How to Kasher Your Kitchen for Passover: A Complete Guide

The Annual Transformation

Every spring, something extraordinary happens in Jewish kitchens around the world. Cabinets are emptied. Shelves are scrubbed. Ovens are heated to their maximum temperature. Pots are submerged in boiling water. Boxes of special dishes, used only one week per year, emerge from closets and basements. The kitchen undergoes a complete transformation — from a place where bread and pasta are everyday staples to a space where even a crumb of leavened grain is forbidden.

Preparing a kitchen for Passover is one of the most labor-intensive tasks in Jewish life. It is also one of the most meaningful. The process of removing chametz — leavened grain products — from your home is a physical expression of a spiritual idea: letting go of the inflated, the puffed-up, the things that have fermented in your life. You scrub the kitchen, and somehow, you feel cleaner too.

This guide walks through the process step by step, from the initial search for chametz to kashering specific appliances and surfaces.

Step 1: The Search for Chametz (Bedikat Chametz)

On the night before the Passover Seder (or two nights before if the Seder falls on Saturday night), the formal search for chametz takes place. By this point, your kitchen should already be mostly clean. The search is a final check.

Traditionally, ten pieces of bread are placed around the house before the search. Using a candle for light, a feather to sweep, and a wooden spoon to collect, you search every room where chametz might have been brought during the year. A blessing is recited before the search: Baruch atah Adonai… al bi’ur chametz (on the destruction of chametz). After the search, a formula in Aramaic nullifies any chametz that may have been missed.

The next morning, the collected chametz is burned (bi’ur chametz), and the nullification formula is repeated.

Step 2: Cleaning

Before kashering, the kitchen must be thoroughly cleaned. Every surface where food is prepared, stored, or eaten needs attention:

• Clean all cabinets and drawers, removing crumbs
• Clean the refrigerator and freezer thoroughly
• Clean behind and under appliances where crumbs accumulate
• Clean the dining table and chairs
• Line shelves that will hold Passover food

This is not the same as spring cleaning for appearance — it is about removing chametz from every corner.

Step 3: Kashering Specific Surfaces and Appliances

Oven

Clean the oven thoroughly, including racks. Run the self-cleaning cycle if available. If no self-cleaning cycle, clean as thoroughly as possible, then heat the oven to its highest temperature for one hour. Some people cover the racks with foil after kashering.

Stovetop

Clean the grates and burners thoroughly. Turn all burners to their highest setting for 15 minutes. The grates should glow if possible. For a glass-top stove, clean thoroughly; there is debate about whether glass cooktops can be fully kashered — many families cover them with a specially made metal sheet.

Sink

Stainless steel sinks can be kashered. Clean the sink thoroughly, do not use it for 24 hours, then pour boiling water over every surface of the sink, including the faucet and handles. Porcelain and ceramic sinks cannot be kashered — use a Passover sink insert or basin.

Countertops

Granite, stainless steel, and some stone counters can be kashered by cleaning, waiting 24 hours, and pouring boiling water over the surface. Laminate, tile, and wooden counters are more complicated — many families cover them with foil, contact paper, or plastic sheeting.

Dishwasher

Clean the dishwasher thoroughly, including the filter and door edges. Do not use it for 24 hours. Run an empty cycle on the hottest setting. Some authorities require changing the racks or running with a kashering agent.

Microwave

Clean thoroughly, especially the turntable. Place a bowl of water inside and run until the water boils and steams up the interior. Some families cover the turntable or use a separate Passover microwave.

Step 4: Dishes and Utensils

Metal utensils (pots, pans, silverware) can generally be kashered by immersion in a pot of boiling water (hag’alah). Clean thoroughly, do not use for 24 hours, then immerse completely in vigorously boiling water.

Glass is treated differently by different traditions. Ashkenazi custom holds that glass absorbs and cannot be kashered; Sephardi custom permits kashering glass by soaking in water for 72 hours, changing the water every 24 hours.

Ceramic, porcelain, and earthenware cannot be kashered. Use separate Passover sets.

Plastic is debated — many families simply use Passover-designated plastic items.

Step 5: Selling Chametz (Mechirat Chametz)

Any chametz you want to keep (unopened packages, liquor, etc.) can be sold to a non-Jew for the duration of Passover through a rabbi. This is a legal transaction, not a formality. The chametz is placed in a sealed cabinet or area, and a contract of sale is arranged before Passover begins. After the holiday, the rabbi repurchases it.

Making It Manageable

Passover preparation is a lot of work, but it does not have to be overwhelming. Start early — many families begin cleaning two to three weeks before the holiday. Tackle one room or cabinet at a time. Use the opportunity to declutter. And remember that the goal is removing chametz, not achieving surgical sterility.

The transformation of the kitchen is one of the most tangible experiences in Jewish life. When you sit down at the Seder table knowing that your home is free of chametz, that every surface has been cleaned and prepared, that the kitchen has been reborn for the holiday — there is a sense of readiness and renewal that mirrors the story of liberation you are about to tell.