The meal is over, and your dishwasher is fully loaded. But even as this wonderful appliance begins to work its magic, you know with a sinking heart that you've left a stubborn set of messes behind. The grater with the dried-on cheese, the skillet with the cooked-on egg, and those grease spots on the backsplash.

It's tempting to leave till tomorrow what you don't feel like doing tonight (raise your hand if you often relegate a sticky roasting pan to a night of soaking in soapy water, which somehow never quite works). But in most cases, it's better—and easier—to tackle kitchen cleanup conundrums with dispatch.

On the following pages, housekeeping and cooking gurus Sandra Phillips, author of A Clean Break (In-HomeVations, $10, www.live-right.com), and Linda Cobb, author of Talking Dirty With the Queen of Clean (Pocket Books, $11, www.amazon.com), and chef Andrea Reusing, from Lantern Restaurant in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, share degreasing and degunking tips for everything from appliances to accessories. With these strategies in your repertoire, you can face the morning with a clean conscience.