Mop Buckets and Wringers

In any kitchen with a greasy floor, yes. One side holds clean detergent, the other takes what comes out of the wringer, so the mop goes back down with detergent rather than with the last pass's grease.

Single buckets are fine for front of house and dry areas. The difference shows up most where surface and floor cleaners are fighting fat.

Side-press is lighter to operate and more forgiving of a rushed staff member, so it stays in service longer. Down-press extracts more water, which matters on a large floor that has to be walked on quickly.

Both wear out at the wringer before the bucket. Check whether a replacement wringer is available for the model before buying.

Only insofar as a full large bucket is too heavy to move and gets half-filled anyway. Match the capacity to the floor area and to whoever has to push it.

Capacities vary by model and are listed on the product page. If the bucket has to go through a doorway or up a step, check the footprint there too — the specifications page covers how we list dimensions.

Because a bucket is pushed across a wet floor with grit on it, and cheap castors seize. A seized castor means the bucket gets dragged, which spills and damages the floor.

Look for castors that can be replaced. The same logic applies to cleaning trolleys and kitchen trolleys.

No. Colour-code them and keep them apart — the washroom bucket should never touch a food preparation floor. The washroom and toilet cleaner range is kept separate for the same reason.

Two cheap buckets cost less than one cross-contamination incident. Match them with separate mops and brushes too.

Emptied, rinsed and upside down or tipped so it dries, with the mop head out of the bucket and hung. A mop left standing in dirty water overnight is the smell people blame on the drains.

Store it in the cleaning area with the commercial kitchen cleaning supplies rather than in the kitchen.

Some buckets are built for flat-mop pads and some for string heads, and the wringer is what differs. A string wringer will not press a flat pad properly.

Decide the mop system first, then buy the bucket that matches it. Mixing the two is where a kitchen ends up wringing by hand.