Saturday, November 19, 2011

Deep Clean: Oven Stove Top

Dinner is finished.  You grab your damp rag and give the stovetop a haphazard wipedown.  Looks pretty clean and it is time for dessert!  Most of the time I think that is a perfectly fine after-dinner routine.  Every once in a while (maybe once a week?) though your stove top really needs a good solid clean.  Here is how to do it.

Once again hot water is your friend.  So is baking soda.
  1. Start filling up your sink with hot, hot water with a squirt of soap as you begin to disassemble your stove top.  Any electrical elements should be put to the side, anything that is washable should be dumped in the sink.  Pull off the element control knobs if possible and throw them in the water also.  Most of the time they are removable.
  2. Sprinkle baking soda over your stovetop.  Get a wet cloth and mush the baking soda around so that it gets a chance to start its magic on the grimy areas.  Take your trusty toothbrush and work the baking soda into tight grimy spots especially around where you removed the control knobs and where the elements sit.
  3. Make yourself a cup of tea/coffee/whatever you like and put your feet up for fifteen minutes.  Listen to a good song or read an interesting article.  Perhaps daydream about how clean and shiny your stove top is about to become!  
  4. Head back into the kitchen feeling a little lighter and calmer.  Slip on your oven gloves and dig into your sink scrubbing away all that grease and grime.  Give the knobs a good wash.  If things are really gunky you can always let them sit for longer.  I like to use a lot of soap and a scrubbie for this part of the job.  Once everything is clean let it sit to the side and get nice and dry.
  5. Head back over to the stovetop, get either a scrubbie or a microfibre cloth and go to it!  If I am using a scrubbie I generally check how the surface is going to react before getting too vigorous with my rubbing.  If you have an easily scratched surface (I find stainless steel scratches with green scrubbies) use a microfibre cloth instead.  Get it clean!  Rinse, rinse, rinse.
  6. Reassemble.  Ooh and ahh over your gleaming stove top.