Browsing around Pinterest I've seen quite a few pins about cleaning gas stove top grates with ammonia.

I actually tried cleaning mine a few months ago but I was really impatient and also needed to cook so the results were less than satisfactory.

But last Saturday, I woke up a little too early and for some reason I really wanted to clean. So I set my sights on my stove and away I went!

First the before...

This is what I was working with. Almost one year of my cooking gunk on top of probably years of caked on grease and grime from the previous owners. I'm guessing they never cleaned these bad boys based upon how gross everything else was in the house when we moved in.

The process:


 I used four ZipLoc Slider bags with the slide closers removed. The grates wouldn't fit in the bag unless I removed them so off they went. I then sprayed about a teaspoon of ammonia in each bag. It really doesn't take a whole lot of ammonia to do the job, from what I have read it is more the fumes inside the bag that do the cleaning not actually bathing the grates in ammonia. I then taped the bags shut and moved them outside because the smell was a little more than overpowering. As you can see I also did other parts of the stove top in a smaller bag. I let them sit outside for about 8 hours and would recommend even more time if they are super dirty. I probably should have let them sit overnight but again my impatience kicked in.

The after:


Success! After marinating in ammonia for eight hours, then soaking them in soapy, hot water, and then scrubbing every crevice with a Brillo pad, I had four amazingly cleaner stove top grates. They still aren't perfect but they are a million times better than what I started with. Don't expect the grime to just fall off like some of the pins on Pinterest would make you think - I had to scrub my little heart out to get most of the gunk off which was made a whole lot easier thanks to the ammonia.

So, has the spring cleaning bug bit you yet? In less interesting cleaning news I have already mopped the kitchen floors this weekend and I am eying my dusty bedroom fan blades as my next cleaning project. Wonder what else I need to tackle?

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