Wednesday

It's A Cinch Stove Grate Cleaning

While blog reading I went to look at one thing and of course found something else I had to check out.  Vivienne over at The V Spot had a tip for cleaning the grates on a stove.  An easy peasy tip and there IS an It's a Cinch party going on.  Lord knows I had me some baked on mess to try the tip out on, just needed to pick up Ammonia.  Set me back a whole $1.78 and I hardly used any.  Pretty powerful cleaning supply for just pennies.

 Problem is, at Vivienne's the recommended way is to put each grid in a Ziploc and wait 12 hours.  The fumes, not the liquid of the ammonia, is what degrease's and cleans, she recommends 1/4 cup per zip-lock/grate.  I didn't have 12 hours but mostly I didn't have big enough Ziplocs.  And let me tell you, I always thought my Ziplocs were plenty big!  So I opted for the next best thing..... my giant size box of plastic wrap -  (a Christmas gift from a BFF in 2010 - we dated it to see how long it lasts) and my kitchen sink.  Only a BFF knows you well enough to know you will LOVE a giant roll of Purity Wrap.  Sounds more like a chastity aid.

At The V Spot Vivienne also says don't judge.  She cooks, stoves get dirty.  I agree.  I wish we didn't need a before picture for this post, but we do.....
Shameful, but real
Remember I'm not the only person who cooks in this house, but I am the only person who cleans the stove.  And here is my disclaimer:  I only did the grates and trays, not the parts that look like there is white ash from a fire on them.  Yes there is white ash from a fire on them.  I'm hot when I cook.  That part of the stove just got wiped off along with the surround, I didn't feel like scrubbing and polishing stainless today.

DIY giant Sink Ziploc
I loaded up ALL of my grates and drip pans in the sink, poured in about 2 cups of ammonia and then sealed that sucker up with the industrial plastic wrap.  The avocados are optional to hold down the plastic, 68¢ each on sale.  The smell of the ammonia reminded me of my mom when she was dying her hair when I was little.  Stinky.  Do not mix your ammonia with anything, and don't stand over it and breath, it is hazardous.  In fact don't do this when you are alone in the house, if you pass out from fumes no one would be there to help.  If you mess this tip up I am not responsible!  For full directions head over to The V Spot, but she's not responsible if you mess up either and end up with ammonia nostrils.

I only fumed it for about 4 hours, mostly because I was too anxious to see if it would work and partly because I had dinner to cook.

The black spots are water beads, I said I couldn't wait so it didn't get to dry

I am happy to report that YES it did work and it worked very well even in that short time.  The grates could of used a bit more fumeing, so next time I'll do that part over night for the full 12 hours, but The V Spot Ammonia treatment will be my method of grate cleaning from now on.  It was the easiest cleaning on them I have ever done, really effortless.  For those of you who already knew this little tip, shaddup!

**UPDATE**  A smart blogger informed me (and a big DUH fell over my brain for not thinking of it myself).... that I could use a trash bag for this chore, put it in the sunshine to heat up and work faster, and then hose them off in the yard.  BBQ grates, oven racks, you name it.  So next time I won't have to have a DIY ziplock sink .

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26 comments :

  1. Yay! That's awesome! I love that you used avocados to hold the plastic wrap on the sink! Too funny. :)

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  2. Cool, I saw that tip too. Thanks for testing it out again.

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  3. we have a gas stove in our new place (first time as an adult that i've had one!) and i've had the WORST time cleaning the grates. will definitely be using this tip!

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  4. I can't wait to try this...thanks for the tip!!

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  5. Love the tip. I had heard it but had never done it and never saw how it turned out. I am going to have to do this.

    Holly

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  6. Nice! I need to do this. And a hundred other things. If you want more practice, come on over! :)

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  7. Another tip? Try the amonia in a dark plastic trash bag out in the sun. :)

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  8. I am totally going to try this. My only fear, if it works as well as you say, I don't think I am going to want to dirty my stove after it's sparkling clean. I might be ordering pizza more often :)

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  9. Oh, I sooo wish I had a gas stove, cleaning grates would be worth it!

    Carol

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  10. Wow! That is amazing!! I"m the only one who cleans the stove after I cook around here too. We have a flat top electric and boy do I baby that thing!!! Great job!

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  11. I did not know this. And I pinned it because it just so happens that I'll have some grates to clean pretty soon. (fingers crossed) Avacados are optional! HA!

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  12. I totally didn't know about this tip... so thanks for sharing it and enlightening me. I am now more brilliant thanks to you, Bliss! THANK YOU!

    And the ginormous plastic wrap box?! LOVE! We had one in my home growing up and
    1. I loved the feeling of never running out.
    2. It was a sad sad SAD day when we actually did run out.
    I can't remember it's life cycle, but it was YEARS... YEARS!

    -Joanne

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  13. Bliss,

    I didn't know about this tip (althought I love her blog). Thanks for sharing and if I ever start cooking and my stove gets dirty, I will remember this :)

    blessings,
    karianne

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  14. Anonymous3/29/2012

    I always knew avocados had many great uses but had no idea that they could be such excellent stove cleaner assistants. And then you get to eat them afterward. Sounds lovely. I am going to give this trick a try because my stove grates are not looking to good right now after the latest pretzel mishap....

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  15. Great idea! I love cleaning with vinegar! xo-Jamielyn

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  16. I think the garbage bag outside in the sunshine will be my version of this awesome tip :) My hubs once tried to kill me, the kid and the cats mixing ammonia into a laundry sink downstairs. There was a bleach bubble left in the trap and it created chlorine gas!!!! However, everything has an upside. I sat in a lounge chair in my backyeard playing with my kid watching gorgeous firefighters airing out my basement all afternoon :)

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  17. You must have the cleanest stove grates around Bliss! All your hard work paid off because you have to wrap them things in plastic wrap and that was no easy task!! Enjoy your weekend, hopefully not cooking, Gail

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  18. Okay, ammonia scares me. Like Purity wrap scares a .... oh, wait, that's a whole other joke. ;D

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  19. See? I knew you'd find something easy and peasy to link up!

    And when you do it for the 12 hours, please do the garbage bag outside thing. I had to think of you and Braun and the little blisses and brauns sleeping in a house with 12 hours of ammonia fumes swirling around ...

    :)

    Linda

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  20. Anonymous3/29/2012

    I just did this last weekend with my stove and grill grates. I only did two grates from my stove at a time so I would still have two to use. I put them outside in the sun for the day. I have asthma and was afraid of having the fumes in the house.
    It worked very well. I still had to scrub just a bit on the stove grates. I used clear trash bags for my grill grates which worked fine. I think my grill grates needed more time since there was so much stuck on/baked on yuck, I still had to scrub them pretty hard to get all the crap off.
    Kim
    kimperry9767@yahoo.com

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  21. trash bag=brilliant. My bbq grill is in desperate shape after the long psuedo-winter.

    Jessica
    stayathomeista.com

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  22. Not judging!! So glad it worked - I saw Vivienne's post on this and asked her if she thought it would work on my grates which are cast iron. She thought they would rust - so unfortunately, I have to apply brute force to clean my grates (which isn't as often as it should be)! Hey, don't judge!!

    So glad you linked this to our Cinch party!
    Kelly

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  23. Bliss!! This is such a great tip, thanks for sharing...I'm envisioning a trash bag over my grill at some point this week. Thanks so much for supporting our Cinch party.
    Karah

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  24. LOL this had me laughing ... made me wish I had been there to watch ... hee hee. I don't have burners anymore. I have a electric flat top. Two words ... LOVE. IT.
    Hugs,
    bj

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  25. This is a good tip. I would definitely use trash bags and maybe vinegar.

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