How To Clean Your Stovetop

Posted on December 20, 2013 by Warners' Stellian Appliance

Pots boil over. Taco fillings overflow. Pancake batter spills off the griddle. It happens, and often results in burnt on messes that are difficult to clean. But we’ve been around a stovetop or two, and lucky for you, are sharing our knowledge on how to clean your stovetop. Roll up your sleeves and get started.

How to Clean Porcelain Stovetop

No. 1 Enemy: Clean up spills containing acids, such as vinegar and tomato, as soon as the surface is cool enough, as they could affect the finish.

Tool: Nonabrasive plastic scrubbing pad and cooktop cleaner. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser saves a lot of elbow grease.

Timesaver: Throw grates in the dishwasher on the most powerful cycle you have. It’s recommended to give it a good bath in the sink first, but if you have a great Warners’ Stellian dishwasher, no pre-rinsing necessary!

DO NOT: Put caps on the dishwasher or reassemble caps on burners while they are wet. If you put caps back on the burners while they are wet, it could lead to future issues with trying to ignite your burners.

How to Clean Glass/Ceramic Stovetops

No. 1 Enemy: Sugary spills (jellies, candy, syrup).

Tool: Cooktop Scraper or a razor blade. Clean while the cooktop is still warm, wearing oven mitts if necessary.

Culprit: Heavy soil, dark streaks, specks, and discoloration

Tool: Cooktop Polishing Cream or soap and water (and some elbow grease!). Do like Mr. Miyagi taught you: wax on, wax off until white film disappears and takes mess with it.

Culprit: Burned-on soil

Tool: Cooktop Cleaner and Cooktop Scraper (or razor blade). First apply cleaner. Then scrape surface keeping blade as flat as possible. Finish polishing cooktop until film disappears.

Culprit: Overboiling residue

Tool: A melamine sponge (aka Mr. Clean Magic Eraser) eliminates the evidence quite well.

How to Clean Cast Iron Grates

Here are some steps recommended by Wolf appliances, which we picked up after a smart question from one of our customers.

Step 1: Remove grates from unit and place on a flat surface near the sink to clean. DO NOT immerse in water. Towel dry.

Step 2: Use a no-scratch cleaning pad to scrub with hot water and mild detergent or a paste made of baking soda and water.

Step 3: If needed, use a degreaser, such as Formula 409. Then, rinse and towel dry.

Step 4: In a worst case scenarios, spot clean with Fume-free Easy Off or use Carbona Oven Rack Cleaner.

For more background, read this post. HOW TO: clean cast iron grates.

How to Clean Stainless Steel Cooktop

You might have a full stainless steel stove top under your grates.

First try stainless steel cleaner. For tougher messes, try a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Always go with the grain for best results.

How To Buy a Stove

Posted on November 8, 2013 by Warners' Stellian Appliance

Whether you call it a stove or a range, you’re going to want to keep these considerations in mind when shopping for a new … oh I give up.

Though freestanding ranges are the most commonly used, slide-in ranges are growing in popularity. Featuring unﬁnished sides and controls on the front, this style lends a more built-in look, great for islands, and featuring decorative backsplashes.

Pro-Style Ranges

Professional ranges mimic the performance and appearance of a true commercial range. Pro-style ranges use the most durable components and achieve high temperatures for rapid boiling as well as extremely low temperatures for delicate and precise simmering.

Larger models (36”, 48” or 60” wide) can include built-in griddles and grills. Their ovens offer convection and high-temperature broiling. Convection ovens use airﬂow for even heat distribution and consistent baking, even with multiple racks. When cooking meats, convection fans sear the skin to retain moisture.

Gas vs. Electric Ranges

Professional and aspiring chefs usually prefer gas due to a common misconception of all-around superior performance; In most cases electric ranges boil liquid just as quickly and frequently. Electric burners reach extremely low temperatures for delicate and precise simmering. But the heat-retention qualities of electric coils and ceramic surfaces cannot range from high to low heat instantaneously as gas cooktops can. But glass surfaces of electric ranges are the easiest to clean and maintain.

When it comes to ovens, electric responds quicker to temperature changes, providing less heat variance overall for more consistent baking results. However, gas ovens provide more “moist heat,” which is better for meats and vegetables. For cooks who want the best of both worlds, the dual-fuel range has the ﬂexibility and control of gas burners on the cooktop with the accuracy and precision of an electric oven.

Induction range burners use magnets to directly heat cookware and leaving the surface cool to the touch, combining an unmatched degree of safety with high power and the responsiveness of gas.

Hot Stove Features

Warming Drawer – functions as a keep-warm area.
Second Oven – additional cavity functions as a separate oven. Perfect for cooking short items such as pizzas, pies, casseroles, etc.

Split Oven Racks – can be partially removed as needed for cooking multiple dishes simultaneously.
Split racks accommodate simultaneous baking of tall dishes.

Featured image via Café

Cleaning tips: How to clean a stove

Posted on December 1, 2010 by Warners' Stellian Appliance

Not sure how to regain a clean stove after all that Thanksgiving cooking? Cleaning stove tops can be a pain, but consider that dirty cooking surfaces don’t reflect heat as well, meaning that you waste energy and compromise performance when using a messy stove.

Instead, try these useful stove cleaning tips that have worked for me.

When cleaning a smooth top stove, first use a razor blade (yes, I’m serious) to gently scrape off any burnt on food residue. Sometimes smooth top stoves burners discolor with time, but I’ve found that Mr. Clean Magic Eraser works well to fade dark stains. Apply cooktop cleaner (which we sell for about $5 at all Warners’ Stellian stores) with a soft rag or paper towel for general cleaning. Cooktop cleaner also gives a nice, smooth finish to glass- and ceran-top stoves you can’t get from soap and water, sorry!

To clean a gas stove top — like I have at home — remove all grates and burner caps to the sink and simply use soap and water to clean. I scrub off all the food residue that ends up around the burners by sprinkling on some Barkeeper’s Friend and rubbing it off with a moistened towel. Again, the discolorations (I have a white stove) are removed by Magic Eraser and some elbow grease.

The most important tip I have for cleaning gas stoves, though, is properly replacing the now-clean burner caps, as misplacement could cause stove lighting issues.

Any other good tips on how to clean a stove top?

Easy Oven Cleaning Tips

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Warners' Stellian Appliance

Time to clean your oven? Try these handy tricks. — Photo credit – las_intially

If your oven is setting off the smoke alarm every time you make a pizza, it might be time to give it a good cleaning.

Self-clean ovens have a setting that allows it to reach very high temperatures and burn leftover food mess into ashes. Do NOT use oven cleaners on self-clean ranges. And be sure to take out the racks before you start a cleaning cycle, so that they continue to glide well.

If you don’t have a setting for cleaning your oven, you’ll have to manually clean it of course. (Cue the voice Jim Warner, who started Warners’ Stellian, with a joke about manual-clean ovens ALL fitting under ‘self-clean’: “Of course it is…you clean it yourself!”)

To manually clean your oven:

1. Allow the cavity to properly cool down. We don’t need any heroes on our hands.

2. Remove the oven racks. These can be cleaned with steel wool, water and dish soap. To clean trickier messes, put the racks in a garbage bag with a cup of ammonia overnight in the backyard and rinse with the garden hose in the morning.

3. Try scrubbing the oven cavity with soap, water and a soft cloth or sponge. Hopefully, this will do the trick.

4. If more rigorous cleaning is needed, our customer service rep, Amy, suggests the following natural oven-cleaning remedies:

Mix ¼ cup ammonia and 2 cups of warm water in a bowl, pour it into your oven, and close it up tight. If you’re at home during this, you can open a few windows to ensure ample ventilation. You can clean out the dirty oven with a scrubby sponge after a few hours or overnight.
Fill a spray bottle with 1 tablespoon Borax (which works great as an affordable laundry detergent booster), 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil, dishwashing soap and a quart of warm water. Spray the oven walls. After an hour, scrub it clean and rinse thoroughly.
Creating a paste of baking soda and vinegar and leaving it on the oven cavity surface could work well. But if you have a gas range, be careful to cover the holes of the gas line really, REALLY well, because if they get clogged, that’s a bad thing. If you go this route, you should be able to scrape off food mess with a spatula. Wipe out the oven thoroughly afterwards.

What tricks are we missing? Share them in the comments so we can crowdsource a great resource for anyone looking to get those ovens cleaned.

Of course, if you need to stock up, we’ve got cleaning supplies in stock, too.

Home & Kitchen Appliance Blog

Tag Archives: Gas range