Pro tip: the roach trick I picked up from a cook at Manuel's Tavern

Stopped into Manuel's Tavern on North Highland a few Fridays back for a burger and ended up talking to one of the line cooks outside on a smoke break. He noticed me squinting at a roach crawling up the wall near the patio and laughed, said their whole kitchen crew swears by one cheap fix: pull every appliance in your place about an inch away from the wall and keep the counters wiped dry before you lock up. He told me damp crumbs behind the toaster and coffee maker were the reason they kept seeing them even after monthly spraying. I went home that night and pulled my fridge out maybe 4 inches, and there was legit a graveyard of old cereal and something sticky I don't even want to name. Wiped it all down with vinegar, sealed a crack near the baseboard, and I've seen maybe one roach in 3 weeks instead of 5 or 6 a night. Part of me still thinks it was just luck though. Has anyone else had luck with the pull-it-out-and-dry-it method, or am I fooling myself and should just call an exterminator already?