How to clean gas stovetop

April 29, 2018 8:16 AM

Hi folks. I have a gas oven and the stovetop is pretty dirty. It's all one piece, so I can't do the "remove the part and put it in a bag of ammonia overnight" thing. There is some scratching there from a previous owner's use of abrasives, so I would prefer not to use anything that will or even can scratch it, if possible. I know baking soda is a popular one, but I don't want to damage the finish any worse. Any ideas? Here's a picture.
posted by Slinga to Home & Garden (23 answers total)

The scratching is probably the previous person's use of steel wool which is not for these sorts of stoves. Baking soda should be just fine, especially if you use a bit of a paste, leave it on and then get it wet to wipe off. I mean, oven cleaner will be the most effective but it's toxic and I do not recommend it. But baking soda and one of those sponges that has the scrubbit side should be fine, or one of those plastic scrubbits, or a vegetable brush.
posted by jessamyn at 8:29 AM on April 29, 2018

Bar Keepers Friend Cooktop Cleaner. Works like a charm. If you can’t turn off your pilot light, be careful you don’t burn your fingers while wiping it up.
posted by ejs at 8:29 AM on April 29, 2018 [10 favorites]

Washing soda is also good for this.
posted by slipthought at 8:36 AM on April 29, 2018

That Bar Keepers stuff might work, although it seems to be for those smooth top stoves. When I used ot clean houses for a living I always used plain old Windex. Spray it on, let it sit a few minutes, and scrub it off with a plastic scrubby, Repeat if necessary.
posted by mareli at 8:37 AM on April 29, 2018

I'm also a windex adherent. Windex and plastic scrubby sponge.
posted by sciencegeek at 9:49 AM on April 29, 2018

I would get in there with just some warm, soapy water and a scrub brush. Like, I would get it all good and wet with a soapy rag and give it a minute to work in, then scrub scrub scrub with the brush.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 9:52 AM on April 29, 2018

Response by poster: I tried Windex and it did nothing unfortunately.
posted by Slinga at 9:59 AM on April 29, 2018

I've had good luck with Magic Eraser on my own stovetop. No scratches made and it worked with just a little elbow grease.
posted by wiskunde at 10:10 AM on April 29, 2018 [3 favorites]

Good soak and elbow grease applied with a plastic scrubby sponge, may require multiple attempts.
posted by koahiatamadl at 10:14 AM on April 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

I am a fan of Bon Ami for gently scrubbing surfaces like that. Hasn't scratched yet!
posted by mumkin at 10:28 AM on April 29, 2018 [5 favorites]

Super Clean Foaming. comes in a purple spray bottle, and is a really strong kitchen degreaser.

That or Barkeeper's Friend, with a scrubby pad. Be careful about your scrubby pads - some are abrasive and some are not. Which is to say, some are more like steel wool whereas others are designed to *not* mark up metal surfaces.
posted by entropone at 10:33 AM on April 29, 2018

I recently cleaned my own gas stovetop by pouring ammonia over it and covering the top with plastic wrap. It was tough to make sure everything had a good seal, but I was able to get the different pieces of plastic wrap taut and sticking to each other. I left it overnight, a total of maybe 16 hours.

It was amazing. It still took scrubbing to get the crud off, but not much.

Watch yourself with the ammonia fumes: they were more intense than I expected.

Also - I learned it from YouTube, so some saavy searching there will get you a video if you need pointers on technique.
posted by god hates math at 10:58 AM on April 29, 2018

You want a good degreaser and let it soak.

I've been really impressed with Zep brand heavy duty citrus degreaser. It's "gentle" as it's mostly citrus terpenes (dissolves/ solublizes grease) rather than hydroxide (which turns grease into soap, which can then me solublized).
posted by porpoise at 11:00 AM on April 29, 2018

Bon Ami and a rough cotton terry cloth you can buy at an automotive store in a bundle of 10. Spray with windex or, better, household ammonia diluted half & half with water first, sprinkle with Bon Ami, let set 5 minutes, rub with the the cotton cloth, repeat as needed.

I find Barkeepers Friend powder to be too abrasive, but am not familiar with the Barkeepers oven cleaner product Jessamyn mentioned. Careful applications of spray oven cleaner work, but if you're not comfortable with it, don't - you can have problems with overspray with it.
posted by Gnella at 11:03 AM on April 29, 2018

I have one like that, and what does the trick is a cleaning paste, in the UK i think a brand is norwex, i buy no name Spar own brand. Use an old toothbrush, wet it and cover the stains let it dry and once more scrub hard with old toothbrush. Also i learned the hard way not to let it get like that. If at all possible wipe stains immediately. Ours like very bad when we moved in, and on occasion we let it deteriorate but once it is gone avoid letting it bake in. I find i at least clean before the next use it just does not burn in so badly.
posted by 15L06 at 11:10 AM on April 29, 2018

Hot water, baby wipes, toothpaste and toothbrush.
posted by effluvia at 1:09 PM on April 29, 2018

People really, really over complicate this. Spray it with Flash, or glass cleaner, or 404, or Cillit Bang, or whatever. Spray generously and let it sit for all of five minutes and then apply elbow grease with a non-scratch sponge. That's it.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:44 PM on April 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

Most spray kitchen cleaners will do fine if you give them time to work. Spray on Method, 409, Mrs. Meyer’s, whatever. Wait 5 minutes and scrub it gently with the scrubby side of a two sided sponge. Do it again. For the really stubborn parts, you can make a paste of Barkeeper’s Friend, Bon Ami, or ever just baking soda and scrub it with an old toothbrush. I’ve let things get this bad, and trust me, you don’t need to break out the super caustic stuff yet.
posted by advicepig at 3:22 PM on April 29, 2018

Dampen a rag large enough to wrap around the center piece. Microwave to heat, or dampen with boiling water. Spray any cleaner on stains. Cover completely with super hot wet rag. Use tongs if you can't handle the rag; it should be that hot. Leave until cooled. Use rag to wipe away what has lifted. Repeat as necessary.
posted by donnagirl at 5:39 PM on April 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

Spray it with oven cleaner (e.g. "Easy-Off" brand in the US), let it sit for a while, then wipe with a damp cloth. Repeat as needed.

Oven cleaner is literally designed for this purpose; it takes burned-on organic gunk off of enameled metal surfaces. That's its job. I have no idea why you would use anything else.
posted by Kadin2048 at 7:00 PM on April 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

I have this stove.

A Magic eraser and some water are all that is needed. No scratches at all.

If things are really stuck on, I dribble hot, soapy water and let it soak for 30-60 minutes (or when I remember about it), scrub it with a sponge to get the bits up, and wipe up the soap residue. Then hit it with a magic eraser and water.
posted by RhysPenbras at 7:42 AM on April 30, 2018

When I had a stove like that, you could still lift the round black burner part off of the gas tube that feeds it, making it about 10x easier to clean all the crud under/around it.
posted by rossmik at 12:39 PM on April 30, 2018

I've tried most of the methods mentioned here except for the oven cleaner and degreaser. I found that standard cleaners, no matter how long they were left, didn't work well on anything but a fresh mess. Baking soda/vinegar and other home made concoctions partially worked.

The only method that restored my stovetop to near-new condition was a melamine pad (Magic Eraser). It will take time and elbow grease, so you might try a lot of quick sessions in one day when you're in the kitchen for other reasons, like making tea.
posted by maudlin at 6:12 PM on May 2, 2018