Kitchen clogs are the most common call we get — and the most preventable. A few daily habits and an occasional professional cleaning keep grease out of your lines and save you from an emergency backup on a holiday weekend.

Why Kitchen Drains Clog Differently

Bathroom clogs are usually hair. Kitchen clogs are grease, starch, and food particles that bind into a sludge inside your P-trap and wall lines. Hot grease poured down the drain liquefies — then solidifies 10 feet down the pipe where you can’t reach with a plunger.

Garbage disposals grind food smaller but don’t make it disappear. Without enough water flow, ground waste still accumulates.

Daily Habits That Prevent Blockages

• Scrape plates into the trash or compost — not the disposal
• Never pour cooking oil or bacon grease down the drain
• Run cold water for 15 seconds before and after using the disposal
• Use a sink strainer to catch food particles
• Don’t put coffee grounds, eggshells, or pasta down the disposal

Weekly & Monthly Maintenance

Once a week, flush the drain with hot (not boiling) water while running the disposal. Monthly, remove and clean the P-trap under the sink if you’re comfortable — you’ll often find the start of a grease plug before it closes the pipe entirely.

Clean your disposal with ice cubes and citrus peels occasionally. Skip harsh chemical drain cleaners — they damage pipes and rarely dissolve grease plugs fully.

When to Schedule Professional Cleaning

Most LA homes benefit from professional drain cleaning every 1–2 years. Schedule annually if you cook frequently, have an older home with cast iron kitchen lines, or have had recurring clogs in the same drain.

Garbage Disposal Best Practices

Run the disposal with a strong cold water stream — hot water melts grease that re-solidifies downstream. Feed waste gradually, not in large batches. If the disposal hums but doesn’t spin, reset it — but recurring jams mean something is binding in the line below.

When DIY Isn’t Enough

Call a plumber when plunging stops working, when clogs return within weeks, or when multiple drains slow down at once. We snake, jet, and camera kitchen lines to remove buildup completely — not just punch a temporary hole through it.