Cleaning Tips/Products

[houseelf]

Stainless is a nightmere to keep clean. Apparently there is a smudge free option for SS appliances that our builder did not get when he put ours in. I really think that SS will be as trendy as avocado bathtubs were at one time.

I think of cleaning as two parts: Clutter/organization and then the actual cleaning. For me, staying on top of stuff as soon as it comes in my house actually makes me more likely to clean. I try to clean as I cook AND enlist the kids to help in whatever small way that they can. I'm big on what I call the Tasmanian Devil style of cleaning (or working out or purging crap). I go ape shit crazy doing as much as I can for a discreet amount of time and then I let it go. Life is too short to freak out about this sort of thing.

I loathe my glass cooktop, and am not-very-patiently waiting for it to die so I can have a GAS stove. I had gas my entire adult life until moving here .. I miss it terribly.

As to cleaning, I do (and feel) much better if I feel like most everything has a place, even if that place is a basket hiding under a table or a bench. I will never win any "House Beautiful" awards, but it's not really something that is important to me.

[ides]

I grew up with electric but once I had gas in an apartment I definitely saw the light! I want one if we ever buy a place. It cooks so much better imo. The house we are renting now has a gas stove - thank goodness!

[mommax3]

We have an induction cooktop and I loooove it! It boils water so fast (we go through a lot of pasta with the boys) and cooks everything very evenly. Clean up is a snap!

[alison]

My ss fridge doesn't smudge easily; I only asked about the streaks, because I'm surprised that the ss cleaner that I used left awful ones!

I honestly think they look pretty great as far as trying to make a gigantic box in your kitchen look halfway ok.

[BonBon]

What about for a non-induction glasstop? I don't think the one here I induction...it's the cheap GE black one. Does silpat help with even heating? I didn't think I had cheap pans, but they don't like the on of cycle of heat that the stove puts out. The inside of the pan is either too hot or too cool. Food sticks, gets burnt on the bottom....pudding is the worst! I'm scared to try to make étouffée.

The Dallas house had a gas range. One of it's few (very few) redeeming qualities. It was an older cheap one, but it was still nice to cook on....until the rats started nesting around the pilot lights....

I don't know if it would work for plain electric glasstops. I'm thinking it might get too hot? I think the silpats are rated to 500* but I would be scared to try it for fear of melting. Another thought is to try baking paper under your pan. At least then you would just have scorched paper instead of a giant mess. DCJenn, did you try the silpats yet?

Our pans heat evenly with silpats, but that may have more to do with the spinning magnets than anything else. It takes a small pot of water mere seconds to boil; though a giant soup cauldron still takes forever.

I love gas too, but I am 100% sold on induction. Electric on the other hand...no way. Never again.

[alison]

Gas, gas, gas! It's awesome! We had it in Chicago, and then in CA we had electric. I was constantly burning food, because you just can't adjust temperature as finely as with gas.