If you have a cooking hood installed in your kitchen, and if you have tried cleaning it yourself, you will definitely have a hard time trying to clean it and you probably regret installing one.

I have a very nice Rinnai hood in my kitchen, it is not just a decoration but also a good hood in filtering the smoke and oil from my cooking.
However, I have a serious problem on the filters, which I have tried numerous method to clean them but to no avail, including using vinegar as suggested by the so-called expert featured on TV!

The filters were so greasy that I almost wanted to call Rinnai to purchase for its replacements, just before I have given up on cleaning the filters, I found the amazing use of baking soda!

Yes, baking soda, which you could purchase from the baking section in supermarket for just S$1.80. According to my research, the filter need to be boiled with baking soda added into the boiling water. As I couldn't find a pot big enough for my filters, I tried putting the filters in my basin and pour in the hot water.

These are what I used for the cleaning:
Baking soda, a thong to flip the filters, a toothbrush to brush the grease away.

Sorry for this blur picture, I was trying to show that even the toothbrush is cleaner after cleaning the filters. In my past experience, I would need to throw away all the toothbrush used in cleaning the filters, as they are too greasy and dirty after the cleaning.

As you can see the water turned so muddy and dirty, I hope I have taken the picture of the grease left on my basin, but I was in a rush to clean the filters and thus unable to take the picture.

See? The filter looked so much cleaner after cleaning with the baking soda! According to my research, it can be as clean as a new piece if you were to boil it in hot water, which I believe totally. For using just hot water, I have already achieved 80% cleaner on the filter, I should really get a pot or tray to boil this filters next time. 

Another close up picture of the filter, although there are still a little grease on it, but I'm already very satisfied with the result, I have never seen my filters this clean other than they were first installed!

If you have a cooking hood, please save your energy and money by trying out this method!

The recommended way:
1) cook a pot or tray of hot water
2) put in a spoon of baking soda (you may put more if you're boiling a big pot of water)
3) put a few drops of dish detergent into the hot water
4) put in your filter and boil for about 15 minutes, you may use a toothbrush to gently brush away the grease

If you don't have the pot or tray, you may do the same like me by putting the filter in a basin (remember to put stopper to keep the hot water in the basin), pour in a big pot of boiling hot water and the baking soda and detergent as described above.

I've almost forgotten to share this very important point!

Years ago, when I was staying in HDB, there were many cockroaches around. On and off I see cockroaches in my house, so I spray the insecticide, and put those cockroach baits. When I don't see the cockroaches, I thought they were not around, and happy.

One day, to my horror, I found that the cockroaches are building their nests in my cabinets and some of my bags are full of cockroaches eggs! What about those cockroach baits? Yes, they are functioning, but cockroaches ate the baits food would not die on the spot, instead, they were back to their colony and poison their fellow friends and relatives. This sound good as it killed the whole colony, but guess what I found, a half full pale of the cockroaches dead bodies! Believe me, this is good enough to scare and haunt the ladies better than any horror movie!

From the incident, I have learned that PREVENTION and CLEANLINESS are the two key points in battling with insects. So what do I do now?

I put the moth balls in a small folded paper bin and leave them in all the top cabinets (which I seldom open).

(can be bought from NTUC or any grocery shop at less than $2 per pack.

I still spray the insecticides on the covers to drainage and the rubbish chute, preferably those with prevention for a period of time. I spray the insecticides on a regular basis, about once every 3 months.

I also do a regular check on the top cabinets, which are a good place for the cockroaches to build their houses.

Till date, my house is still free of cockroaches, occasionally, I do see one crawling around (you can control the cleanliness in your house but you can't control it in your neigbours', so no matter what you do, you're bound to see immigrants crawling in your territory) and I'll start spraying the insecticides and checking the moth balls balance......

Note:
Moth ball is a type of insecticide. It comes in a solid form that slowly gives off a toxic gas that kills moths and other insects. It contains very high concentrations of either naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene as active ingredients. It is meant to be used in closed, airtight containers so that the fumes they produce are trapped. The trapped fumes build up and kill any clothes moths inside. If mothballs are used out in the open, they can harm people that may touch or eat the mothballs, or breathe their vapors.
Thus, use it moderately.

My 2 year old girl scribbled on my TV console while I was busy with something. To my horror the scribbles were by pencil and pen and covered a very large area of my TV console. As my TV console was in white glossy laminate, it was extremely obvious!
I couldn't use any strong detergent or rough sponge to wipe the marks for fear that it would scratch the laminate. I tried using tissue paper with a little water but the marks was too stubborn to be removed, while I was almost giving up, I thought of the UIC soft srub which I normally use for washing my stainless steel pots. I use UIC soft scrub to wash my stainless steel pots as it is not a strong cleaning agent and will not scratch the surface of my pots, and now I discovered its usage other than washing the pot, ahah!
I'm surprised that this UIC soft scrub worked extremely well when used to clean my glossy laminate, I just put a small dot (about the size of a 5 cents coin) to the wet tissue paper and wiped across the pen and pencil marks. The marks disappeared with just one wipe, no strength or whatever hard work was needed! I will definitely use it to wipe my glossy laminate in future, especially those cabinets in the kitchen which are oily after the cooking :)
This UIC soft srub can be bought from NTUC at S$1.55 only: