Home Q&A: How to clean your cooktop and oven

Q: What is the best way to clean my oven and stovetop, and how often do I need to do it? What is the best way to clean my oven and stovetop, and how often do I need to do it?

A: First, there’s one part of your question that only you can answer: How often do I need to do it? Some oven manufacturers recommend a deep cleaning every three months or so but the timing really depends on how often you cook, what you cook and how you do it.

If you’ve vacillated between cooking meat and going vegetarian, you’ve probably discovered that one side benefit of the veggie lifestyle is a cleaner oven. Casseroles and desserts can still bubble over, but greasy spatters in the oven are far less likely. Also, how frequently you need to deep-clean your cooktop depends on whether you wipe down surfaces after each meal.

For daily cleaning of most cooktops, you might get by with just warm water or warm soapy water on a clean cloth, then buffing the surface dry with a second clean cloth. But on glass cooktops, which can start to look grungy if scratched or not cleaned thoroughly, GE Appliances recommends the daily use of a cooktop cleaner such as Weiman Glass Cook Top Cleaner & Polish ($4.98 for a 15-ounce bottle at Walmart) or Cerama Bryte Cooktop Cleaner ($8.99 for a 10-ounce bottle and two cleaning pads on Amazon). These cleaners contain ingredients that loosen spills of various types plus very fine abrasives (even though they are labeled as nonabrasive).

When the cooktop is cool, squirt a nickel-size drop of a cream-type cleaner on each burner, or quickly spray the area if you’re using a spray product. Rub the surface with a clean paper towel, then wipe off the residue and buff with a second clean paper towel. Or you can use a nonwoven, nonabrasive pad, such as the Cerama Bryte Cleaning Pad ($6.28 for 10 on Amazon). GE warns against using a cleaning cloth or sponge that you’ve used for a different purpose; it might have grit that could scratch the glass.

If a pot of tomato or pea soup overflows or you’re dealing with other burned-on food, you’ll need to scrape off the worst of the spill before you clean. Spread a little cleaner on the spill, then scrape it off with a single-edge razor blade held at a 45-degree angle to the surface. Don’t tilt the blade sideways, which might cause a corner to dig in and scratch. Cerama Bryte makes a scraper with a plastic holder (sold with one of the brand’s cleaning pads for $7.99 on Amazon) that helps you get an appropriate scraping angle, or you can use a razor blade holder such as those sold at hardware and paint stores for scraping crud off window glass ($1.99 at Ace Hardware).

If you spill jam or another high-sugar food, or see plastic melting onto the cooktop, don’t wait for the surfaces to cool. Instead, turn off all heat and remove hot pans. Put on an oven mitt. Without waiting for the cooktop to cool, use a razor blade in a holder to move the spilled material to a cool part of the cooktop. Wipe that up with a paper towel. Then wait for the cooktop to cool and clean it as you normally would. Don’t reheat glass with a sugary spill or one that’s only partially cleaned up.

What if you want to clean with ingredients you already have around the house? Many experts recommend squirting on white vinegar, dusting the surface with baking soda and covering the area with a cloth moistened with hot water. That’s useful advice for ovens and for cooktops with burners. But baking soda is abrasive and could scratch a glass cooktop. Vinegar alone is safer. Or, for fresh spills, just use a clean, damp cloth or paper towel. If you don’t dry the glass, or if you leave drops of pasta water or even plain water on the glass, you may find white marks that make the glass look etched. A cooktop cleaner, even if you use it only occasionally, is the best way to deal with those.

If you have a cooktop with burners, you probably won’t be able to scrape off spills with a razor blade because the surfaces have curves. But you can soak removable parts in warm, soapy water. And for spills on parts that you can’t move to a sink, you can spritz with white vinegar, sprinkle on baking soda, and cover with a damp towel for at least 20 minutes to soften the residue.

For the oven, there’s always the self-cleaning setting if you have one. But that uses a lot of energy, and it can upset a pet - or person - with a sensitive sense of smell. You need to keep children away because the oven may get hot enough on the outside to burn skin. It can also damage nearby cabinets, particularly if they have a vinyl coating. So you might want to clean the old-fashioned way. And even if you plan to use the self-cleaning cycle, you still need to do some of the same preparation that you’d use if you hand-clean.

Remove the racks and wipe out the interior with a damp cloth. Also clean the window glass, after first spreading towels so drips don’t damage the floor finish. When the oven is cool, KitchenAid recommends spraying the glass with vinegar or lemon juice and wiping it off with a clean cloth. If there is heavy buildup (especially common on the interior surface of the glass), mix about half a cup of baking soda with enough water to make a paste. Brush or smear that onto the glass, spritz with white vinegar, and wait about 20 minutes. Wipe off the paste with a microfiber cloth. Use additional cloths to get off any remaining baking soda. Remove final bits of grease by spraying the surface with white vinegar, then wipe it off with a clean cloth and buff to a shine.

Use baking soda and vinegar, combined with damp towels, to clean the oven’s interior - or switch on the cleaning setting and let the oven do that step for you.