This post really should come with a slob alert! The one thing . . and there’s only one thing . . that I like about glass top stoves is that they are so easy to clean. I know that with a gas stove, my grates get so dirty. I never notice them til I start to cook and then I usually don’t have the time to stop and scrub them, but only have time to pull them off, wipe down the top of the stove and put the greasy grates back on. Once I finish cooking, I have to wait for everything to cool down and by the time I have the kitchen cleaned up, I’ve totally forgotten about the grates til I start to cook again . . and the cycle continues.
With friends coming to visit, I had to get those stove grates cleaned. I knew from having a gas stove many years ago that the easiest way to clean them was to soak them in ammonia so I grabbed an old ice chest that I didn’t care if I ruined, poured 3 big bottles of ammonia in and soaked the grates for several hours.
Stove Grates
I don’t know how much you can see but the one on the left is still greasy and the one on the right is nice and clean.
Vince was really worried that I was going to ruin them.
Vince: Is this something you read about on the internet?
Me: No! I had a gas stove 40 years ago and I did this often.
Vince: What if you ruin them?
Me: Then I guess I’ll buy a new stove!
Vince: Can’t you just get new grates?
Me: Vince! I am NOT going to ruin them. Don’t worry about it.
I think he did worry about it because he asked me a dozen times before I took them out of the ice chest: Have you checked on them? How long are you going to leave them in there? How will you know when they’re done?
Stove Grates
When I removed them from the ammonia, brushed them off with a stiff brush, hosed them off outside and brought them in, Vince was surprised at how clean they were and, I think he was a bit relieved that I wasn’t going to need to buy a new stove.
I am going to make a point to clean them more often and not let them get so bad before I do this again. I’ve had the stove 4 years .. maybe 3, I can’t remember. I do wipe them down, spray them sometimes with degreaser, soak them in hot sudsy water but nothing I’ve done cleans them like soaking them in ammonia.
Now that they’re all nice and clean, I really don’t even want to use the stove and mess it up again! I wonder how long I can get by with saying . . I didn’t cook because I didn’t want to mess up my clean stove! Yep . . probably not long!
Joyce says
I’ve read (on the internet) several times that ammonia will take the baked on grease off cookie sheets and pans, so it makes sense it’s the easiest way to clean the stove grates. I’ve also seen the recommendation of putting a bowl of ammonia in the oven over night and the fumes will loosen up the gunk so all you have to do is wipe it up. (I don’t do enough oven cooking to get it really icky, and I just use the self-cleaning option, so I’ve never tried it.)
Shirley Suter says
Funny! I’ve avoided cleaning my stove grates for over 20 years and have begun soaking them in ammonia one at a time in a ziploc bag. I’d never done it before and was shocked how nice they look after cleaning. The third one is currently soaking. I’m ashamed (only a little) to say they were pretty grungy. Darn, now the range hood looks dirty! I knew better than to start cleaning!
Karen Sutton says
Love cleaning the grates with ammonia – just have to be careful I don’t asphixiate (sp) myself:)
pat Peele says
How long do you soak them? I need to clean the ones where we are staying while husband recuperates from hip replacement surgery. Glad they turned out great and you didn”t have to replace the stove.
Judy Morin says
Does it work on the oven grates, also? My “self-cleaning” cycle has quit. It’s supposed to evaluate whether it is dirty enough to “clean” and Ii haven’t figured out how to over-ride it’s decision not to start.
Pam in KC says
I read this yesterday and went looking for my bottle of ammonia. Wow. Had no idea to use ammonia on my built up grease. Need to get more as only got 2 of the 4 grates clean (had it in a zip bag. Now, to clean up the drip pan — that’s going to take a bit more ingenuity as I can’t pull it off the stove — but I’ll find a way. Thanks for the post!