05 Dec Tips About Caring For Your Stove
By Alison Palmer
Your Stove Can Be a Sizeable Investment
Stoves these days have come a long way. There are regular stoves, convection ovens, professional grade stoves and more. You can spend thousands of dollars for upscale, professional type stoves but even a modest one will cost around a thousand dollars. Flat top stoves are the wave of the future and very popular in the present.
Each type of stove requires its own type of cleaning. A flat top stove, while easy to clean, must be kept up to date on a daily basis. If you leave spills and soil on them, it will cook on and be almost impossible to remove. Use a neutral pH cleaner and a soft cloth or sponge to remove food etc. I have found Mr. Clean Magic Erasers to be a great resource. The new Shark Tank find called Scrub Daddy will also do a great job while not scratching the surface.
For electric cook tops do not use aluminum foil to line the pans as you run the risk of shorting out the burners. Just be sure to remove the drip pans when there is a spill. You must clean the well under the burner as well as the stove top. This job may require more elbow grease than a smooth top range. Use a steel wool pad to remove hard, cooked on spills.
Ovens Require Differing Techniques
If you are lucky enough to have a self cleaning oven you will find it east to keep it clean. First remove the racks and set the cleaning cycle which will take several hours. When the cycle is over, all that will be left is a light ashy substance that can be easily wiped out. Racks, no matter what type of oven, are most easily cleaned by putting them into a heavy weight plastic garbage bag and spraying the inside of the bag with oven cleaner. Leave the bag on your driveway or sidewalk in the sun and a couple of hours later, remove the racks and simply rinse them off. They will look like new!
Old fashioned ovens have insides that are smooth to the touch when clean. Use oven cleaner in them according to the directions on the can. Continuous clean ovens have insides that are bumpy when clean and you cannot use oven cleaner on them as it will eat the surface. These ovens are difficult to clean. We have found over the years that the best plan of attack is to saturate an old cloth with ammonia and leave it in a cold oven for an hour or more. Be sure the room is well ventilated. When you open the oven, remove the cloth and discard it. Then wipe it out with a soapy cloth. Again, with ovens, do not use aluminum foil to line the bottom or the racks.
Looking for a professional cleaning company near you. Use the ARCSI Directory.
Alison Palmer is the owner of Custom Maid in Virginia Beach, Virginia. To read more from Alison, read the Custom Maid Blog.