As a responsible homeowner, you want to keep your cooktops clean and well maintained, don’t you? The good news is that it’s possible to do it. All you need to do is to put into place these cooktop best practices:
Wipe the spills as soon as they happen
Spills might seem harmless to your cooktops, but they aren’t. According to appliance repair professionals, spills on your glass or ceramic cooktops are ugly to look at and hard to remove, especially when you let them dry on your surfaces.
Your cooktop controls are also affected and fail to respond as well as they should, especially when spilled with sugary liquids or grease.
Use the right cookware on your cooktop.
The cookware you use on your cooktop is of vital importance as it not only affects how well you cook, but also how long your cooktops last.
As a rule of thumb, don’t use cat iron cookware on a smooth top cooktop. This is because the cast iron cookware is most likely rough, and any movement of the top on the cooktop will leave scratches on the surfaces. You don’t want your cooktops to have any scratches, do you?
If you have an induction cooktop, don’t use any pan on it. Besides the fact that it doesn’t make sense to use a cheap pan on your expensive cooktop, remember that induction cooktops work extremely differently from ceramic cooktops.
They use a magnetic field under their surfaces to transfer heat directly to the pots and pans. As a result, they need special induction cookware with a ferrous base to transfer the heat as well as they should.
Use a fridge magnet to tell whether your cookware will work with your induction cooktop. If the cookware doesn’t stick on the magnet, get new units.
As you are choosing the right cookware for your home, remember to go with pans that sit flat on your cooktops as they provide even heat distribution. They also tend to be more stable on the cooktop.
This calls for you to avoid pans and skillets with rounded edge bottoms as they won’t provide you with an even heat distribution. The pans also tend to rock while on the cooktop; you don’t want this.
Clean the cooktops
You need to clean the cooktops to not only keep them looking good, but also remove any damaging materials that might be there.
While you might want your cooktops as clean as possible, be cautious about the materials you use. As a rule of thumb, don’t use harsh cleaners as they will damage your surfaces.
While a glass cleaner might seem like an obvious choice, don’t use it as it can leave streaks on your cooktop surface.
The right way to go about it is to use a dedicated ceramic cleaner and a microfiber cloth. These won’t cause any damage and will leave your cooktops looking as good as new.
When cleaning the surfaces, don’t forget the knobs. You should remove any dirt and scraps that might still be trapped under them.
Besides the cooktops, keep the bottoms of your pots and pans clean. This is because when the pots are dirty, they transfer grease and other forms of dirt on the cooktop, and you don’t want this. While you can remove the grease and other forms of dirt from the surfaces, they are usually hard to clean.
Don’t use your cooktop as a preparation space.
The smooth and tough nature of the cooktops can tempt you to use the cooktops as a food preparation surface, but don’t. The reason for this is that you can easily damage the cooktops.
To protect your surfaces, always use a chopping board.
Don’t stand on the cooktops.
The glass on your cooktops might appear tough and can stand your weight, but don’t stand on it. This is because it can easily shatter and break, especially when hot.
Don’t stand on the cooktops if you have to reach the top shelf. Instead, use a ladder.
Cooktop repair Northern VA also recommend against placing any heavy item on the smooth cooktops, even if you are doing it temporarily.
