Buying a home is a pretty big deal, and so is deciding what to put in said home. While it's easy to get caught up in aesthetic trends, are some features and fixtures actually more trouble than they're worth?
Kate Croukamp, a 45-year-old professional home cleaner and co-owner of Mates Rates, a cleaning company based in the Gold Coast of Australia, has the answer. Kate recently shared this viral video on the educational Clean Like A Pro TikTok account she co-runs with her husband. In Kate's video, she shares the home renovations she would NEVER get in her own home as a professional cleaner. "Don't do it, don't let anybody convince you otherwise. Do not get these in your house. Trust me, you will regret it," Kate says.
Kate then launches into which renovations she advises against and why:
"These [shutter] windows. They take three times as long to clean."
"Trench drains. Oh my god, they are absolutely foul. Disgusting, hate them. They stink, gross. Don't be tempted to get this."
"Built-in bins in your kitchen. Yuck."
"These fancy cupboards, for your spices or anything. You know what? You cannot get behind there to clean anything out, and it will drive you absolutely nuts."
"Mirrored splash backs. Don't do it, don't be tempted. You will regret it."
"Dark kitchen cabinetry. They will show every single fingerprint, smear mark, food splatter, everything. They are very unforgiving."
"These so-called soft touch kitchen cabinets or bathroom cabinetry. These— they break so often. They either won't open, or the slightest little brush against them, and they will pop open."
"High gloss tiles. Oh god, no. Don't. Unless of course, you enjoy mopping every day."
"These baths with the gap up against the wall. Nope."
"These vertical blinds. No, no no. Just, no."
"And another big no is these [horizontal] blinds. The amount of dust that these gather is will drive you nuts. ... There is just dust for days that gather on these blinds."
"Some carpet is like vacuuming Velcro. Everything sticks to it. So, find a way to check before you commit."
"Another ridiculous cabinetry is these corner lazy Susan things. Again, you cannot clean underneath without removing the whole thing."
"And the worst of all, these oversized gas ovens and cooktops. They look beautiful in the showroom, but don't do it. You do not need an oven this size. Thankfully it seems like they're going out of fashion, and people are choosing a more sleek oven, normal size, 600 mil. Don't go for one of these 900 mil ovens where there's a million different pieces to it."
"There's hidden little compartments everywhere. After a while, honestly, it just looks like crap..."
"...and the amount of work it takes to keep one of these ovens clean, it's not worth it. Don't do it."
"Don't be tempted by any of these things that I've shown you," Kate concludes in the video.
As a person with zero generational wealth who may never own a home, I still took notes! And I'm not the only one. Kate's video currently has over 1.4 million views, and thousands of people flooded the comments, many to confirm that the features she mentioned are indeed a nightmare to clean.
I reached out to Kate to learn more about her cleaning expertise, and it's pretty extensive. She and her husband Jack have been running their cleaning business since 2008, and have serviced thousands of homes. In 2020, they launched Clean Like a Pro as both a creative outlet and to educate others on the ins and outs of cleaning different spaces. "Not everyone was raised being shown how to clean," Kate told BuzzFeed.
"I believe cleaning is rarely taken into consideration when people choose what fixtures and fittings they put in their homes," Kate explained. "Expensive can often mean more difficult to clean, less practical than more affordable options, and not necessarily longer lasting either."
This, paired with the trends Kate kept seeing in her clients' homes, inspired her to share her thoughts on TikTok. "We clean a lot of newer built homes, and many of them have the same fixtures and fittings. We also noticed that many of the items I listed are extra dirty, proving that yes, they are difficult to clean. This is why they aren’t being cleaned as often as something that is much more practical."
Kate told BuzzFeed that her video garnered a "huge," response, and while many agreed with her, there were also some naysayers. "Some people didn’t agree with some things I listed, saying, 'Just clean it more often.' Well, yes, that is obvious. That's my point. Life is busy. Why add more work to our already hectic life with home fittings that require cleaning more often and are difficult to clean? There are so many beautiful options that do not require as much upkeep."
But if the features and fixtures Kate mentions in her video are such a pain, why are they so popular? Kate told BuzzFeed, "[It's] purely based on what is in magazines, what is on home reno TV shows, and what the salesperson wants to sell. How to clean it and how often to clean it probably rarely come into the equation when making these choices."
