Easily Remove Melted Foil From Your Stovetop With This Brilliant Trick

There is a lot to love about electric stovetops, including how easy they are to care for — no more removing drip pans and scrubbing in crevices — granted that you avoid some of the biggest cleaning mistakes. Their crisp surface, however, does make any stain or baked-on mess highly visible. While food splatters are easy enough to dissolve with a little cleaning spray and effort, melted-on aluminum foil can prove much more challenging to remove due to the fact that it seems to become one with a hot stovetop once it gets burned on.

To avoid scratching or chipping the ceramic surface, you will need to be gentle in your approach — while also being aggressive enough to remove the blight that is the melted metal on top. Fortunately, there is an easy hack that will seamlessly solve the problem of melted foil, and it requires only three items (and you probably already have them in your home): a razor blade, a can of oven cleaner, and a soft cloth.

Begin by angling the razor blade so that it can get under the edge of the melted foil and gingerly scrape it off. Work slowly at this stage to avoid adding any new stubborn scratches to the cooktop. It may take several minutes, but you should soon see the foil coming up. Since glass cooktops are so sleek and can provide little resistance, you may find that rubber kitchen gloves will give you a little more control over the razor and prevent any accidental cuts.

Once you have removed as much foil as possible with the razor, wipe it off with a damp cloth and spray the problem area with an oven cleaner. Since oven cleaning sprays can often give off dangerous chemical fumes, remember to always open the windows when using this smelly product, avoid direct skin contact, and keep pets and children in another part of the home. Leave the cleaner on for roughly 20 minutes and do a final wipe with a damp cloth; a shining stovetop should be all that is left. If you are wary of conventional chemical oven cleaners, a more natural option is Scrub Daddy Power Paste ($10 at The Smile Shop), a clay-based cleaning product that may offer equally impressive results.

For individuals who have a different type of stove, such as ones with electric coils, but face the same challenge of melted foil, the same technique can be employed. Electric coils are designed to be easily lifted to simplify kitchen cleaning with a simple wiggling and pulling motion; it may prove simpler to clean coils on the counter, where you can manipulate and tackle the cleaning from a different angle. A bath towel can provide a stable working surface and protect your countertops, as well.

Using an identical approach to the ceramic stovetop cleaning method, arm yourself with a sharp metal spatula or a razor blade to chip away at any baked-on foil. Follow the scraping with an application of oven spray or an eco-friendly alternative. Remember to thoroughly dry your coils prior to reconnecting them with your stovetop to mitigate the risk of shorting out your stove. This versatile cleaning hack can also be used inside your oven should you find melted foil inside of it.