How to Clean Hard Grease Off the Stove Top Cover

An active kitchen sees a lot of frying, sautéing and grilling. These stove top methods of cooking can lead to delicious daily meals as well as globs of grease and a coat of grime on the surface of the hardworking appliance. Grease that sits on the stove top can harden if left too long on the slick surface. It's not only unattractive, it can also become a serious fire hazard. A grease cover on the stove needs to be cleaned regularly.

Removing hardened grease from the stove top covers or wells around the burner can be difficult. It clings to the surface and requires some serious elbow grease to lift it from the stove top covers. There are as many ways to safely and effectively remove grease from the stove top as there are methods to cook a chicken breast to moist perfection.

The best gas stove burner covers completely cover the burner's sides and the bottom well, and the covers are removable. If your stove top has removable stove top covers, then cleaning the stove is an easier process. Remove the burner grates and simply slip the covers off the jet covers. If the jet covers are also removable, then take them off and clean them as well to save time and effort.

Most stove top covers can be placed in the dishwasher. If you are unsure, contact the manufacturer or search for the stove's manual online. Place the removable stove top covers in the dishwasher and run it on a quick cycle alone so that the grease doesn't lift from the cover and attach itself to the dishes and other items in the appliance.

For truly stubborn stains that didn't get wicked away from the forceful water streams of the dishwasher, soak the removable stove top covers in hot water and a good amount of liquid dish soap for an hour or even overnight. Give the covers a good scrub with a mild cream detergent to finish them off before rinsing and returning to the appliance.

Remove all of the grates, coiled burners or any other removable parts before you get down to the serious business of cleaning the stove top. Take a damp towel, not soaking, and wipe up large crumbs, bits of food and other debris that collects on the surface of a stove. For stubborn sauce spills, put a damp paper towel over the saucy splotch and let it sit for an hour to loosen up the hardened spot.

Reader's Digest suggests putting a thin layer of baking soda, degreaser or liquid cleaner and scrub it into the stove top, spending extra time on hard grease spots. Let it sit on the surface for at least 20 minutes and up to an hour. You don't want it to dry and cake onto the stove top and create a bigger mess to clean up. Use a nylon scrubbing pad to get into the corners of the burner wells. Remove the cleaner with a damp sponge with a few drops of dish soap. Finally, rinse with a wet cloth and buff the stove top with a dry cloth.