How to Clean a Hob and a Ceramic Cooktop

A cooktop is the place where soiling hardens in seconds: anything that boils over onto a hot ring burns on immediately. After that everything depends on the material — ceramic, enamel and stainless steel each need a different approach, and the product that saves one ruins another.

What you need

• Baking soda — 2 tablespoons
• White vinegar 9 % — 100 ml
• A ceramic hob cleaner, if the surface is glass
• Citric acid — for white water marks

• A ceramic hob scraper with a blade
• Melamine sponge
• Microfibre cloths, two
• A plastic spatula

Time: 30 minutes.

Step by step: ceramic

1. Let it cool — but not completely. A warm surface releases soiling more easily than a cold one, while on a hot one the product evaporates.
2. Lift the burnt residue with the scraper. Blade at about 30 degrees, worked away from you, no pressure — a scraper shears, it does not scour.
3. Apply the product. A ceramic hob cleaner or a thin layer of soda paste.
4. Leave it ten minutes. That softens whatever the blade did not take.
5. Wipe with damp microfibre. Circular movements, turning the cloth as it loads.
6. Polish dry. Otherwise streaks show under side light.

Method 2 — enamel and pan supports

Enamel tolerates soda and soapy water but not abrasives. Cast-iron supports soak in hot water with soda for thirty to forty minutes: 100 g of soda per 5 litres. The grease then brushes off. Enamelled supports do not go in the dishwasher — the coating dulls and starts to flake.

Method 3 — white water marks

These are limescale, not grease, and soda does nothing to them. Citric acid works: a teaspoon in 200 ml of warm water, apply, leave fifteen minutes, rinse. On ceramic, hard-water marks appear constantly, which is why the last movement after every clean should be a dry wipe.

What to avoid

• Scouring powder on ceramic. Micro-scratches accumulate and the surface permanently loses its gloss.
• A wet cloth on a hot surface. Glass cracks from the temperature shock.
• Leaving spilled sugar or jam to cool. Sugar attacks ceramic as it heats — scrape it off at once, while the surface is hot.
• Drying wet supports on a burner. The enamel chips at the edges.

Why ceramic goes dull

Not from dirt but from micro-scratches. Every wipe with an abrasive sponge, or a dry cloth over grit that landed on the surface, leaves a net of fine marks. Individually invisible, they build up over a year until the surface no longer reflects evenly. This cannot be undone, only avoided: sweep the crumbs off dry first, then wash.

The second cause is all-purpose products. Universal chemicals with abrasive in them do the same thing, only faster.

What to do daily

• Wipe spills while the surface is warm: a cold spill hardens and then needs the blade.
• Finish every clean with a dry microfibre — that removes hard-water salts before they become marks.
• Do not set down pans with wet bases: they leave a white ring.
• Keep the scraper in the kitchen, not in a cupboard: it gets used weekly, and having it to hand solves half the problem.

When to call a cleaner

The hob is part of a standard kitchen clean: the cleaner does it along with the splashback and the worktop at no extra charge. Only the oven (UAH 499), the hood (350) and the fridge (450) are separate items — the things that need dismantling or dwell time. If the kitchen has gone a long time without attention, there is a deep kitchen clean at UAH 2,800. An ordinary visit with the kitchen as part of the flat starts from UAH 600.

Frequently asked questions

How do I remove burnt sugar from ceramic?

With the scraper at 30 degrees while the surface is still warm. Do not wait for it to cool: sugar attacks the coating.

Can cast-iron supports go in the dishwasher?

Bare cast iron can, but it then rusts, so dry it at once. Enamelled supports are better by hand.

Where do the white marks after cleaning come from?

Limescale from the water. Citric acid removes it; drying the surface prevents it.