Or you could lay out the top of the cabinet with old newspapers. That will do the trick just as nicely and it isn't as environmentally damaging as wax paper.

What a great idea! Love when cleaning tips are nice and easy.

Or you could just take 5 minutes to clean it with vinegar water and a rag, instead of contributing to a landfill. Sheesh.

Great call; like the newspaper comment above to replace the wax paper as newspaper will decompose much quicker.

I use old newspapers and its time for me to replace them.

exactly, benitas!

I am a neat freak! A serious cleaner and organizer... every drawer, cupboard and cabinet is arranged, every shelf is dusted, every faucet and handle is polished. But I do think it's important to sometimes draw line in what areas need to be cleaned. The tops of the cupboards in our apartment are about 8 ft... since I'm 5'2" and none of our guests are Gheorghe Mureşan (7'7" basketball player) I don't feel this area needs to make it into my cleaning rotation. Wax Paper lining the tops to me doesn't actually make things cleaner anyway... it's sort of just a cupboard diaper isn't it?

Sounds like a pretty good idea. So it's a diaper for your cupboards. Nothing wrong with a diaper.

Newspaper sounds like a great idea. It can be used as fire support when the winter cleaning comes. :)

I have a dollar store plastic table cloth folded to fit up on my cupboard tops. When it's time to clean I take it down and give it a good scrub in the sink, dry it off and back up it goes. So far it's lasted 5 years and shows no signs of giving out. Best to get the smooth ones, not the ones with a pebbly texture. Also doesn't have the flannel type backing so you can wipe it dry fairly quickly.

I'm with SILLYPUTTY.

Also with Sillyputty on this. Seriously, 5 minutes during spring or winter cleaning, white vinegar, a rag, and you're done.

What about just using old stained napkins and washing them every 6 months or so?

I still don't have a clear picture on which is worse, paper or water. :(

I'm also with sillyputty. While I'm not a neat freak (my current sink-full of dishes will attest to that) one thing I CANNOT stand is having a musky-smelling house so dust is my public enemy no. 1.

I'm pretty vigilant about regularly cleaning high-dust areas (not so much the low dust areas like furniture and such). But I have to clean AC grate, tops of fans, and tops of cabinets several times a week. Knowing the dust is just collecting on a disposable service is not enough for me....I'd be going through two rolls of wax a month!

BUT it is a good idea for the infrequent duster. It is a bit difficult to get the leverage to do a deep scrubbing that high up so I would definitely do this if I wasn't already taking care of it.

Install some crown molding and seal off the top of the cupboards or have extra millwork (with doors) created for the top of the cabinets to store seldom used items....then all you do is clean door front along with the rest of your cupboards instead of a greasy-dusty mess.

I would replace the upper cabinets (that appear to be too tiny, anyway) by taller ones that go all the way to the ceiling. More storage, no worries about cleaning the grime on the top.

I think I'll stick with the other 99.9 percent of all people who only ever clean that area when they move to a new apartment and want to get their deposit back.

I second that UltraDeb

Actually, if you throw the newspaper into a garbage bag which is then tossed in a landfill, the newspaper and the dust will still be fairly well preserved 50 years from now. Landfills don't have enough heat, insect or bacterial growth to breakdown much of anything. They are just literal piles - therefore anything you "throw" in them stays pretty much the same.

Just wash the damn tops with soap and water once a week. It takes like two minutes. Do it when you wipe down your counter. You do wipe down your counter - right?!

I use a dust-mop with a flat swivel head and one of those removable dusting cloths that are washable. Just swipe the top of the cabinets with it, and viola! Wash the removable cloth every now and then and you're good. Also very useful for cleaning high crown moldings. Quick, easy, and nothing to send to the landfill.

In our many yrs of apt living we never once had cabinets with 'finished' tops, not even in the the more modern/upscale apts in the later years. Try scrubbing months or years of previous tenants' accumulated grease & grime from raw wood with soap & water. After hrs of hard labor on a ladder, I painted the tops with paint leftover trim paint & topped with a couple layers of newspaper. Every month, the newspaper was replaced & the tops wiped down. The old paper was used as a firestarter in the winter months & added to the compost pile in warmer months. Not a shred of it ended up in a landfill and it made my life a whole lot easier. Sometimes, ya just gotta do what ya gotta do.

I put this silly idea right down there with the "10 ways to disguise a dirty apartment" posts. For heaven's sake, if you are going to get on a ladder and spread waxed paper on your cabinets, you can haul a vacuum up there, and a wet rag, and clean them. Dust and grease on paper is still dust and grease. You should check up there regularly anyway because mice love cabinet tops.

Nadine_WPG, we do have paper recycling here. It will be re-used, or I use it, like CLGOGGANS said, to kindle fire. and I like to do take it off because I will know exactly when I've last done it and what had happenend back then. :)

water worse than paper? is that a joke?

you can't recycle grease and dust covered newspaper, btw.

@CLGOGGANS and @BENITAS - I would wonder if you are using the newspaper that has collected gunky oil and grease residue that you could have a grease fire hazard. The potential is there, right?

I don't worry with cleaning this area since no one can see it as other users have commented. I'm fine cleaning it 2-4 times a year with a rag and vinegar/baking soda/lemon juice cocktail.

I used to do the newspaper thing for many years. Then I realised just how daft it is. The muck is STILL THERE. It doesn't matter whether it's sitting right on top of the cupboards, or newspaper, or wax paper - it's still there.As others have said, how long does it take to clean it? Two minutes?

Okay, longer if you've let the dirt build up but surely everyone can manage two minutes a week? Anyway, no matter how carefully you fold the newspaper when you remove it, particles of dust still drop down to the counter so you have to do that too.

Well, maybe it would be a fire hazard after a while, but I tend to change it every month, so it is neither very grubby nor very dusty. I'm good with that. And I agree with the various commenters that if you leave the stuff up there for years it is dirty, no matter how many layers are between the cupboards and the dirt.
:)

You can't recycle dust and newspapers? PAH! COMPOST THEM!

I'm with the "extend upper cabinets to the ceiling" camp. More storage, none of this cleaning the dust off the top business. Of course there's the issue of cleaning the front faces....

Solution: 1) Change the filters in your HVAC every month (or however frequent they recommend- mine recommend monthly); 2) Use a vented hood religiously.

Number two is tricky if you don't have one though. If you own, you ought to have a vented hood. If you're renting (like me), who cares about the dust? Odds are you move within a year anyway. Let management take care of that. There are few upsides to pissing away rent money- make the most of it!

@Discerning: Why not just take an orbital sander to the tops? That sounds like an awful amount of extra work.

Also in general: I'm pretty OCD about cleaning, but cabinet tops are a no-go for me. Right now, I have boxes jenga'd from cabinet tops to ceiling. Some of them could be broken down, but many of them have the molded styrofoam inside. Over the years we've upgraded some of our belongings to the "nice things" category, and I want those things protected in transit. Few packing materials compare to the original boxes.

Sure it doesn't look pretty, but I'm more a function over form type of guy.

Good for all you who seem to love basking in your ocd meanwhile the rest of us that only clean the tops of cabinets once in a while: putting paper on top just makes it easier to tackle it. It doesn't magically transform muck into fairy dust it just saves your poor hands from shriveling up into dirty raisins and our backs from aching from awkward working positions. Climb down from your high horses and have a drink - it tastes nice.

@PLOEFFF Wall cupboards are normally 300mm deep. Base cupboards are 600mm deep. Wall cupboards are normally placed above every base cupboard. That means that excluding the sink, the work surfaces are double the area of the counter tops, which take only a minute to clean even though they get far dirtier than wall cupboard tops. So no shriveled fingers.

Backs are unlikely to ache after two minutes of standing on a stool or kneeling on the counter tops. And it DOES take more than two minutes to remove the old paper and lay new.

Right vino time - cheers!

Line 4 - *cupboard tops*

ABC's of WAX PAPER: There seems to be a hesitation of what wax paper is used for. For those of you who are from the younger set : back in the 50's my mother exclusively used waxed paper to carefully enfold the sandwiches she made for my lunch box from kindergarten through high school ( lunchbox became a brown paper bag in 7th grade). Wax paper predates Saran wrap and is totally bio-degradable which Saran wrap is not. I'll go with the vinegar, soap and a rag.

Not sure if this was mentioned but you could just lay out some fabric, even carpet on top of the cabinets then just every weekend or so take it down and toss it in the wash with the rest of your clothes.
Maybe have 2 or 3 of them to replace immediately. Could have dangly bits hanging over the edge for decoration and ease of pulling them down. Then you would have no waste, just keep washing the fabric.
If what I'm planning on doing since I'm moving out soon to my own place.
Dosent sound like much thought went into this.

So I guess your choices are:
Like the homemaking hint and say so,
Suggest another one that you use,
Make a snarky comment about other people's ideas.
( I guess I chose the 3rd option)

Well, I'm less than five feet tall, and honestly, it never occurred to me there would be dust and grease on the tops of cabinets until I was preparing to move out of an apartment, and the management informed me that part of the cleaning required was to thoroughly clean the tops of the cabinets. We lived in married student housing, with ancient HUD hollow metal cabinets.

Although I don't do much frying, after three years, I was horrified to discover that the dust was sticky and greasy. Cleaning the greasy dust from the tops of those cabinets was a miserable task, and certainly not a five minutes with vinegar and water on a rag job. I so wish I had known how dirty they could become, and that I could have prevented that miserable work with any sort of covering, whether it was wax paper, newspaper, or whatever.

I think this is an excellent suggestion, and am astounded about the criticism and questioning about whether the paper would be recyclable. How about the use of toxic cleaning products? I had to use an ammonia solution to cut the grease.

If you are concerned about what goes into our dumps, go after folks who use disposable diapers, which are a far more significant source of unlikely to biodegrade mass. I can't imagine how some of these critical commenters can live lives of such purity that they find the use of a few feet of waxed paper so reprehensible. Sheesh.

Excellent idea...it isss a horrid task all benty and not feeling the tops are clean with that 'raw wood/particle board that's used in some/rental cabinets..and I did find mouse shite all over the top of my cabinets when i moved INTO an apartment.. I'd def now use the newspapers and change them every week or so tops...@PLOUEFF and @RENEWBEE..THANKS, WELL SAID..: )

My old apartment had cabinets that reached the ceiling, but I recently moved in with my boyfriend and he has the exposed cabinet tops....thankfully he wasn't much of a cook so cleaning them was a breeze.

OMG!!!! LOL. that was way to funny.. a Cupboard Diaper.. I never laughted so hard.. Thank You Slightly Sweet...

How about this idea...get tile board from your favorite home improvement store, have them cut it for you if you can't do it yourself...it wipes clean easily, (like a whiteboard)...just don't forget to take them with you if you move! We actually have a piece between the fridge and stove, initially to 'insulate' the fridge from the heat of the oven. It was a bonus that it wipes clean easily from spatters when cooking on the stovetop and it can also be used as a whiteboard for grocery lists.

If its finished, use a dustrag with some water, Wash dustrag. If its kitchen cabinets, finish with high gloss color of choice, and then use dustrag. No problem.

Confession- I vacuum a few times a year.
However, the neighbors take a paper.... I could ask for that as a liner.

I don't know why they install cabinets this way now. I live in a 1930s apartment and the cabinets go all the way to the ceiling. No way to get dusty there.

Over the years, as our older relatives have passed on and we've cleaned out their houses, we find the tops of their cabinets covered with newspapers. (Some of it is REALLY old)

It was nothing really, just a weird thing that we kept bumping into. Didn't even think of asking another old timer why.

Now I understand and I feel REALLY stupid.

PLOUEFF and RENEWBEE.. Well said! It is certainly not a '5 minutes' job or a '2 minutes' to clean it with vinegar and water n rag. I have high ceilings and it is not only awkward (I am 5'8) to get on top and clean the cabinets but also dangerous. I'd rather line the top with paper or cloth to protect. I have maple cabinets and the grease and dust is not just 'wipe and clean', it is way too difficult than than, I clean it every week still it is sticky and dusty and not only the tops, I have discovered that my inner shelves and containers are also sticky. I tried scrubbing when I first moved in , it took so long and was such a painful task. Along with the grease, it only took away the polish off the cabinets. So I line all the inner shelves right above the cook top with paper and will also cover the tops. Great idea!

*That