Induction cooktops surfaces are made of glass and therefore show up all the minor stains and dirt.
This is a both an advantage and a disadvantage because, while nobody wants to see unclean surfaces, the fact that your cooktop will highlight all the areas that aren’t clean means you’re more likely to clean them up—therefore improving your overall kitchen hygiene.
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With that in mind, you might be thinking, “What’s the best way to keep my induction cooktop clean?” and to that end, here are five tips for cleaning your cooktop.
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How to clean an Induction Cooktop
1. Use cooktop cleaner
There are a variety of products on the market that are specifically designed to be used on ceramic or glass cooktops so there’s no excuse not to make use of them. These cleaners are in the form of a cream and are formulated for glass. Other types of cleaners can be abrasive and must be avoided as they can cause permanent damage to your glass induction cooktop surface.
You should use your cleaning product on your cooktop before you use it for the first time as this helps to protect the top and makes cleaning up afterwards a lot easier.
Make sure to shake the container well and apply a couple of drops of fluid directly onto the cooktop. Then, using a paper towel or a cleaning pad, gently wipe over the entire surface of the cooktop.
Next, use a dry cloth or a separate paper towel to extract any lingering cleaning residue. There is no need to rinse the cooktop after this.
Use the specialist cleaning product every day in order to keep the cooktop looking brand new.
2. Turn off your induction cooktop before cleaning
This really should be completely obvious, but with an induction cooktop it is still surprisingly easy to be oblivious to the fact that your cooktop could still be on, seeing as it only heats up ferrous metals.
The specific heating properties of the induction cooktop can lull you into a false sense of security—but don’t put yourself at even the slightest risk of burn injuries. Even if you think you’re safe from induction-caused harm, it’s better to be safe than sorry and not suddenly have your metallic watch or wrist accessory turn against you and seriously burn your wrist.
Also, don’t forget to remove any pots or pans from the area before beginning the cleaning process. Any utensils lying around can still be hot and liable to cause injury to yourself or others around.
3. For gentle stains and slightly burned residue
- Apply a couple of drops of your specialist cleaning fluid directly onto the area with burned residue
- Use a soft cleaning pad to gently rub the residue away, only increasing pressure where necessary
- If needed, apply a few more drops of cleaning fluid and slightly increase the amount of pressure
Remember to only use soft cleaning pads, as anything with even a slightly rough surface will cause permanent damage to your cooktop, ruining its appearance.
Never use steel wool or anything else abrasive that could scratch the glass. The resulting tiny marks on the surface are permanent, and because they compromise the smoothness of the cooktop, they simply make the job of cleaning the cooktop a lot more difficult.
4. For tougher stains and badly burned residues
Try using a sharp razor blade scraper (single-edge only) at an acute angle towards the surface of your cooktop. Note that these are not bathroom razor blades but instead a common tool available at all good hardware stores.
Gently scrape away the residue and apply pressure if needed to lift residue away from the affected area. Never use a dull blade as this will simply lead to scratching the surface of your cooktop.
Also, make sure you buy a good-quality razor blade scraper. There are low-quality inexpensive products available which do not work properly; the blade can retract when pressure is applied, thus rendering them useless for practical application.
Once you’ve scraped away the residue, apply some of the specialist cooktop cleaner to the entire affected area and use a cleaning pad (remember it has to be soft and completely non-abrasive) to remove any obstinate residues.
After cleaning, you might choose to apply a light coat of isopropyl alcohol, letting it dry without wiping it off, in order to produce a very shiny glass surface.
5. Coping with melted plastic and sugar spills
Nobody wants to be confronted with the smell of burnt plastic or the fire hazard of sugary spills. While induction cooktops significantly reduce the risk of these events taking place with multiple safety features, you still need to know how to cope with these unfortunate situations.
If anything like this does melt on your cooktop, you need to act immediately.
If this does happen to you, first of all, (after turning off the appliance cf. Tip 2) put on an oven mitt/glove and immediately use a sharp single-edge razor scraper to shift the spill away from the hot area on the cooktop to a cooler area.
Once you’ve safely relocated the spilled sugar or molten plastic, you can extract it with paper towels.
Lingering spilled residue ought to be left until the entire cooktop surface has cooled down to room temperature, and naturally the cooktop shouldn’t be used until the rest of the residue has been removed in its entirety.
6. Clean on a daily basis
It can be a pain, but cleaning your induction cooktop everyday will keep it looking great and makes cooking a pleasure rather than a messy chore.
You don’t have to give your glass induction cooktop surfaces a thorough makeover but just give the top of the appliance a rapid wipe-over every time you’ve completed your cooking.
If you keep to this simple rule, you won’t have to undergo any extensive cleaning sessions when the dirt starts piling up. And because glass induction cooktops show any unclean areas, you’ll soon want to clean the surface regularly anyway.
Induction Induction Cooktop Cleaners to Avoid
- Chlorine bleach cleaners
- Metal souring pads
- Flammable cleaners
- Caustic cleaners
- Dishwashing agents
- Scrub sponges
- Powdery cleaners