I’m no neat freak, but nothing looks more disgusting than a stove caked with splattered grease, melted cheese and old marinara sauce. And while I don’t think I’m exactly sloppy, my wife would argue that I don’t do a good job of cleaning up after myself. And so, without fail, our “easy to clean” glass cooktop is a perennial mess.
It’s not that I haven’t tried to keep it clean. The Windex/409 combo that I tend to use on every other surface in the house at least removes the loose stuff from the cooktop, but at best it’s only passable. Even if I did manage to get the thing really clean, every solution I’ve tried leaves some form of unsightly haze on the surface, which prevents it from ever looking truly clean.
So the other day when I was shopping for appliance parts for an unrelated kitchen catastrophe, I was pleased to discover Cerama Bryte on the store shelf. Wary of the descriptive yet unfortunate name, the friendly sales associate assured me that products like this tend to work well. So I bought it, used it and loved it.
The starter kit I purchased consists of three parts used in a three-step process. Part one is a standard razor blade scraper, used as step one to easily remove any cooked-on mess. (Any razor blade scraper would do the trick, I’m sure.) Part two is the Cerama Bryte liquid cleaner, used in conjunction with part three, a Cerama Bryte cleaning pad. The cleaning solution itself is similar in consistency to liquid car wax. It goes on in much the same way too — spread in circles via the cleaning pad (step two), then left to dry before buffing with a soft cloth or paper towel in step three.
I’ve found that the “quarter sized” dollop recommended on the back of the bottle is almost sufficient, and that a heavy hand with the stuff only makes for longer drying times and more challenging buffing.
Cerama Bryte works wonderfully, creating a spotless, haze-free, factory-fresh shine in just a few minutes. It’s easy to apply, cleanup is fairly simple, and the cleaner itself is biodegradable and phosphate free. (I still wouldn’t rub it in my eyes, though.)
I can’t imagine anything cleaning my stove better than Cerama Bryte. If you’re searching for a cleaning solution for an unsightly glass-ceramic cooktop, this is probably it. — William Sawalich
