How To Clean Baked Enamel Stove Tops

A stove top with just a few dollops of grease or peppered with the leftovers of a bubbling sauce can seem hard to clean. Using the wrong cleaner on the enamel stove top can feel like you're just pushing grease around in a never-ending cleaning cycle.

The best enamel cleaner quickly cuts through grease with little effort from you and will get the stove top to shine without scratching the finish or leaving behind a cloudy residue.

Remove all of the grates, knobs, burner caps and other loose components before you begin to work on cleaning the stove top. Business Insider recommends soaking all of the removable pieces of the stove top in a bucket of hot, soapy water or cleaning solution while you clean the rest of the stove.

Wipe the stove with a damp cloth to remove the top layer of crumbs and grease. Chip away at any large stains to make the stove top cleaning easier.

A stove top with simple stains from daily cooking can be cleaned with common household cleaners. A bowl of hot, sudsy water with liquid dish soap and a microfiber cloth can often be enough to whisk away greasy stains. Baking soda and hot water can also take down layers of grease on a stove top that has seen a lot of action in a busy kitchen. To remove baked-on grease from enamel with baking soda, make a paste with ¼ cup of baking soda to a teaspoon of water and apply that to large, stubborn stains.

The best way to clean an enamel stove top so that it doesn't get streaks or scratches is with a gentle cleanser. Merry Maids recommends applying a cream cleanser and allow it to sit for at least five minutes to soften the grease and debris. For really stubborn baked-on sauces or grease, wrap a plastic spatula in a microfiber cloth and try to lift the softened food bits from the surface. A coarse sponge can scratch the surface.

The trick to cleaning is to let the liquid cleanser sit on the stove top for five and up to 20 minutes before vigorously wiping it down with a microfiber cloth. This process may need to be repeated to get it thoroughly clean. Always buff the stove top dry to remove the cleaning residue and droplets of water.

The gleaming surface of a stove top can be an aesthetic anchor in a kitchen. When that expanse of workspace is dull and dingy, it can make the entire room feel grungy. A dark finish on the stove top tends to look dingier than its lighter-shaded counterparts.

While the methods may be the same, the cleaners can create more work for you when working on ridding the black stove top of greasy spots. Cleaning a black stove top can be difficult, with swipes of powdery cleaner leaving behind streaks and a cloudy surface.

A thick liquid multipurpose cleaner will cut down on the amount of buffing you need to do after scrubbing away the grease. Baking soda and other go-to stove top cleaners can create a haze and need further rinsing and drying. Use a dry microfiber cloth, not terry cloth, to buff the stove top dry after a thorough cleaning.