Some kitchen risks are no-brainers — you wouldn't put metal in a microwave unless you wanted to start a fire — but others are not so commonly known. Here are 14 innocent mistakes that can really damage the most important room in the house.

Potato peels contain a lot of starch, which can clump into a thick paste and clog a disposal. Also, peels sometimes pass through the disposal intact and collect in other parts of the piping, creating a hard-to-dislodge block. Artichoke leaves are also no-goes. Their tough fibers can get caught in disposal blades.

The better way: Compost potato peels and artichoke leaves or dispose of them in the household trash.

No, you don't have to wash or even rinse the dishes before they go into the machine. But tossing dirty plates into the rack with large stuck-on bits of meatloaf or rice can clog a dishwasher's pump assembly, drain lines and spray arms. This in turn can cause bacteria to breed (yuck) and diminish — or completely destroy — the machine's washing power. Simply scraping, but not rinsing (the soap needs a little something on which to cling to work well!), is the right way to go.

Why so dangerous? Swirling hot liquid in a blender causes the liquid to expand, forcing it up and out of the top of the carafe, where it could potentially burn you — and spray your walls and ceiling.

To prevent a geyser: Puree in batches, fill the blender no more than halfway and remove the center stopper from the lid and hold a kitchen towel over the opening instead.

Acids like citrus juice, vinegar, wine, tomatoes and soft drinks can stain and sometimes even etch the surface of granite and marble countertops. So wipe up spills as quickly as possible. Once the damage is done, your only recourse may be to have the surface re-polished by a professional. Some (though not all) granite surfaces benefit from a sealer. It won't guarantee that your surface will be stain-proof, but it can give you some extra time to wipe up the mess. Check with a professional before choosing and applying a sealer; the wrong choice could damage instead of protect the surface.

The oozing, bubbly goodness of your Instagram-famous French onion soup casserole can also be your stove's downfall if you allow it to fall to the oven floor. At best it will become a baked-on permanent stain. At worse it can catch fire. If you're making pizza, pies or other dishes prone to juicy, cheesy or sugary overflow, place a baking sheet on the rack below.

No matter how gentle your touch, never take a screwdriver (or any tool!) to a freezer in need of defrosting. There's a good chance of cracking the machine's wall, damaging the cooling system and causing the coolant to leak — literally just breaking your whole freezer.

If you have an older refrigerator model or a new one without an automatic defrost feature, follow these simple steps: First, remove the food and transfer it to a cooler (or cook and eat it!). Turn off the freezer, and set a tray to catch the draining water. (It wouldn’t hurt to protect your floor with towels, as well.) Put bowls of lukewarm water in the freezer and wipe away melted water at 20-minute intervals, closing the freezer door in between each. (Removing water and loose hunks of ice from the bottom first will speed up the process.)

But please — do not use a hairdryer to melt the ice. You don't need to be reminded that dripping water on an electric appliance is dangerous.

Water is a fast conductor of heat; much faster than air. If you use a wet towel or oven mitts to remove that hot lasagna from the oven, the heat from the baking dish will transmit quickly to your hands. It'll cause a painful burn and could make you drop the baking dish and break it. The best bet: dry mitts and towels, or try a silicone mitt or potholder.

It may feel counter-intuitive, but dousing a flaming tray of broiled chicken thighs with water can only make things worse. Water and oil don’t mix. Worst case: The water will sink below the oil and become super-heated into a powerful blast of steam, adding oxygen and projecting the burning oil outward and upward into a raging fire. Your goal is to deprive the flames of oxygen by smothering them.

Try covering the pan with a large pot lid, a damp kitchen towel or something similar that can cut off the air to the fire. A Class B chemical fire extinguisher also works, of course, but it will make a mess, so employ one according to the severity of the fire. As for baking soda and baking powder — classic kitchen fire remedies — they'll work, but you need a lot of them.

Even if your counter is made from a material that seems like stone, often, these composites are not designed to be heatproof. For example, quartz, which is very popular today and is even touted as a heat-resistant stone, can only stand 150 degrees of heat, according to quartz manufacturers. Put something hotter than that on your quartz counter, and you’ll create a scorch mark.

The inside of your refrigerator has vents scattered throughout — some on the back wall, but the placement will vary depending on your model. These ensure that cool air circulates throughout the refrigerator. Make sure you don’t block the vents with food; doing so could cause your fridge to overheat.

Maybe there’s a little extra grease in your skillet. While it’s tempting to bring the skillet to the sink and scrub away that teaspoon of oil, resist the urge. Instead, let it cool off and pour it into the trash (or, if it’s a lot of oil, cool it and put it in a sealed disposable bag before tossing it). Fats, especially animal fats like bacon fat, solidify when cool water hits it. Oil and fat can build up over time in your pipes, ruining them.

Never put steaming hot food in the trash can. Not only will it heat up the other contents of your trash, filling your kitchen with a stinky odor, but also it could melt right through the plastic garbage bag, creating a giant mess.

You know you should turn on the fan when you’re searing a steak and releasing an enormous cloud of smoke. But most ovens release hot, steamy air from a little vent on the back. Over time, condensation will build up on nearby cabinets, causing painted cabinets to peel and wooden ones to warp.