Many people make the mistake of thinking that their induction cook top is glass. And while it looks like glass, and we call it glass, in reality, its ceramic. It’s similar to the ceramic they  use in your smart phone which is why you can continually drop your phone and not have it break all the time. It’s harder than pyrex and shouldn’t crack in large changes of heat like Pyrex will.

Clean your Cook Top

To clean your cook top, you are technically polishing the top, not really cleaning it. The best thing I have found is a cleaning kit from Affresh that has everything but one thing to clean your cook top. There is a link below to the cleaning kit on Amazon.

Affresh W11042470 Cleaning Kit (Cooktop Cleaner, Scraper and Scrub Pads)
  • Affresh cooktop cleaning kit polishes your cooktop to keep it looking like new
  • Cuts through touch cooked-on residues for a streak-free Polished shine
  • Recommended by Whirlpool, KitchenAid and Maytag brands
  • Affresh cooktop cleaning kit includes a non-abrasive cleaner and non-abrasive cleaning pads that are safe for all glass and ceramic cooktops
  • Affresh cooktop cleaning kit (cleaning pads, scraper, and cleaner) tools will not scratch your cooktop surfaces

Prices pulled from the Amazon Product Advertising API on:

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.

What is in the cleaning kit?

The cleaning kit has three things. First it has a scraper to get off the caked on bits if you are like me and make a mess. Second is a polishing compound you drip on the cook top. And third are a set of polishing pads to use. I have found the polishing pads look similar to the green scrubbing pads you use in your kitchen. But they are much smaller. If you wanted to be cheap, you could easily just get a package of the green ones and cut them in half.

Scotch-Brite Heavy Duty Scour Pads, 8 Total Scour Pads
  • Cleans tough, baked-on messes
  • Ideal for cast-iron pots, stove burners, broilers, garden tools and grills
  • Great for the kitchen, garage and outdoors
  • Heavy duty cleaning
  • Ideal for household cleaning tasks

Prices pulled from the Amazon Product Advertising API on:

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.

What is missing from the cleaning kit?

The only thing I found missing from the whole set was a towel to clean off the polish, grit and grime. You can use a paper towel or regular towel but they do leave residue that if you are a bit on the OCD side will have you there for an hour trying to get off specks of white. Instead, get yourself a pack of microfiber towels to use. They are relatively inexpensive, wipe clean and can be used for washing your bathroom or car as well. No uni-tastkers there…

AmazonBasics Microfiber Cleaning Cloth – 24-Pack
  • Ultra soft, non-abrasive microfiber cloths will not scratch paints, coats or other surfaces
  • Cleans with or without chemical cleaners, leaves lint and streak free results
  • Absorbs eight times its own weight
  • Pack comes with three different towel colors (blue, yellow, and white)
  • Rinse and reuse 100s of times
  • Imported; 90% Polyester 10% Polyamide

Prices pulled from the Amazon Product Advertising API on:

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.

Lets Start Cleaning our Induction Cook Top

The first thing you want to do is unpack everything. Go ahead and use the the scraping blade to get off any burt on gook. The great thing about induction ranges is you should not have much of an issue with this since the only spot that gets hot is where the actual pot sits.

cleaning-blade

This works fine for getting any burnt on food off the cook top. You will be surprised  how quickly it comes off so you don’t even need a lot of strength. It is probably a good thing because really, the blade (more like a flat piece of aluminum) is kinda flimsy but its not like it needs to be durable.

Use-Cleaning-Blade

Once you have all the crusty stuff off the stove top, clean that off and grab the polishing compound. A few drop is all you need as it goes a long way. Be warned, it does have a bit of a chemical smell to it so make sure you wash your hands when you are done.

Place-polishing-solution

After you place the polishing compound, grab one of the polishing compounds and get to work. It takes hardly any pressure so just rub the pad in circles to polish the top with the compound.

Polish-the-top

Once you have everything polished you need to wipe off the top of the cooktop. Think of it like when you wax your car but a lot easier. All you are doing is taking a microfiber cloth and wiping off the polishing compound.

Time-to-clean-off

Just run the microfiber cloth in circles and you will start to notice a mirror finish coming back to the top. If you find there are stains that are not gone, go back to your scrubbing pad and go over those areas. The residual polishing compound will be enough to get the stains out. No need to add more. But by the time it is done, your top should look almost brand new.

A-mirror-Finish

It looks brand new. Here you can actually see the reflection of my microwave and hood combination over the top of the range. And you can even see the sky reflecting in the cook top as well. It is what I love about this kitchen is the panoramic windows that lets lots of sunlight in.

Not just for induction cook tops

This should work for just about any flat cook top you have. So even if you don’t have an induction cook top and just a flat radiant cooktop, try this before trying to scrub away at the top. This works great for people that don’t have a lot of strength as well since the polishing takes hardly any pressure to get the results. So go ahead and get the kit and make your cook top look like new.

 

HOW TO CLEAN YOUR INDUCTION COOKTOP PINTEREST