Have You Done Your Appliance Maintenance Checkups?

What are the holidays without time with family and plenty of festive food? Memories are made around the perfect roasted turkey or baking dozens of your favorite holiday cookies. 

What is not often planned for during the holiday season is when a kitchen appliance doesn’t perform properly. Don’t let household dilemmas ruin your festivities. By scheduling regular appliance maintenance before the holiday season starts, you won’t receive any unwelcome surprises during the holidays. 

How often should you check on major appliances? Here is a basic schedule and simple ways to keep three essential kitchen appliances running smoothly. 

Dishwasher

Simple preventive appliance maintenance tips will keep your dishwasher smelling fresh and running efficiently. Once per month, experts suggest adding a dishwasher-safe cup of white vinegar, positioned upright on the top rack, then running a hot cycle. This will eliminate those pesky odors. Then, be sure to remove food particles from the basket at the base. 

Refrigerator

Check regularly for expired food. But also schedule time quarterly to remove everything from your fridge to wipe down the shelves, drawers, and sides of the refrigerator. Try combining one tablespoon of baking soda with one quart of warm water for an effective cleaning solution. 

If possible, pull your fridge away from the wall to vacuum dust and remove dirt. Be sure to check the condition of cords and tubes. If you see a problem, call a professional for repairs. 

Stove Top and Oven

Splatters and stains are a breeding ground for microbes. With that in mind, be sure to wipe down the stove top every day. As for the oven, depending on how often you use it, experts suggest cleaning it every three months. 

Since an overcooked turkey can put a damper on your holiday meal, Joy Wilson of joythebaker.com, has a helpful tip to check your oven temperature: Place six slices of white bread in a cold oven, then set the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Check the bread slices at 12 minutes, 18 minutes, and again at the 20-minute mark. 

“After 18 to 20 [minutes] take the bread out of the oven and place on a baking sheet on the counter in the same configuration as the oven shelf,” says Joy. “Take a good look. What pieces of bread have more browning?” Depending on the shades of browning, you can identify the oven’s hot spots and uneven temperature. If it looks too brown, it’s time to call for appliance maintenance help. 

Reach Out to Our Maintenance Crew

At Twin Pines Apartments , we want your holiday celebrations to be as magical and memory-filled as you envision. To help ensure that seasonal magic, our on-site management and 24-hour maintenance teams are ready to help if you are having any sort of problems with your appliances. 

If you have discovered that a stove burner or the dishwasher has quit working, simply visit the Twin Pines Apartment s Resident Portal a nd submit a work order. Our team will respond right away and schedule a time for the repair, getting you back on track to holiday happiness. 

With regular upkeep and scheduling repairs with appliance maintenance, you can be sure your kitchen appliances will be ready to help make this holiday season delicious. The entire staff here at Twin Pines sincerely wants your holiday wishes to come true this year!