The Martha Stewart Trick That Makes Cleaning Stovetop Crevices Effortless

If you're one of those people that cleans the stovetop as soon as it cools down after using it, congratulations. Cleaning might not be so much of a chore for you, but more of a practice. If you're not one of those people, or if you tend to notice the grime, grit, and grunge some time after the kitchen chaos happens, it's a bit harder to clean that stove. Spilled sauces, grease, and food particles land somewhere and eventually dry there, resulting in a buildup that could be hard to remove, even if it's just a tiny dried splatter. 

These messes can even hinder the flames coming from the gas burners. There's no reason to get heated over said mess, however. Martha Stewart's blog has one idea for keeping things open: Use a paperclip to clean the small fuel-port crevices in a stove burner. It's a simple time-saver that tackles all kinds of tacky gunk. And, it saves you the worry of using (potentially) flammable cleaning chemicals to tackle the issue. Once you have the clogs cleared, it's a lot easier to clean the gas stove burner itself, too. They'll most certainly work better afterwards. 

The design of the burners on your gas stovetop might vary, but the general paperclip method works, regardless. Take a medium-sized paperclip and bend a couple inches of it so it sticks straight out from the rest of the paperclip. While a small paperclip might do the job, a larger one gives you something more substantial to hold onto as you work. 

When the stove is completely cool, take the grates off of each burner you need to clean. Vinegar cleans dirty stovetop grates, if you find they're in need of some attention. Remove the caps from the burner assemblies. If your stove has holes or indentations in the caps, clean those out with the paperclip. The burner is the ring-shaped piece that sits beneath the cap. Lift it off and run the paperclip through all of the holes to push out any blockages. Also look for one or more tiny holes on the underside of the burner piece. 

Imagine where the gas travels when it comes from your stove up through the burner assembly. There's at least one hole the gas travels through before it goes through the ports around the ring-shaped burner. Poke the paperclip through that hole or holes to ensure clear space for gas to travel. One common problem with gas stoves is when a burner won't light, or won't produce flames evenly around the burner ring. This paperclip clear out method often takes care of the problem.