If only daily dish-washing, counter-wiping and sweeping up were enough to keep the kitchen clean. However, the busiest room in the house actually needs deep cleaning at least twice a year. Here are some tips to streamline the scrubbing:

Think Ahead. Pick a day at least a week ahead when you’ll do your cleaning. With the date in mind, warn your family that the kitchen will be off limits and start tailoring your shopping to cut back on refrigerated and frozen foods so that you’ll have less to store in a cooler while defrosting the fridge.

Green Clean. Choose all-natural cleansers or even raid your refrigerator to create your own—there’s plenty of “recipes” online. Most of what you’re cleaning comes in contact with your food, so you’ll want to keep potentially harmful chemicals at bay.

Gather Your Gear. Get everything from your tile cleaners to your scrub brushes to your rags all ready at once so you don’t have to keep interrupting your cleaning to grab a missing supply. Also, have a super-soft kitchen mat on hand to cushion your feet and knees.

Add A Soundtrack. Cue up a favorite band on your music system or start up an audio book on your MP3 players. Cleaning time passes a lot faster when you’re getting entertained too.

Make Restaurant Reservations. Not just because you deserve a reward, but also because your refrigerator will need time to get cold again after defrosting. You’ll also want everything you’ve scrubbed to be completely dry before you start cooking again.

Start Easy. If your oven is self-cleaning, get it to work first. Your microwave can self-clean too. Place a cup filled with 50/50 water/vinegar inside, cook it on high for three minutes, then leave it. The steam it emits will loosen the gluey gunk inside. When you’re ready to wipe the oven down, unplug it and start wiping, top first, then walls, and then the bottom.

Get the Dishwasher to Multitask. You can clean decorative items, sponges, brushes, microwave glass turntables and more inside the dishwasher. When you’re done, start up your empty dishwasher and add a cup of white vinegar at the start of the cycle to remove hard water build up.

Defrost & Dust the Fridge. Yes, dust. Empty and unplug your refrigerator. While you’re waiting for any frost to melt, you can dust the condensing coils on the back or bottom with a vacuum cleaner. Excess grime on the coils can impact your fridge’s performance. Then clean the inside with a baking powder and water mixture that will remove stains and absorb odors without harming valves and rubberized door sealants.

Kitchen Linens. You probably wash your dishtowels all the time, but now its time to include curtains and kitchen mats in your textile efforts. Check your curtains for details on laundering. If your kitchen mat is rubbery, you may want to wash it with a hose rather than risk it bouncing off the walls of your washing machine. If it’s really dirty, now’s the time to swap it out for a new kitchen mat.

Save the Sink for Last. Assuming that you’ll be scrubbing pots and pans as part of your cleaning, you’ll want wait until there’s nothing left to wash to clean the sink itself. As with the fridge, baking soda’s the best bet for scrubbing way grime and absorbing odors. If you have a garbage disposal, feed vinegar ice cubes down the drain and start grinding.