If you cook even once or twice a week, your stove-top can be a living monument to every meal you've prepared. Even the most finicky of housekeepers can overlook a dirty stove-top. It can sneak up on you! Sure, you do a daily wipe down (most of the time), but that doesn't keep the odd pot from overflowing or the oil and gunk from building up and building up until you're left with an embarrassing mess.
Conventional stove-tops are notoriously difficult to clean. Their shape, size, and the frequently caked-on reminders of meals long gone can make all the elbow-grease in the world seem like it's going to waste. But hope is not lost — not even for the ultra-lazy like me! Here are 5 easy ways to make that stove-top sparkle once more.
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1. Ammonia
Ammonia might not be ideal for all-over cleaning, but nothing tackles burners better, and with less work for you! Put them in a bag along with ammonia and leave them on your porch overnight. The next day, rinse them off and oh how they shine!
2. Baking Soda & Hydrogen Peroxide
There are few other cleaners that pack this kind of punch. Brush off and throw away any remaining debris on your stove. Sprinkle the entire surface with baking soda, then drizzle with the peroxide. Watch as a fizzy storm of awesome breaks down the baked on nasty while clapping your still-clean hands.
3. Boiling Water
No extra products around the house to help? Boil a kettle of water and gently pour it over the surface. If you let it sit until it becomes cool, the tougher stuff will just wipe away!
4. Salt!
This is great for big messes. So you forgot you left pasta sauce on the stove, huh? Now it's eeeeeverywhere. Never fear! Pour salt on it and go about your meal. Salt absorbs most of the liquid, making clean-up a snap. I use this tip basically all the time.
5. Oil
This one seems counterintiutive, but it really works well. Pour a little olive or vegetable oil out onto your stove, and using a cloth, use the oil to remove the caked on messes. Then spray it down with all-purpose cleaner! It's a shine like you've never seen. Works well on the hood of your stove too.
How do you clean up your stove?
Image via Corbis
