Gunk Removal 101

 

Ughhh....

I swear I'm not a slob.  Really.

I love it when my honey offers to make breakfast, what I don't love is the aftermath in the kitchen.Thankfully, I've learned an awesome, easy trick for cleaning the grates with minimal elbow grease.I saw this on Pinterest, of course, gave it a try, and was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked.

All I do is take off the grate and place it in a large ziploc bag with about 1/4 cup of ammonia.  You don't need a lot, I usually just pour a bit in without measuring it.  The ammonia fumes are really the key to this.  I zip up the bag and place it on a tray or rimmed baking sheet ( just in case there's a leak) and let it sit for a few hours.  The ammonia stinks, so I try to leave the grates in the porch or on the deck.

Then, while that's sitting out of the way, I use some Ajax to tackle the actual stovetop.  This part is a bit  more work, but most of the gunk comes up pretty easily.

Oh and FYI... NEVER mix ammonia and bleach... I think you can die or something.  

After I cleaned the stove top, T Mags and I went outlet shopping all afternoon :)

When we got back, I took the grates out of the bags and put them one at a time in the sink.  I took an old toothbrush that I use for cleaning and brushed off all the gunk pretty easily.  After I'm happy with the gunk-removal, I give the grate a good rinse with water and dry it.  That's it.

It's like a new stove-top.  Unbelievable.

Here's a quick side by side, before & after