Stray teabags, soggy sponges and dirty dishwater – the Food24 team’s worst kitchen pet peeves

If you’ve ever shared a kitchen with someone, you’ll know it’s not always a walk in the park. You’re either the one annoying others with your unrefined habits, or you’re left feeling frustrated because someone else has managed to rile you up by doing something you’d never do yourself. Welcome to the world of kitchen pet peeves. We all have one (or more!), and today the Food24 team is airing their dirty dishes. 

Are you a culprit of any of these? 

Tessa Purdon – Editor
My biggest pet peeve is when someone leaves the tops or lids of condiments off without putting them back where they belong. Also, when someone leaves a runny egg on a plate until it solidifies, getting gross and crusty. 

Katy Rose – Social Media Manager
I am probably the worst offender in a shared kitchen, but there are a few things that come to mind, like when someone eats your leftovers before you can get to them. (Related: I once had a housemate who ate all the olives and salami off my leftover pizza and just left the base behind. Who does that?!) Also, when someone puts empty jars or bottles back in the fridge – like milk or mayo. 

Bianca Jones – Editorial Assistant
When someone leaves a crusty teabag in the mug in the sink, so when you wash dishes or pack the dishwasher, you have to fish out someone else’s teabag because said person was too lazy to toss it in the bin. Another one is when someone finishes something in the pantry (such as peanut butter) but neglects to write it on the shopping list or doesn’t communicate that it’s finished. It’s incredibly irritating, as is someone rearranging my things in the kitchen. 

Lauren Josephs – Database Project Manager Finding plates with leftover rice or bones in the sink. Also, mugs with teabags still left in them. There should be a law against this.

Adelle Horler – Editor in Chief
When you find a sad, waterlogged sponge left at the bottom of the sink…

Barbara Mugo – Editorial Assistant 
I could list a few, but my biggest one would have to be when people leave dirty dishwater in the sink with the sponge in it. Or if you don’t clean the sink after washing the dishes. Not changing the bin is also a biggie. 

Tank Lanning – Food24 Wine Club Wizard
Cooking with a messy cook drives me demented! One must clean as one cooks! Another one is when someone leaves the coffee machine with no water or beans in it. 

Nikita Buxton – Associate Editor
I hate it when someone leaves a near-empty glass of wine at the sink – or, even worse: when they forget where they’ve left their glass and just start pouring another one. 

Lindsay September – Copy Editor
My pet peeves are sink-related. The first is a sponge being adrift in a sink of dishwater. If washing up isn’t actively going on, the sponge belongs on the side of the sink, dried out. Also, all Tupperware must be opened, so they can air, and emptied. If you have chicken curry for lunch and leave that closed Tupperware, bones and all, in the kitchen sink, I am not liable if I throw the entire thing into the bin. 

What is your kitchen pet peeve? Let us know by tweeting us @Food24!