Cleaning a Gas Range

The other day I was watching a couple of my favorite cable television shows (30 Minute Meals and Good Eats) and I noticed that they seemed to be using the same type of cooking ranges—gas. Because most of the homes I've lived in have had electric ranges, it seemed a little odd that the shows would be using gas ranges. This got me a little curious and started looking around to see how popular this style of stove actually was. After checking around (by looking at stores, restaurants, talking to contractors, etc.), I came to the conclusion (which some may have already known) that the most popular type of stove is the gas range.

Because these types of ranges can be found almost everywhere across the country, it is becoming increasingly necessary for everyone to know how to clean them. Here are the most common elements that need cleaning on all gas ranges and how you clean them.

• Burner bases. When you look down at your stove this is the part of the stove that actually helps to reflect the heat back towards the pot or pan and looks like a dish. As such this is the one part of the stove that needs the vast majority of the cleaning and attention because it catches so much over spill. Before you start to clean the bases you need to remove burner heads and grates, if you don't then you are not going to be able to reach every part of the base for a thorough cleaning. To actually clean the base, all you need is hot soapy water and a scrubby. With a little elbow grease you are soon going to have sparkling clean burner bases.
• Burner heads. When you have removed the heads and grates to clean the bases, you might as well take the opportunity to clean the actual burner heads. This is the part of the stove where the flame actually comes out. Be sure that you have turned off the gas and disconnected any hoses that are connected, and just unscrew the head. Simply drop the burner heads into a sink full of hot soapy water and scrub. If there is anything really caked (or cooked) on, then you need to let them soak for roughly thirty minutes and then use a little elbow grease to get everything off.
• Burner grates. This is the part of the stove that your pots or pans actually rest on, and to remove them, you should be able to simply lift up on it. To actually clean your burner grates, once again all that you need to use is either some hot soapy water, or place them in your dishwasher. If you are going to wash them in your sink, be sure that you let the grates soak for roughly thirty minutes to remove any and all burnt on food residue. However, if you are going to wash them in the dishwasher, be sure that you choose a detergent that won't cause any harm to the grates.

Finally, a couple words of caution: First, before you begin taking everything apart, make sure that you have actually turned your range off—that all your controls are in the off position. Second, that all parts of the range are completely cooled off before you begin removing anything—you don't want to get burned after all. Lastly, make sure that you make a note of where everything goes before you take it all apart—a gas stove is not a piece of machinery where you want to have extra pieces left over when you put it all together.