Kitchen deep-clean checklist: the quarterly jobs behind, under and above the line
The daily close keeps the kitchen clean where people look. A deep clean is for where they don't: the floor under the fryer, the wall behind the range, the top of the hood, the coils on the walk-in that collect a year of dust and grease. Those are also the places an inspector shines a flashlight.
Our restaurant cleaning schedule lays out the daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly layers by area. This post zooms in on the quarterly deep clean: each job broken into steps, who should and shouldn't do it, and how to run it as one planned night instead of a list that slips every month.
This is general information, not legal advice. Your equipment manuals, your hood cleaning contractor and your fire marshal have the final word on hoods, gas and fire suppression.
The rules behind it
From the 2022 FDA Food Code (the 2026 edition keeps the same rules, with minor typographic changes):
- Equipment surfaces you don't cook on: "NonFOOD-CONTACT SURFACES of EQUIPMENT shall be cleaned at a frequency necessary to preclude accumulation of soil residues" (§4-602.13).
- Floors, walls and ceilings: "PHYSICAL FACILITIES shall be cleaned as often as necessary to keep them clean", and, spills aside, "cleaning shall be done during periods when the least amount of FOOD is exposed such as after closing" (§6-501.12).
- Hood filters and ducts: "Intake and exhaust air ducts shall be cleaned and filters changed so they are not a source of contamination by dust, dirt, and other materials" (§6-501.14(A)).
- Why equipment has legs: fixed equipment must be "Spaced to allow access for cleaning along the sides, behind, and above the EQUIPMENT" (§4-402.11(A)(1)), and floor-mounted equipment that isn't easily movable is sealed to the floor or on legs with "at least a 15 centimeter (6 inch) clearance" (§4-402.12(A)). If you can't reach under it, that's a question for the next equipment purchase.
Power off before hands go in. OSHA's lockout/tagout standard covers "the servicing and maintenance of machines and equipment in which the unexpected energization or start up of the machines or equipment, or release of stored energy could cause injury to employees", and its definition of servicing includes "lubrication, cleaning or unjamming of machines or equipment" (29 CFR 1910.147). It doesn't apply to cord-and-plug equipment when the hazard is controlled "by the unplugging of the equipment from the energy source and by the plug being under the exclusive control of the employee performing the servicing or maintenance" (§1910.147(a)(2)(iii)(A)). In plain terms: unplug the mixer and keep the plug where you can see it; for hard-wired equipment, follow your written lockout procedure.
Teens and the deep clean. Under federal rules, 14- and 15-year-olds may clean kitchen equipment and remove grease filters "but only when the equipment, surfaces, containers and liquids do not exceed a temperature of 100 °F" (29 CFR 570.34(i)). Nobody under 18 may clean a power-driven meat slicer, grinder or patty former: the hazardous occupations order covers "the cleaning of such machines or the individual parts or attachments of such machines" (29 CFR 570.61(a)(4)). Your state may add more.
Plan the night
- Pick your slowest close of the quarter and schedule the deep clean as paid shifts, not "after your shift".
- Book the contractor jobs for the same week: hood and duct cleaning, refrigeration service, pest control. Their dates go on the checklist as "booked for".
- Order supplies a week ahead: degreaser, coil cleaner, scrapers, scrub pads, extra mop heads, gloves, eye protection, trash bags. Check the SDS binder for any chemical you haven't used before, and train on it before the night.
- Cool down first. Fryers, ranges and ovens off at least an hour before anyone cleans them; the fryer oil drained cold or into a proper container.
- Food out of the way. Cover or move anything stored near the area being cleaned; degreaser spray travels.
The quarterly deep-clean checklist
Each job has a Who, a Proof and a short set of steps. Photo before and after is the habit that keeps a deep clean honest.
Hood and line
Job | Steps | Who | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|
Hood filters | Remove when cool, soak in hot degreaser, scrub, rinse, dry, reinstall in the right direction | Closing cook | Photo |
Hood plenum and inside surfaces you can reach | Wipe and degrease behind the filters; anything past that is the contractor's job | Kitchen manager | Photo |
Hood and duct cleaning by contractor | Date of last service and next booking; service sticker photographed | Owner | Photo |
Behind and under the line | Gas off at the appliance valve where needed, equipment on casters pulled out, floor scraped and scrubbed, walls degreased, equipment rolled back and gas restored and checked | Kitchen manager + one cook | Photo |
Range and oven exteriors, sides and backs | Degrease the sides and back panels that face the wall | Line cook | Checkbox |
Fryer cabinet and flue area | Drain cold, clean inside the cabinet and around the flue | Line cook | Checkbox |
Refrigeration
Job | Steps | Who | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|
Walk-in condenser coil | Power off at the disconnect; brush or vacuum the coil, coil cleaner if the maker allows; power back on and check the temperature recovers | Owner or refrigeration tech | Photo |
Walk-in evaporator (inside unit) | Fan guard and drain pan cleaned; drain line clear; no ice build-up | Kitchen manager | Photo |
Reach-in and lowboy condenser grilles | Unplug, pull the grille, brush the coil, reassemble | Line cook | Checkbox |
Door gaskets, all units | Clean, check for tears, write down any to replace | Prep cook | Checkbox |
Shelving | Walk-in emptied one section at a time, shelves washed, rinsed, sanitized, floor under scrubbed | Prep cook | Photo |
Keep food at 41°F or below while you empty a section: move it to another unit, not the counter. The walk-in organization chart helps put it all back in the right place.
Dish, ice and drains
Job | Steps | Who | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|
Dish machine | Delime per the maker or your chemical supplier; curtains, arms and screens cleaned | Dishwasher | Checkbox |
Ice machine | Cleaned and sanitized per the maker's instructions; date written on the machine | Kitchen manager | Photo |
Floor drains and drain covers | Covers lifted, drains scrubbed and flushed | Dishwasher | Checkbox |
Walls and splash zones around dish | Scrubbed top to bottom | Dishwasher | Checkbox |
Above eye level
Job | Steps | Who | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|
Ceiling tiles and vents over prep and cook areas | Wiped or replaced where stained | Kitchen manager | Photo |
Light fixtures and shields | Cleaned; shields in place | Kitchen manager | Checkbox |
Tops of shelving and equipment | Dust and grease removed | Prep cook | Checkbox |
Close-out
Job | Who | Proof |
|---|---|---|
Every unit back on, temperatures recovered (reach-ins, walk-in, freezer) | Kitchen manager | Number |
Gas appliances relit and checked | Kitchen manager | Checkbox |
Chemicals put away, nothing left above food | Kitchen manager | Checkbox |
Repairs found tonight written down for the equipment maintenance log | Kitchen manager | Checkbox |
Pest signs found behind equipment reported to the pest company | Kitchen manager | Checkbox |
After the night
- Walk it with a flashlight before anyone leaves. Under the fryer, behind the range, the top of the hood.
- Write the problems down: a torn gasket, a leaking drain line, a caster that doesn't roll. Repairs go in the maintenance log with a date.
- Book the next one before you forget. Same night next quarter.
Where Mays fits
- The quarter's date, every quarter. Build the checklist as a template under Tasks → Templates with Quarterly frequency, a date, and a Starting quarter (Jan / Apr / Jul / Oct, Feb / May / Aug / Nov or Mar / Jun / Sep / Dec). See Create a checklist template.
- Steps inside each task. Click a task's pencil and write the steps under Instructions in Edit Task; they show on the task in the app.
- Before-and-after photos come from the app's camera, and the close-out temperatures are Number answers.
- Sending it back. A manager who sees grease in the photo of the hood filters can reject the task with a reason, on the web with Reject & Resend or in the app with Reject Task, and it goes back on the list. See Review and reject tasks.
- Teens kept off the wrong jobs. With Labor law compliance on, a position can carry a Minimum age and the tasks it involves, such as a meat or deli slicer, ladders, or filtering and carrying hot oil above 100 °F, and Mays warns you when someone too young is scheduled in it at a location with minors' rules on. See Positions and wages.
Two things to know. Carry unfinished duties through the week keeps an unfinished task on the list only until Sunday, so date the deep clean early in the week or finish it on the night. And Mays has no equipment register, so contractor dates and repairs live in your maintenance log, not on a machine record.
Four nights a year
Plan the night, power down before you clean, photograph before and after, and book the next one before you go home. Four nights a year keeps the places nobody sees from becoming the place an inspector finds.
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