You’re cleaning your glass-top stove all wrong—here’s how

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If you’ve ever owned a glass-top stove, you know that appearances can be deceiving. Upscale and sleek in design, they look super easy to wipe off and keep looking shiny and new. You’ve probably learned that over time that baked-on food can build up and leave an obvious-looking mess.

So, exactly how do you clean a glass-top stove without scratching it and/or wasting hours of your time? As the former owner of a successful cleaning company I can assure you, the task doesn’t have to be difficult as long as you follow a few simple steps, with a few common household ingredients.

Things you need

• White vinegar
• Spray bottle
• Baking soda
• An old towel
• Microfiber cloth
• A single-edge razor blade
• Bar Keepers Friend Multipurpose Cooktop Cleaner (optional)

Here’s how to clean a glass-top stove

Step 1. Let the surface of the stove-top cool

Not only is touching a hot stove-top generally not a great idea, but spraying any type of cleaner onto the glass while it’s still hot can actually burn pits into the surface. This is something you definitely want to avoid.

Let the surface fully cool before you get to work, and while you are waiting, take an opportunity to check your stove’s user manual. If you don’t have it, you can usually find them pretty easily online.

If the manual provides specific steps for cleaning the surface or a list of things that you should not use to clean the glass top, you’ll want to default to following those instructions first and foremost.

Step 2. Spray the surface with vinegar

Using a spray bottle, evenly spray white vinegar across the glass-top surface. The acidity in the vinegar helps cut through any grease sitting around, without needing to use a harmful chemical product that could damage the glass top.

Step 3. Sprinkle the surface with baking soda

Have you ever seen what happens when you mix baking soda and vinegar together? If you have, then you know it creates a powerful bubbling effect. Because of this, the next step is to simply sprinkle baking soda directly onto the vinegar that you already sprayed, concentrating on the areas with the most build up.

The bubbling action helps to penetrate and lift burned-up food off the glass-top stove’s surface.

Step 4. Cover the stove with a towel

Lay a hot, wet, towel across the entire surface of your stove. Then leave it for the next 10-15 minutes so that everything you’ve done so far can get to work on cleaning your stovetop.

If you have children, you’ll want to keep an extra eye on them so that they don’t accidentally turn the stove on with the towel still laying on top. Obviously, that’s a fire hazard we want to avoid.

Step 5: Wipe the glass-top surface down

You’re almost done! Remove the towel, give everything another spray of vinegar, and begin wiping the glass top off with a microfiber cloth. A microfiber cloth works better than regular towels or paper towels, which can leave streaks and fuzz across your freshly cleaned surface.

You’ll definitely want to avoid using abrasive sponges or brushes because these can leave lots of tiny surface scratches and give the glass-top stove an overall hazy appearance.

Step 6. Use a razor blade to remove any remaining residue

Hopefully by now your glass-top stove is looking shiny as new, but if not don’t panic!

Any remaining residue can be removed by spraying it with vinegar and then gently scraping the surface with a razer blade. Holding the blade at a 45 degree angle, be careful to keep it even; applying too much pressure to the blade corner or scraping with the blade straight up and down can leave deep scratches on the glass that can be difficult to remove.

Step 7. Practice quick clean-up moving forward

You’ve completed the hard work of cleaning your glass-top stove, and now it’s time to keep it that way.

Remembering to remove any spills or drips right after cooking can help you to avoid burnt build-up. Spraying the entire glass-top stove with vinegar and wiping it down with a microfiber cloth in between cleanings, can help keep it looking brand-new.

If you’re feeling like maybe you need something a bit stronger, make sure that you use a product specifically designed for cleaning glass-top stoves. Just avoid ammonia-based products such as Windex, which can dull the glass surface and leave streaks, or abrasive products which can scratch the surface.

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