It's not uncommon to find ants in your kitchen, especially when summer rolls around. Keeping crumbs cleaned up and food packages sealed will go a long ways towards keeping them away, but to give yourself a little extra protection (without resorting to harsh chemical pesticides) it is helpful to rely on one or more of these natural methods.

Lemon Juice

The acidity of the lemon juice is unappealing to ants, so they tend to stay away from it. Harness its power by filling a spray bottle with the juice. (There's no need to squeeze it fresh; the bottled juice will work just fine.) Spray the juice into the creases of your cupboards, as well as along your baseboards, since these are places where ants tend to creep in and congregate.

Diatomaceous Earth

When you are actually seeing a good number of ants, this is a good remedy to rely on. Diatomaceous earth, or DE, is made from the shells of tiny sea creatures known as diatoms. On the microscopic level, these shells are very sharp. They work their way under the ants' exoskeleton, physically cutting the insect and ultimately causing it to become dehydrated and die. As long as you are careful to buy food-grade DE (sold in health food stores), it will cause no harm to humans or pets.

Lay a thin line of DE out anywhere you see the ants coming in. It does not take much to kill them. Keep it down for a few days to ensure you've killed all of the ants, and then vacuum it up.

Coffee Grounds and Cinnamon

Both coffee grounds and cinnamon are unappealing to ants, and they hate the combination of these ingredients even more. Scoop a few tablespoons of coffee grounds onto a big piece of mesh. Add a generous sprinkling of cinnamon, and then gather up the mesh before tying it up with string or ribbon. Make a few of these sachets, and keep them in your cupboards -- particularly the cupboards where you keep your food. Ants should stay away.

Cream of Wheat

If you have some cream of wheat on hand, scatter it on the bottoms of the cupboards where you have been seeing the ants. The ants will pick up the cream of wheat particles and carry them back to the nest, where all of the ants in the colony will feed on them. Once the particles of cream of wheat are swallowed, they will expand, essentially causing its digestive system to explode. Contact a local pest control, company, like BugOut Pest Control, if the problem persists.