Natural Stove Cleaners

You can see which wheels get the most use by the relative grime levels.    The cleanest one one the rear right is a baby burner that doesn’t get used much. I prefer to start cleaning in the evening after supper is finished, and let parts soak overnight before scrubbing first thing in the morning to complete cleaning.  If your stove isn’t this dirty, you can skip soaking and just use the natural stove cleaner options and some elbow grease.

To begin cleaning, I carefully take apart the stove top.   (Make sure it’s cooled off first).  Remove the drip trays and grates.   On an electric stove with visible coil burners, you can carefully remove the drip pans and rings.  Put drip trays and grates (or drip pans and rings), into a sink full of hot water and some dish soap and a couple of used fabric softener sheets (if you use them).

Natural Stove Cleaner Recipes

There are many different option for natural stove and oven cleaners.  The simplest are straight baking soda, vinegar (or lemon juice) and dish detergent – no recipes needed.  If you’d like a littler more scrubbing power, try these easy, natural cleansers.

Make Your Own Cleansers

Cleanser #1 – Homemade “soft scrub”

1 part table salt
1 part baking soda
1 part water

Cleanser #2 – grease cutting powder
4 parts baking soda
1 part washing soda

Store in a shaker container

Citrus vinegar cleaner for grease and grime

Place citrus peels (any type) in a glass jar (pack fairly tightly) and cover with white vinegar.  Place lid on, and let steep for two weeks.  Strain out peels.    Mix infused vinegar with an equal amount of water and place in a spray bottle to use.

While the stove top parts are soaking, carefully clean behind any knobs by pulling the knobs straight out so you can get behind them.

Don’t twist or force!  The knobs should pull off with gentle but firm pressure, and should only go on and off one way.  Be careful not to accidentally turn on the gas or burner while cleaning the knobs.  Use a little dish soap or some of the cleansers if the area needs more TLC.

After I finished cleaning behind the knobs, I took the drip pans out of the soaking water and coated them with baking soda.  (After boxes of baking soda have been in the freezer or fridge for a while, I use them for cleaning.)  I then sprayed down the baking soda with citrus vinegar, and let the pans sit while I attended to the rest of the stove top.  Some baking soda, some elbow grease, and a copper scouring pad, and the rest of the stove was clear.

Do try to avoid getting cleaner on your igniters (gas stoves), or you may have to manually light your burners the first time you use them to burn the film off.  Watch out for your heating coils on electric stoves.    Chore Boy copper scrubbers seem to hold up a little better than Libman copper scrubbers, but neither seem to hold up quite as well as they did around 5-10 years ago.  I prefer copper scrubbers to steel wool because they don’t rust and are less irritating on my skin.  Copper is also naturally resistant to bacteria.  They’re using in some hospitals now for door handles and faucets to help prevent disease transmission.  Pretty cool, huh?

Dealing with Cooked On Stove Grime

First off, scraping away the worst of the cooked on food with a razor blade scraper or other handy blade will save a lot of time and effort scrubbing.  I keep a couple of cheap dollar store paring knives around for just this sort of thing.  They’re lousy for cutting, but great for cleaning.  The small knife allows me to get in all the tight angles of the grate where a blade scraper wouldn’t fit.

If you apply any of the cleaners and let them sit, or let the parts soak overnight, final scraping and cleaning should be much easier.  Use the knife/scraper and the copper scrubber to remove the debris, adding additional baking soda or scrubbing powder as needed.

Note:  Do not use the copper scraper on a smooth top range.  Stick with the scraper blade and a mild abrasive like the homemade soft scrub.  Rinse well, and buff clean.  Make sure to avoid leaving and cleaning residue on the surface, as it may cause discoloration of the stove the next time it is heated.  Old t-shirts make very soft and absorbent cleaning cloths.

Stove top cleaning review: 

• Wipe off what you can as soon as you can, before it gets cooked on, and you’ll save yourself time and effort later.
• Let the cleaners and soaking loosen stuck on grime before scrubbing.
• Use the proper tools to remove caked on food.

And here we have one much cleaner stove top.

Clean Your Oven Without Harsh Chemicals

Let me first say that I am grateful to have a stove vent that vents directly outside, as there have been a few times when things have run over in the oven and smoke has been plentiful.  It happens.  The best way to keep your oven from sending smoke signals is to prevent the mess in the first place.

If you bake, I highly recommend a pie drip pan.  I don’t put a pie in the oven without a drip pan and a pie crust shield.  My pie drip pan has seen hard use, so the finish is coming off, but it still works just fine.

A pie drip pan is simple a round tray with a hole in the center to allow heat flow that is placed directly under a pie (or other baking dish) to catch spills before they mess up your entire oven.  It’s so much easier to use than foil, and can be reused again and again.  Just let it soak in the sink, give a scrub, and you’re good to go.  Here’s a shot of mine, with a pie plate placed on top on the right so you can see how it lines up.

Don’t line the bottom of your oven with foil!  I know a lot of people do this, but it is not recommended by manufacturers.  It may damage your oven and void your warranty.  It may also contribute to uneven cooking, or create a risk of electric shock or fire.

If you see (or smell) something running over, slide a piece of foil underneath it if possible, and pour some cheap table salt on the spill to soak it up and prevent excess smoking (or turn on the stove vent…).  Wait until the oven cools, and scrape out the mess with a spatula.  The salt treatment will make the goo lift off easier, in a lovely charcoal patty.  Alternatively, if you’re lazy, you can just let the mess sit and keep using the oven, and it’ll get more broken down and ashlike over time.  That said, it’s going to stink and smoke, so I highly recommend taking the time to clean up instead.  You can use the same methods recommended for the stove top.  To soak, simply place a very wet rag over the problem area and let it sit for a bit.

Don’t spray any liquid cleaners on a hot oven, especially on the oven glass.  Cold on hot can damage the surface finish, even break the glass.  Just don’t do it – be patient.  You can wipe while warm, or sprinkle on dry powder, just don’t spray cold on hot.

And there you have it.  If you have any tips that you use that I’ve missed, please leave a comment.  I’m always open to learning something new.

2013-04-03 11:48:26

Source: http://www.commonsensehome.com/natural-stove-cleaners/