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How to clean your cooktop: tips on how to look after glass ceramic

    10/17/2024

    7 min.

If you love cooking delicious dishes and enjoy using your hob, it can sometimes look a bit of a mess afterwards.

 

But don’t worry – oil splashes, splotches of sauce and burnt-on spills on the glass ceramic can be easily removed. We explain how to clean your cooktop and give you some useful tips.

The essentials at a glance

    Household products like baking powder, lemon juice and vinegar help to remove burnt-on foods

    Regular cleaning prevents stubborn stains and extends the cooktop’s service life

How to clean glass ceramic cooktops

Why it’s so important

On BORA products, we use premium glass ceramic from our partner SCHOTT CERAN®. It is exceptionally robust and scratch-resistant. However, this high-quality material is not bulletproof. For instance, it can be damaged by salt and sugar crystals, coarsely ground spices and fine sand particles in dust. If frying pans and pots are slid over the cooktop, they can leave scratches behind. So, always lift up your cookware when moving it. What’s more, heat can cause dirt to burn onto the cooktop.

Signs of light wear and tear from everyday use cannot be avoided. However, if you clean the cooktop regularly, the risk of scratches and burnt-on stains is significantly reduced. But please do not use scouring sponges or abrasive cleaning products. Harsh chemical cleaning products are also a no-no. You can find out how often and how exactly you should clean BORA glass ceramic cooktops below. 

    How to clean your BORA cooktop

    Recommended cleaning cycles

    In terms of cleaning, we need to differentiate between the cooktop itself and its components such as the cooktop extractor. Depending on the component, we recommend different cleaning cycles.

     

    ComponentCleaning cycle
    Cooktop Whenever it gets dirty 
    Operating panel Whenever it gets dirty 
    Control knob (on BORA Professional) Clean the knob ring and knob housing whenever they get dirty 
    Cooktop extractor Weekly 
    Cooktop extractor interior (on BORA Classic 2.0 and BORA Professional) Weekly and after cooking greasy food 
    Cover flap, grease filter, grease filter tray (on BORA Professional) Weekly and after cooking greasy food 
    Maintenance tray (on BORA Professional) As required; at the latest when changing the activated charcoal filter (recirculation models) 
    Air inlet nozzle and stainless steel grease filter Weekly, after cooking greasy food and when the fan level indicators shows F; please only clean stainless steel in the direction of the grain 
    Air guiding housing Every six months or when changing the activated charcoal filter 
    Activated charcoal filter (on recirculation models) Replace when extractor performance wanes, odours start to build up or the fan level indicator shows F 

      When cleaning a BORA cooktop and extractor, you can put some parts in the dishwasher if necessary:

       

      • BORA Basic, Pure, X Pure and S Pure: air inlet nozzle, stainless steel grease filter
      • BORA Classic 2.0: air inlet nozzle, stainless steel grease filter, tray
      • BORA Professional 3.0:cover flap, grease filter, grease filter tray and maintenance tray

       
      The temperature of the dishwasher programme must not exceed 65 °C. What’s more, after cleaning you must ensure that the cooktop parts are completely dry before you put them back.

        Instruction video on how to clean glass ceramic

        How to clean the innovative BORA X BO steam oven

        Cleaning the BORA X BO – the professional steam oven for your home – is also simple: you can wipe away light soiling in the stainless steel oven chamber with a clean sponge cloth, washing-up liquid and warm water. Then dry it with a clean, soft cloth. 

        The BORA intensive cleaning programme works like magic, automatically cleaning and drying the appliance. All you have to do is screw the recyclable cleaning cartridge into the centre of the oven rack, then insert this in the middle shelf space. Press ‘Maintenance’ on the menu and start the intensive cleaning programme. For precise guidance on how to clean the BORA X BO, please see the operating and installation instructions

          How to clean your cooktop correctly: helpful tips & products

          All it takes is a few simple steps to clean your BORA cooktop. Provide perfect care with the following actions:

          • before cleaning, the cooktop needs to cool down. Exception: in the case of soiling caused by sugar, plastic or foil, please clean the ceramic cooktop immediately while still hot, preferably with a scraper.

          • You can prevent scratches from dirt particles by wiping the cookware and cooktop clean and dry before each use.

          • For burnt-on substances like milk or boiled-over water, use a conventional glass ceramic scraper made of metal to clean the glass ceramic cooktop. Please only apply light pressure to the surface with the scraper to avoid scratches.

          • In the case of lighter soiling, you can simply wipe it off with a soft cloth or kitchen roll.

          • After pre-cleaning, apply a hazelnut-sized blob of glass ceramic cleaner to the cooktop. Spread it out in a circular motion using a dry microfibre cloth or kitchen roll. Leave it to work for a few moments.

          • Wipe away the residue with a damp microfibre cloth or some kitchen roll and wipe the surface dry with a clean tea towel.

          • The moving parts of the BORA cooktop extractor systems, such as the grease filter, grease drip tray and air inlet nozzle/cover flap can be cleaned in the dishwasher at a maximum temperature of 65 °C. 

            We recommend a special glass ceramic cleaner to clean BORA cooktops. If you don’t have one, you can improvise with glass cleaner: spray it on the cooktop and leave it to work for a while. Then wipe the cleaner off with a damp cloth. Drying the cooktop afterwards with a tea towel will prevent smearing.  
             
            One way to get rid of stubborn encrustations and stains is baking powder. Mix it with a little water to form a creamy paste. Then apply it to the affected areas and leave it to work for about an hour before wiping the paste off with a damp cloth. 

              FAQs about cleaning cooktops

              If you wish to clean a glass ceramic cooktop, use only a glass ceramic scraper to scrape away burnt-on food. Do not use a knife or similar object. Apply only light pressure. Do not, under any circumstances, use cleaning products with abrasive particles (scouring cream, scouring powder) or scouring sponges.

              A special glass ceramic cleaner like BORA Cooktop Cleaner is the perfect product for cleaning your cooktop. Alternatively, you can use glass cleaner or lemon juice. It is important to remove any cleaning product residues from the surface afterwards using a damp cloth.

              To clean the cooktop, as well as ordinary lemon juice, you can also use shop-bought citric acid. It is important to dilute it sufficiently: dissolve three dessert spoons of pure citric acid powder in a litre of warm water. Wipe the surface with it and then rinse with clean water.

              To clean a glass ceramic cooktop and remove burnt-on food, use a glass ceramic scraper. First of all, remove larger grease stains with some kitchen roll. The rest can be removed using glass ceramic cleaner. In the case of stubborn incrustations, baking powder mixed into a paste with a little water helps. Leave it to work for an hour and then wipe it off with a damp cloth.

              You can avoid spots by wiping the surface dry with a tea towel after cleaning the cooktop. If spots and smears have built up, remove them with glass ceramic cleaner or glass cleaner.

              Cookware with an aluminium or copper base should be avoided. These two metals can leave residues on glass ceramic that are extremely difficult or even impossible to remove.

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