How to Clean Stove Grates the Easy Way

I have friends that let me come over to their houses and let me clean their things for my blog. It happens when you write a cleaning blog and you agree when you write a cleaning blog. This time one of my friends let me clean her stove grates because they were covered in the nasty never-gonna-get-off-ever cooked on grease. Normally I would use my homemade soft scrub to get stubborn grease off, but it works better on flat surfaces; I had to pull out the big guns this time.

Easily Clean Stove Grates

If it weren’t for the amazing results, I probably wouldn’t use this method, but my goodness the shine is what sold me. To clean stove grates with this method you’ll need:

• Ammonia
• Quart-size baggies
• Hot soapy water
• Scrubby or scrub brush

Remove excess food build up

Also known as a before shot, you can see that this stove grate is covered in cooked on grease. Removing the excess food from the stove grates is just something I like to do so there is no excess food flying off. I’m pretty sure it’s an OCD thing.

Put It All in a Bag

This part is fairly easy, put the stove grate in a zip lock baggie with 1/4 cup of ammonia. I would hold my breathe if I were you because ammonia stinks. Please make sure that you work in a well ventilated area and do not mix ammonia with any other cleaning solution as this may result in deadly gas. Then seal the bag and leave it to sit overnight. 🙂

Wipe the Stove Grates Clean

While I was up I periodically moved the bag a little bit so the ammonia would wash over the stove grate, and in the morning this is what it look like. Pieces of cooked on grease simple fell off! Once again when you open the bag work in a well ventilated area, the ammonia fumes will still be a bit strong. Dump out the ammonia and put the stove grate into hot soapy water.

At this point 99% of the grease will come right off, a few spots will need a some encouragement from a scrubby. All of the little black flecks in the sink are pieces of grease that came right off.

After: Perfectly Clean Stove Grates

Ping! After some slight discomfort of the ammonia fumes, the stove grates come out shining. These stove grates were so encrusted in grease that I thought they had a matte finish. While ammonia is not my most favorite thing to clean with, sometimes, for me, it’s worth it just to get the perfect clean I was looking for.

To keep stove grates clean, so you never have to clean them with ammonia again, wipe them down routinely to prevent food from permanently bonding itself to the stove grates. I have an idea I want to test when I clean stove grates next time, just so I can avoid the awful fumes; the idea goes along with this post. Let me know if you try it out and what your results are.

Happy Cleaning!