be away from the process of restoration as long as possible. But, really, with proper attention to utilizing filtration devices and successful ventilation…along with Zero VOC products , when available, you can continue to clean and restore with little danger.