Cleaning a gas Stove Top

I've found a few ideas off  Pinterest for cleaning a gas stove top with more natural products which claim to take the grease and burnt on grim right off.  I decided to put it to the test.  First off-- the stove top grates.  I found this idea from {Pinching your Pennies}.  

You'll need: gallon size or larger zip-lock bags and ammonia 

I put 2 grates in a 2.5 gallon bag with 4 Tbsp ammonia.  Seal the bag.  I put mine out in a old cardboard box in the garage to sit over night. (Remember that ammonia has strong vapors and can be an eye and skin irritant, so be careful when using it.)  Let the grates sit overnight.  

Wear protective gloves (I wore those cute turquoise gloves that usually you find in yellow).  You'll also need a green scrub pad like Scotch-Brite.   

Make sure you open your bag away from your face.  The fumes can be overwhelming.  The ammonia in the bag used to be yellow, now it's full of grate grime.  I rinsed the grates off in the sink out in my garage.  For the most part the grim rubbed right off.  I had to scrub on some of the tough spots.

I have some areas on my grates where the enamel has worn off, so those spots look black in the photo.  I'd say this method took off  90% of the grim without having to do heavy scrubbing.  I'll definitely try it again but will put one grate per bag (using the gallon size) instead of 2 in the large bag, just to see if that softens up the burnt on grim even more.

Also, if you plan on using your stove top during that 24 hour period, don't do all for 4 grates at once. Just 2 at a time and then you can still cook on the other side.  (Kind of learned that one the hard way!) 

Next for the top itself.  You'll need: 

baking soda and hydrogen peroxide

I've seen a lot of cleaning ideas using these two at home products.  First, you just sprinkle on a little baking soda.

I probably wouldn't use as much as this next time.  Squeeze out your hydrogen peroxide on top of it until it forms a liquidy paste.  You don't want the baking soda to dry out, so make sure it is wet. 

Let it sit for 15 minutes, 30 if you have really dirty areas.  

First wipe off the baking soda with a paper towel.  Then scrub a little with your scrub pad.  Take a damp paper towel and wipe off any excess baking soda. 

Here is a before picture:

And after:

Over all- pretty good. (Again, this is a really old stove top so there are some black nicks.) I definitely didn't have to put in as much "elbow grease" to scrub off areas on the stove top or grates and both methods allowed me to get some of that baked on grim off- that I could almost never get cleaned. And all without as much effort!