clean kitchen?

A few excerpts from an article in the New York Times; how germy is your kitchen?:

"[P]eople who had the cleanest-looking kitchens were often the dirtiest. Because 'clean' people wipe up so much, they often end up spreading bacteria all over the place. The cleanest kitchens ... were in the homes of bachelors, who never wiped up and just put their dirty dishes in the sink."

"In one test ... raw chicken juices were spread on samples of used wood and plastic cutting boards. Both boards were washed in hot soapy water and dried, then knives were used to simulate cutting vegetables for a salad. No bacteria appeared on the knives cut on wood, but there were plenty on the knives used on a plastic board. ... Running plastic boards through the dishwasher only spread the bacteria around."

"Microwaving sponges ... wipes out harmful bacteria. 'We did soak sponges in some pretty bad things,' [Professor Cliver of UC Davis] said, 'and one minute in the nuke and that pretty much did it.'"