How to Effectively Clean a Stove Top
By Pro.com
Stove tops frequently suffer from spills, splatters, boiled-over solutions and caked-on food bits. Unless you reserve your stove just for special occasions, it gets dirty. A spotless stove is an unused stove. Everyday cooking makes a mess, but cleaning up that mess doesn’t have to be time-consuming or difficult.
No matter what kind of cooktop resides in your kitchen, the following tips will help you make it sparkle. Remember to wait until the stove is cold before attempting to clean it.
1. Gas Stove Top
Remove grates and griddles and wash in a solution of hot water and dishwashing liquid. Scrub using a scouring pad. For those crusty burnt-on spills, you may have to take the grates and griddles outside, put on a newspaper and spray with a commercial oven cleaner. Please use this according to the manufacturer’s directions. Leave the parts alone for a few hours, then scrub them clean. Before replacing the grates and griddles, clean any blockages in the fuel ports with a paper clip. Put a warm wet rag over the stove’s surface to loosen spills and then scrape with a rubber scraper. Wipe the surface with a cotton cloth and dry the grates and griddles before reassembling.
2. Electric Stove Top
Detach the drip pans. See how much of the crusty stuff comes off with a strong stream of water. For the rest of the dirt, blend dish soap and baking soda, with a 1:1 ratio, in a small bowl until the mixture is the consistency of frosting. Slather the solution onto the drip pans and scrub with a scouring pad. Let sit for 20 minutes, scrub again and rinse. Using a damp sponge, wipe off the coils. If you can open up the stove top, wipe that also. Dry everything with a clean cloth and replace the drip pans.
3. Glass Stove Top
First see what spraying glass cleaner takes off. If stubborn caked-on food doesn’t budge, then generously dust the top with baking soda. Place warm, damp rags over the baking soda and let them sit for 20–30 minutes. Using an “S” motion, wipe the stove clean using one of the damp rags. You can also buy glass cooktop cleaners. Note if the instructions for your stove suggests specific brands.
Pro.com is a website founded in 2013 by service industry entrepreneurs and former Amazon executives to simplify home services -- especially research on contractor fees and qualifications.
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