Green Cleaning: How to Clean a Stove Top Using Baking Soda

I'm not good at cleaning. And I was having trouble with my stovetop (or rather, my stovetop was having trouble with me for all of my cooking indiscretions). Somewhere I read that baking soda could be used as a stove top cleaner, so I decided to give it a try. And document the process.

As it happens, it is possible to clean a stove top using baking soda. It actually works quite well... so long as you're still willing to... you know... use your arms and stuff. Which is kind of a drag.

Here are the steps:

1. Spend several weeks complaining about grit accumulating on your stove top
2. Angrily yell at the stove top when it fails to self-clean
3. Fill a small bowl with baking soda and add water, a bit at a time, until you have formed a thick paste
4. Apply it to the affected area of the stove top... generously
5. Mush it around with your fingers because it feels really neat
6. Wait for ten minutes
7. Forget to keep track of time, begin watching television shows, and return to the stovetop two hours later
8. Begin brushing the affected area with an abrasive sponge (toothbrushes may be used, but they dont' seem to work all that well)
9. Keep brushing
10. Marvel at the brown paste that results
11. Keep brushing
12. Begin to grow frustrated as not all of the stain is immediately removed
13. Keep brushing
14. Begin to angrily yell at the still unclean stovetop
15. Brush more vigorously, applying more pressure
16. Scream at the stovetop
17. Start crying
18. Plead desperately with the stovetop
19. Return to yelling
20. Keep brushing
21. Wipe away excess grossness

... and voila! Your stovetop is clean!!!

1. Mix together baking soda and water to form a thick paste
2. Apply to an unclean stovetop
3. Wait for at least ten minutes
4. Scrub the food stains away

I hope you have found this simple cleaning guide to be helpful, and that my personal misadventure encourages you to try out some 'natural' cleaning solutions of your own.

Even though this project took a bit more elbow grease than I would have liked, I did appreciate that I was not choking on fumes as I worked, and that I did not feel guilty about rinsing the waste water/paste down the drain. There definitely are benefits to going green!

Good luck cleaning, dudes. And here's hoping we may all someday enjoy the tireless service of inexpensive cleaning robots.