I’m almost embarrassed to post this. My stove burners get pretty dirty. I guess I think life is too short to be scrubbing the grease off the stove burners, but now that I know this trick, I don’t need to. All you need is a little bit of Ammonia and a zip-loc bag.
Get a zip-loc bag and put your dirty stove burners in there. I did two at a time so that I could still use the stove, and so that they were not touching in the bag. Pour in a couple of tablespoons of Ammonia and seal it up. The fumes from the Ammonia are what does the trick, so you don’t need a lot of the liquid. If you’re feeling frugal, you can re-use the bag and Ammonia for your next set of burners once you take out the first lot.
Leave it to work for about 12 hours, or overnight. I put mine out in the backyard in case the bag broke and stunk out my house, but it didn’t.
You can tell they’re ready by rubbing on the grease with your finger through the bag and it will come off. Keep out of the path of the fumes and take the pieces out of the bag and wipe with a sponge. The grease comes straight off!
My stove looks like new! Just in time for a rental inspection.
Be warned – Chemistry class was a long time ago, so I don’t know whether using Ammonia will be a problem on some stove burners. The tops of my burners are enamelled cast iron and I have no idea what the other bits are made from, but they both came out fine.
plumbing says
I never thought that ammonia could actually be a great cleaning tool. Thanks for sharing this idea. Dirty burner is a common problem of a household keeper like me.
Anonymous says
the crazy ladies from England who clean those filthy houses say to put your pots that are blackened in a big garbage bag, preferably black, spray them with ammonia and put the bag in the sunshine to get them clean again.
thingsforboys says
@Anon – I love Kim and Aggie! Those houses are so beyond filthy…yuck! Great way to clean your pots though.