How to Remove Melted Microfiber from a Smooth Top Stove

Dear Home Ec 101,

I burned a microfiber rag on my flat top range as I thought it was cool and was wiping it off. The regular ceramic stove top cleaners are not taking it off. How can I remove the melted microfiber from my stove?

Signed,
Stuck in Sturbridge

Cleaning melted anything off of a smooth top range is kind of a pain in the rear. First, as you’ve noticed, microfiber cloth isn’t like your standard cotton, which would have simply scorched or burnt. Microfiber is a generic term for any fiber less than one denier per filament—the tiny strands that are twisted and woven together to eventually create a cloth—sometimes, like in the case of microfiber, that requires a whole heck of a lot of twisting and weaving.

A denier is really tiny, about ten micrometers. These really tiny filaments give microfiber cloths their excellent cleaning properties, but since they are generally made from polyesters, they have the unfortunate tendency to melt quickly on hot surfaces, like a recently used stove.

You take the good with the bad and then to clean up the bad, you find a razor scraper.

Don’t worry, these razor scrapers are super cheap and you can find them at any big box store -Walmart, Target or hardware store, like ACE or Lowes -these are simply examples, not a recommendation of where to spend your money.  If you do not currently live with your parents and do not already own a razor scraper, toss one in your Amazon shopping cart.

Why?

Because at some point, you’re going to need this stupidly, handy tool for something, whether it’s for removing melted microfiber, plastic bags, or sugar from your smooth top stove, getting burnt-on grime off of the interior of your oven, or even removing paint from glass.

Razor scrapers suckers are exceptionally useful and usually reasonably priced. The set I linked to, is currently about four dollars each with quite a few extra blades. There is no reason not to have one in your kitchen and one wherever you keep your tools. Also at that price point, it’s worth having in there, if you’re close to free shipping, but not quite.

To use the razor scraper on your smooth top range, hold the scraper at about a 45° angle to the stove and push forward, not side-to-side. Never side-to-side, that would be how you scratch your brand new smooth top range. We don’t want to have to write another article on that, right? Right.

Always scrape back and forth, not sideways and do it at an angle.

Picture the razor blade sliding between the plastic and the surface of your stove, prying off the stuck-on bits. Because that’s exactly what it’s doing! This is also why it’s best to use a very sharp blade, that razor—ha!—thin edge is what wedges itself between the plastic and your ceramic cooktop.

Please use common sense and caution when using this tool and hide it from the kids.

Questions?

Submit your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.