How to Get Rid of Ants In Your Kitchen: 4 Methods to Keep Out Pests

If you’re anything like us, you probably love hosting guests and showing off your kitchen! But sometimes, you may find yourself with a few unwelcome guests in your kitchen ? ants. When these unwanted pests find their way into your home, it can feel exhausting trying to get rid of them once and for all. They crawl over everything and find a way into every nook and cranny in your kitchen cabinets and drawers.

Don’t let an ant invasion in your home stress you out. Instead, Kitchen Cabinet Kings has put together a list of tried and true steps to help you evict those unwelcome guests from your kitchen. Follow along to learn how to properly tackle an ant infestation in your home while maintaining a pest-free environment.

How to Get Rid of Kitchen Ants & Infestation in the Kitchen

There are a number of ways to mitigate the ant infestation in your kitchen, ranging from natural deterrents and store-bought chemicals and traps to daily cleaning and cabinet reorganization. But before you should even begin attempting any of these methods, you need to locate the source of the ants. Unfortunately, most attempts to remove the tiny ants in your kitchen without finding the source first will be useless.

1. Identify the Source of the Ants

Ask yourself, ?Where are the ants coming from?? Understanding where and how the ants are making their way into your kitchen is the most important step in removing them once and for all. Because of their tiny stature, they can usually find several ways into your home, especially if they’re enticed by crumbs or food. Check for signs of their entry points throughout your home, especially in the kitchen. This could be cracks in windows, gaps in doors, or even small openings around pipes.

Locating the source will help you target your efforts more effectively by focusing on a particular area of your home. However, locating the source isn’t enough. We also recommend taking the steps necessary to seal off the cracks, gaps, or openings where ants enter your kitchen. This can be easily accomplished with caulk, weather stripping, or other appropriate materials you can find at your local hardware store. Preventing their access reduces the chances of more ants invading your home.

2. Clean Your Kitchen

Now that you’ve located where ants are breaking into your home, it’s time to take the next step ? cleaning your kitchen. In most cases, ants have found their way into your home because they were enticed by the food in your home. This could be items in your pantry being stored properly or crumbs and leftover dishes that haven’t been thoroughly cleaned up. Perform a deep clean of your kitchen, especially in the areas where ants enter your home or congregate once inside.

Remember that this deep clean is a one-and-done way to keep ants out. You will need to be more mindful moving forward and ensure your kitchen is being cleaned regularly to keep out these tiny ants in your kitchen. Take the time each night to quickly wipe down your countertops, sweep any crumbs off the floor, and put dishes in the dishwasher. Doing so will minimize the potential risk of an ant infestation.

You may even want to take the time to reorganize your kitchen cabinets if your pantry items are stored close to the entry points. Along with ensuring your food is stored correctly, moving it away from the entry points can deter the ants from entering your home. Your pantry is likely one of the main areas in your kitchen where the ants were headed, so making that trek to the pantry a bit longer can reduce the chances of ants breaking in.

3. Kill the Ants In Your Kitchen

Once your kitchen is cleaned, you can begin taking the necessary measures to kill the ants in your home (and hopefully prevent more from your unwelcome guests!). Targeting the areas where the ants entered your home, use store-bought ant killer or homemade natural deterrents to discourage them from entering. A few of our favorite (and easy) eco-friendly, natural deterrents are:

• Vinegar – A mixture of white vinegar and water can be used to wipe down the entry point and surrounding surfaces. The smell of the vinegar can disrupt the ant’s scent trails, which will help discourage them from reentering your home.
• Cinnamon – Another item you likely have lying around your kitchen is a container of cinnamon. Sprinkle some cinnamon near the entry points as an effective natural deterrent.
• Peppermint Oil – While you may not have this item already, it’s easy to source and, when mixed with water, can be applied to the ant trails to deter them from entering your home.

4. Use Ant Bait Stations

While the methods we’ve mentioned so far are effective at keeping new ants from joining the party, you still need an effective method for killing the tiny ants still in your kitchen. We recommend heading to your local hardware store to pick up a few ant bait stations that can be placed on your floors, countertops, or cabinets where you discovered the ant infestation. These work to attract the ants, trap them, and kill them, ensuring they are no longer getting into your food (or laying eggs in your home).

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I find out where ants are coming from in my kitchen?

Think of this as a treasure hunt, but instead of finding gold, you’re finding a way to prevent ants from entering your kitchen. To know where ants are coming from, take the time to watch them closely and follow their paths. Check for holes or openings in walls, floors, or windows that they might use to get in ? you may even need a flashlight to look in hidden spots. Remember that ants are tiny and can find their way inside using the smallest entrances! When you find where they’re coming in, seal up the entry points so they can’t come in again.

What to do when at-home ant deterrent solutions don’t work?

Depending on the severity of your ant infestation, at-home remedies to mitigate the problem may not be the most effective. In these instances, we recommend contacting a licensed pest control company that can use their knowledge, expertise, and tools to pinpoint the exact ant species invading your space, track down their nests, and administer a proper treatment plan to evict these critters from your home.

Why do I keep getting ants in my kitchen?

There are a few reasons you may keep getting ants in your kitchen. The first and most likely culprit is that the ants likely have an entrance point into your home that you haven’t discovered yet. All their entry points must be sealed off to stop them from entering your home. Follow their trail to locate the entrance and seal it. Another reason is that you may have crumbs on your floors or counters, improperly stored pantry items, or unwashed dishes in your sink. Any remnants of food in your kitchen will attract these unwanted pests!

What kills ants the quickest?

If you wake up to ants in your home, you probably want them gone (and want them gone now!). For the most effective way of tackling your infestation issue, we recommend using an ant spray or aerosol designed to kill insects on contact. Your local hardware store, possibly even your grocery store, will sell these fast-acting products to kill the little ants. However, you need to make sure you are not only killing the ants but identifying (and treating) the source of the problem to nip it in the bud.