Skip Fancy Cleaners — Revive Dirty Stovetop Grates With This Common Pantry Staple

Those of us who cook with gas stoves know they provide the ultimate in heat control, even heating, and generally make cooking much easier. The benefits of cooking with gas are many, but there are a few downsides. One of them is the build-up of food and grime on the stovetop grates — and making your grimy stove grates sparkle can be an unexpectantly difficult challenge. There are scores of commercially produced cleaners with ingredients that you need to be a scientist to pronounce. But are there any natural cleaning products that can remove the tough encrusted buildup on your grates? The answer is yes, and you likely already have it in your home: vinegar.

Vinegar contains acid that will gently break down the built-up combination of oils, grease, and food particles that encrust the grates with use. The buildup tends to be PH neutral so the acidic acid will soften the grime, making it easier to scrub away. Standard white vinegar will work well, but cleaning vinegar, which is a vinegar with a slightly higher percentage of acid, is a great product for this type of cleaning.

The majority of stovetop grates are made from cast iron. They can have a porcelain finish on them, in which case they would be very smooth. (Not to be confused with porcelain stovetops.) Or they can be bare cast iron and would be rougher and a dark grey or black color. Regardless of which you have, the first step is to soak them for 10 minutes in a sink of very hot water with a grease cutting dish soap like Dawn. Drain the water and scrub them down. If porcelain, use a microfiber cloth; if bare cast iron, use something like a Scotch Brite abrasive pad for the task. When that's done, rinse them off and dry them completely. In a spray bottle, mix vinegar and water 50/50. Spray the grates down completely with the mixture, allowing it to sit for about 20 minutes (refresh the vinegar on the grates if needed).

Once again, if the grates are porcelain coated, use a non-abrasive cloth like microfiber and scrub the grates. If they do not come completely clean, repeat the vinegar process. If they are bare cast iron, use the green scratchy pad to remove the grit and grime. Repeat if necessary. Once the bare cast iron grates are clean, wipe them down with vegetable oil to prevent rust and season them. Once your stovetop grates are clean, give them a vinegar spray daily to limit the buildup of fats, grease and food particles.