Glass stove top cleans sharply!
All my years of cooking has always been using gas stoves. My last stove was a beauty. Lots of stainless and huge metal grates It looked like a smaller version of a chefs stove. Though every time I used it, I wish I had a sous-chef to do the necessary cleaning! I have a glass, smooth top stove now, and I learned fast the use and care differed; from the way it cooks to the types of pots/pans you can use.
I grumbled at first with the change. I had to be gentle in how I set the pans on the surface as well as take care not to slide the cookware around, (kind of like quiet ninja cooking!) I quickly adapted and found working with a smooth top cook surface was really nice, especially where clean up was concerned.
I cook a lot and I’ve found I’d developed this “thing” in the back of my mind; I will call a stress meter of sorts. (this was pre smooth top cooks surface). The thought of cleaning the stainless and grates just made me want to order take-out. I worried about every spill and every grease splatter. I painstakingly watched each pot so it didn’t boil over or I’d be left with huge clean up duty. I like clean and shiny surfaces, stove included. So I cleaned and shined and repeated. The process was taking off the grates and scrubbing the stainless top and then buffing. The grates had to be scrubbed and dried completely otherwise rust would set in. Cooking a couple of times a day, times seven days a week, equals what could quickly be an icky stove if not cleaned with each use. Stainless isn’t terribly difficult to clean, but lifting off the metal grates just wore on me. They were heavy and cumbersome and I never looked forward to dealing with them.
Fast forward to this new stove, well new-used-stove. I love the ease of cleaning a glass stove top. That stress meter is GONE! Oatmeal bubbled over, spaghetti sauce drips, grease splatters, you name it, I can easily clean it off. Most spills are easily wiped away, (I usually clean as I go). But if the spills are left, I can take care of most by soap and water and a cloth. If there’s a “burned” spill I go to my handy-dandy very shape razor blade. I just angle it and scrape away! I then follow-up with soap and water and a clean cloth. In the picture you will see my new gadget, (expensive as heck! Nah, about $3 dollars at my Home Depot). It’s just a plastic handle you can put your razor blade into. I guess it helps some, with the holding of the blade, but mind you I had cleaned the stove top with just the blade for a couple of years, so the handle isn’t necessary if you can’t find one. My secret to cleaning the stove in a nut shell, razor blade, soap, and water.
At Koko's Place 