Learnin' to Clean: Stove Tops Can Sparkle Again

My mom always told me that no matter how messy my room is, if I'd at least make my bed every day it would make everything look a million times better.  I never really believed her growing up but looking back she was dead on.  I feel like the stove top in a kitchen is very similar to a bed in a bedroom.  A clean stove top just makes the whole kitchen look a little better regardless of messes and clutter elsewhere.

I have a smooth top stove and it was not all that clean when we first moved in to our little rented town home.  I spent a lot of time with a commercial stovetop cleaner that didn't really get it as clean as I'd like.  It was covered with brown burned up grime and no matter how hard I scrubbed it just wouldn't come off.

I finally stumbled upon a solution on Pintrest and when I found it I did a forehead slap and wondered while in the world I had spent so much time and money if the solution was really as easy as water and one household ingredient...baking soda.

My whole stove looked like this or worse:

So I decided to try the following method:

1.  Wipe your stove top off with a rag wetted with hot water.  You can also put warm water in a spray bottle and mist your stove top.

2.  Sprinkle your stove top generously with baking soda and let it sit for a few minutes.

3.  Use a washcloth wetted (but not soaking) with hot water to scrub the stove top all over with the baking soda, lifting the burn marks as you scrub.

4.  Use the washcloth to remove and wipe away as much baking soda as possible.

5.  Once the baking soda has been removed, use a clean damp paper towel to remove any residue left by the baking soda that wasn't picked up by the wash cloth.

6.  Buff the stove top with a clean dry cotton dish towel.

It takes a bit of scrubbing but this method made my stove top look brand new again.  I was so impressed with the cleaning power of baking soda that I turned right around and cleaned my sink with it as well.  I'd never seen the sink that white!

So no matter what else is going on in my kitchen, I always try to have a clean stove top.  Thanks for the multi-purpose advice mom!