Cockroaches may survive a nuclear aftermath, but they don’t have to thrive in your kitchen
Seeing a cockroach is enough to make your skin crawl, but spotting one in your kitchen is a nightmare. Before you torch the room or build a wall to cut it off from the rest of the house, take a breath and learn how to get rid of cockroaches in your kitchen cabinets.
If you spot two or more roaches in your home, it's time to call in a professional exterminator. Don't hesitate to take pest control action to prevent the infestation from growing.
Cockroaches need moisture and food to survive, which is why they’re attracted to your home. They also like dark, damp areas. So if you have leaky pipes in the kitchen cabinet under the sink, you may find roaches hanging out here.
They often end up in kitchen cabinets with unsecured food because these areas remain dark most of the time and have ample snacks. If your kitchen cabinets have ill-fitting doors, roaches may enter them easily. Roaches have extremely flat bodies, so they can also fit through narrow gaps.
Roaches can occasionally enter your kitchen on or inside food packaging. More often, they will enter the home through gaps in the doors, walls, or foundation. They eventually migrate to the kitchen because of the moisture and food available.
Cockroaches are looking for food and moisture, so removing these elements can help get rid of these pests. Here are eight steps for how to get rid of cockroaches in kitchen cabinets.
Cockroaches may come to your cabinets because of small crumbs from food containers. To get rid of the roaches, you’ll need to get rid of their food sources. Take everything out of the cabinets—you may also want to wash all the dishes and storage containers if cockroaches have been crawling around.
After emptying the cabinets, vacuum out the cabinets to remove any remaining food debris. Then, give the cabinets another thorough cleaning by wiping them down with either hot, soapy water or a store-bought cleaner.
A whole host of health problems due to cockroaches can wreak havoc on your home. If you’re hesitant to use pesticides, there are other avenues you can try.
The first natural remedy you can use to ward off a cockroach infestation is borax powder, a cleaning agent that repels these insects. You can either clean your cabinets with it or sprinkle it inside them to keep roaches away. Make sure you wear gloves and wash your hands thoroughly after handling borax, as it’s a strong cleaning product that can make you sick if ingested or absorbed through the skin.
Eggshells work as a natural repellent, and many people use them to repel pests in their gardens. They work as a pest control agent the same way diatomaceous earth works in your yard. Remove any egg residue, crush up the shells, and sprinkle the powder underneath your cabinets.
Putting something sticky and sweet down for the roaches may seem counterintuitive, but the sugar will attract them while the baking soda kills them. To make this natural roach repellent, mix equal parts sugar and baking soda in a small bowl, and place it in your cabinets. Check it every few days and refill it as necessary.
Bay leaves won’t kill cockroaches, but they don’t like the smell, so it’ll send them away. You can get bay leaves in the spice section of your local grocery store. Place a few leaves in the kitchen cabinets where you’ve spotted the roaches, and they should vacate quickly.
Another simple and inexpensive way to repel and eradicate roaches is by spraying down the insides of your cabinets with a mixture of water and dish soap. You’ll want to ensure the mixture contains plenty of soap, so use more than just a few drops—about 3 parts water to 1 part soap should be sufficient. You can spray the mixture directly onto the roaches if you see them, which will clog their airways and kill them.
Cockroach gel traps are an effective way to get rid of an infestation. The roaches will take the gel from the traps back to their nests, and the poison will kill the whole colony. Though not an efficient way to get rid of roaches, glue traps can help you gauge whether there’s still a problem. Put glue traps in your cabinets, and if you’re still finding bugs stuck in them, continue with a more intensive treatment process.
Cockroaches only take up residence when they can access resources to keep them alive. By removing what attracts roaches to your home, you eliminate what can sustain them.
Cockroaches not only like to feed on starches, meats, and sweets, they can also live on decaying matter, other insects, books, and even hair. Clean up thoroughly whenever you cook, and keep your cabinets as clean and free of clutter as possible to eliminate their food sources.
Again, roaches will only stay where they have resources to sustain them. If they have no water, they’ll have to go elsewhere. Make sure to plug any leaks under your sink, in the cabinets, or even under the refrigerator.
After you’ve killed the roaches actively living in your cabinets and gotten rid of their nests, you’ll want to ensure you don’t get another infestation. Seal off gaps between doors, windows, and walls, and plug up holes with a caulking gun to prevent future unwanted visitors.
Use caulk to fill gaps, cracks, holes, and other openings in the kitchen cabinets. Check along the inside cabinets, apply the caulk in a line, then use a scraper knife to smooth the caulk over the area. You’ll want to use a waterproof caulk for this job, especially around the sink cabinets.
If you haven’t had success getting rid of the cockroaches yourself or if you’re not comfortable trying these methods, it’s time to call in a local pest control company. A pest control pro will perform an inspection of your property, including the kitchen cabinets, and recommend a treatment plan, typically involving spraying and setting traps. The average cost to exterminate cockroaches is around $250, depending on the size, severity, and location of your infestation.
Once you’ve cleared out food debris, filled gaps and cracks in the walls behind cabinets, and even called in a pro to exterminate any roaches, you’ll need to keep your kitchen clean to prevent more cockroaches from coming back.
Make sure to set up a kitchen cleaning checklist, cleaning the sink, stove, and counters daily and scheduling a time once a month to deep clean the insides of the cabinets. Get in the habit of sealing food products tightly to avoid attracting pests.
No one wants insects infesting their kitchen cabinets, but a roach infestation in the kitchen is especially loathsome. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cockroaches carry a higher possibility of causing health concerns than many other insects. Here are some of the biggest health concerns cockroaches may cause for humans.
Cockroaches shed lightweight body parts (or molt) regularly because they grow so quickly. Having these contaminants in the air can inflame allergies, creating sneezing, difficulty breathing, and rashes. Children and older adults can be especially susceptible to the allergens from these insects.
The contaminants in the air from roaches can cause a significant worsening of asthma symptoms. Other risks for asthma sufferers include:
Bronchospasm
Eosinophilic airway inflammation
Prolonged increases in bronchial hyperreactivity
Roaches leave feces and saliva behind as they walk across and eat your unsecured food. If you then touch or eat this contaminated food, you could suffer from various health problems, like gastrointestinal issues and fever.
Cockroaches can carry and spread multiple serious diseases to humans, although documented transmission outbreaks are rare. If you come into contact with the roaches or their droppings, you could end up with diseases like dysentery, gastroenteritis, typhoid fever, and salmonella, among others. Again, this side effect is more rare than the others listed above, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
DIY cockroach removal costs around $40 to $180 and may be effective if you only see a cockroach or two around the kitchen. But keep in mind that aside from posing risks to your health, cockroaches can lay several egg capsules in their lifetimes, with each capsule containing about 16 to over 48 eggs. So if you see two cockroaches in your home, there’s likely more hiding out of sight.
A couple of roaches rooting around the kitchen cabinets can quickly become a widespread infestation, which is best left to the pros. Professional cockroach extermination costs about $100 to $600 per treatment, depending on the extent and type of infestation. Don’t hesitate to hire a pest control professional to eradicate cockroaches from your home, as they have the tools, skills, and knowledge to take care of the problem as quickly as possible.
Some smells that keep roaches away include citrus (like oranges or lemons), garlic, bay leaves, cinnamon, lavender, citronella, or herbs like mint, thyme, or basil. Make sure you avoid using essential oils for these scents if you have pets in the house because inhaling essential oils can be toxic to pets.
It takes a few weeks to get rid of roaches in the kitchen for a small infestation, as the cockroaches will need to take the bait back to their nest to infect the others. For larger infestation, you may need to schedule multiple professional treatments, which could take several weeks or up to 6 months to get rid of the roaches fully.
