My glass cooktop is incredibly hard to clean

[Linda123]

Hello everyone,

We recently bought a GE Profile range with double ovens. Since this was my second glass top oven, I didn't realize there would be a difference in how hard it is to clean.

At Christmas, I made several batches of hard candy - boiling sugar, karo and water - and the glass top was nearly impossible to clean! When I made the same candy on my old stove, just putting hot wet towels on the cool surface would loosen the sugar splatters and it was easy to wipe off. This shiny black stovetop showed every splatter and it was terribly hard to clean - it literally took weeks to get all of the spots off.

Is there any kind of silicon or even a disposable cover I can put on the stovetop while cooking? I'd love to have something that would cover the entire cooking surface and then, when done cooking, either wash it off or throw away.

 

[Alix]

I don't know about that but I do know that the Magic Eraser works wonders. And if it doesn't come off easily with that, try a dab of Goo Gone with the Magic Eraser. Seems to work on my Mom's stove anyway.

 

[vagriller]

I don't know about that but I do know that the Magic Eraser works wonders. And if it doesn't come off easily with that, try a dab of Goo Gone with the Magic Eraser. Seems to work on my Mom's stove anyway.

Hmm, I thought you weren't supposed to use anything but the ceramic cooktop cleaner. I will try the ME though. Mine has a few spots that are stubborn.

 

[Alix]

Just don't tell anyone. Seriously, that magic eraser rocks hard. And combined with Goo Gone it removed this black crud that had been stuck on there for years.

 

[jennyema]

I use barkeeper's friend on mine.

 

[nikki]

That ME is a great idea... I have some spots that won't seem to leave on my cooktop at home also, must try that...

 

[Linda123]

I have tried it, but it sure took a lot of hard scrubbing to get it clean and now, I am reluctant to even try to cook anything "messy" on my new stove. I have a little single electric burner that I put on my countertop to make fudge, because I knew it would spatter.

I'll try the Goo Gone next.

Thanks for the hints.

 

[Silversage]

Two points.

One, a razor blade works wonders on tough spots.

Two, your owners' manual probably tells you that the worst thing for the ceramic (glass) stoves is sugar. It can permanently damage the surface. Use a splatter screen when cooking with high sugar content foods. Wipe up the spills immediately. Sugar will leave pits in the surface. Use a razor blade to get all of the sugar off, then polish with your cleaner.

 

[jet]

Good Advice

...
Wipe up the spills immediately.
...

That's good advice in general.

 

[licia]

Why not use a deeper pot and/or a lid to minimize the mess. My stove isn't even a glass top and I hardly ever have to do anything except wipe with a damp cloth, but maybe I'm a bit lazier than you. I'd much rather avoid the mess in the beginning than have to deal with it after the fact. We've had a ceramic top at the farm and it still looks new after almost 10 years.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

I had to buy a new range in a hurry (two weeks before Thanksgiving, company coming, and a seven-year-old stove went *pfttt*) and thought a glass top would be good. Wish I had time...and had checked the budget better to know I could have bought better. Anyway, I've spent the last three years trying to find something that would clean it all...including the grease that jumps the frypan and glues itself just at the edge of the burner area. After four(!) products I used the Bar Keepers Friend cooktop cleaner - the creamy kind in the bottle. Voila! Except for a couple little pits (maybe from sugar? but just below the surface are tiny bubbles all over the glass top...it's the way the glass surface was made) the top looks like it has never been used. I can't recommend that product strongly enough...or at least for my cooking surface. Good Luck!

 

[spork]

Hmm, I thought you weren't supposed to use anything but the ceramic cooktop cleaner. I will try the ME though. Mine has a few spots that are stubborn.

I will try the ME, too. Even though this funky cleaning pad scares me to death...

The first time I tried it was on a door knob and the grime that builds around it. It freakin' works like its namesake! But it also stripped the satin finish off the wood. I spent the rest of an unfortunate afternoon using the ME to wipe down a perfectly good door just to give it a consistent (now) flat finish. By the end, the ME pad had shrunk and shriveled to a hard putty the size of Mr. Clean's eyeball. I.. do not want to know.. what "Magic Eraser" is made of...

The absolute last thing you want to use to clean the glass top of a ceramic stove is any abrasive, whether it's the detergent or the scrub pad. Glass easily scratches. Go ahead and try Goo Gone, remembering to allow its foam to soak. I use it for my outdoor grills, notoriously hard to clean.

 

[Robo410]

razor blade scraper for big chunks. there is a glass top stove cleaner/polish sold in hardware stores and places like Lowes etc. Barkeeper's Friend works and there are now other glass top cleaners out there.