Aside from adding a little colour and interest to your kitchen, the point of a splashback is to make things easier to clean up after cooking—but 'easy' doesn't mean 'automatic'. Your new splashback will look better for longer if you put a bit of effort into maintaining it, so here's a few handy tips for keeping your shiny glass splashback as clean and sparkling as the day it was installed on your kitchen wall.

STEP ONE: PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN A CURE

You won't have to clean your splashback so often if you put a little effort into keeping it clean, so check every time you cook to see if there's anything you could do to shine it up quickly and save yourself a harder job later on. It's a good idea to keep a kitchen sponge on your countertop for this purpose, but make sure you're changing that sponge often enough. Left unchecked, they can come to harbour all kinds of nasty germs you don't want to encourage. Throw sponges out at least once a month, and keep them clean in between times by rinsing them thoroughly and making sure they dry out well. They can even go through the dishwasher, if you have one!

STEP TWO: MAKE SURE YOU'RE USING THE RIGHT CLEANERS

If you want to avoid allowing your glass to become dull and streaky, you're going to need to put a little thought into picking the right cleaning agents. You can invest in a bottle of specialised glass cleaner, but often the best thing you can use is already right there in your kitchen: clean up an old empty spray bottle and fill it with two parts water (boil it first, to make sure it's clean), one part vinegar and a small squirt of washing up liquid. Shake it up before every use and use it liberally to clean almost anything—from your kitchen splashbacks to your bathroom floor.

STEP THREE: PICK THE BEST CLOTH TO BUFF EVERYTHING TO A SHINE

Spraying the stuff on is only half of what makes a glass splashback look so good, though—you also need to make sure you're putting a little effort into buffing it back up to a gorgeous, gleaming polish. You want a dry, absorbent cloth that doesn't shed; microfibre is the perfect choice. Make sure you have at least two of them. When your cleaning agent has been sprayed on liberally, use the first to wipe it off again and then the second, completely dry, cloth to buff the splashback's surface till you can see your face reflected in it once more.