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Not only are glass stove tops sleek and fancy looking, they also spare you the hassle of having to scrub a gross burner grate and boast a flat surface that’s blessedly easy to clean. Alas, glass stove tops are also remarkably easy to damage if you don’t know what you’re doing. Fortunately, we spoke to the experts at the American Cleaning Institute and found out how to clean a glass stove top the right way. Read on and you’ll be rewarded with a pristine (and damage-free) cooking surface.

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The cleaning pros at ACI tell us that the best way to care for a glass stove top is to clean it regularly by wiping it down at least once a day (or after every use if you’re an overachiever) so the crud doesn’t accumulate. Here’s the fastest and most effective way to go about it.

What you’ll need:

Step 1: Wait until the stove top is cool. While you might be tempted to wipe down your stove top as soon as you’re done cooking (and before the mess has time to dry), this can have painful consequences. Play it safe and hold off on cleaning until your stove top is cool to the touch—just don’t wait too long, because spills that have been left for days will be much harder to remove.

Step 2: Prepare your cleaning solution. When it comes to cleaning a glass stove top without doing any damage, white vinegar is your best bet. Fill a spray bottle with an equal mix of distilled white vinegar and water, and you’re good to go.

Step 3: Spray the stove top. Using the vinegar solution you just whipped up, generously spray the stove top.

Step 4: Wipe down the stove top. Grab a dry microfiber cloth—scrubber brushes and abrasive scouring pads can scratch the glass—and thoroughly wipe down the surface of the stove top. Then, pat yourself on the back ‘cause your stove top should be squeaky clean.

So you’ve been slacking a little bit (we get it) and your stove top needs a little more attention than a spritz-and-wipe. No worries—deep cleaning a glass stove top is almost as easy as the quick cleaning method and you won’t even break a sweat doing it. (In fact, elbow grease is strongly discouraged.)

What you’ll need:

Step 1: Wait until the stove top is cool. You know the drill.

Step 2: Apply baking soda. Sprinkle the entire surface of the stove top with baking soda, paying special attention to areas with crusty messes and unsightly stains.

Step 3: Soak a towel or several rags.  Wet a large towel or several small rags with hot water and wring out most but not all of the excess water before draping over the entire (powdered) surface of the stove top. Let sit for 15 minutes. (The combination of moisture and trapped heat will help the baking soda do its job of breaking up the gunk.)

Step 4: Scrub. When the 15 minute waiting time is over, remove the damp towel and start gently scrubbing the area with a non-abrasive scouring pad. Again, you will want to focus your scouring pad on the yuckiest spots on the stove top.

Step 5: Wipe clean. Spray the stove top with your handy vinegar solution and wipe down the surface with a microfiber cloth.

Step 6: Dry. Grab a clean, dry microfiber cloth and, using circular motions to avoid streaks, wipe the surface one more time until it’s nice and dry. Ta-da, your deep cleaning is complete!

Sometimes certain spills—especially of the sugary variety—don’t yield to the deep cleaning process laid out above. When this happens, you’ll need to bring in the big guns. Per the ACI, “a razor blade can be used at an angle to very carefully scrape off burned-on food.” However, the pros say that it’s important to apply gentle pressure when using this method, as any muscle might result in a scratched up stove top. Once you’ve carefully scraped off the caked-on mess, you can proceed with one of the cleaning methods described above to finish the job.

We’ve touched on this already, but the ACI tells us that abrasive products (steel wool, scouring pads that aren’t non-scratch, etc.) are the number one thing to avoid when cleaning a glass stove top, as they will leave permanent scratches on the surface. Beyond that, it’s best to follow the manufacturer’s instructions when cleaning and steer clear of products that are not specifically intended for glass stove tops—including ammonia-based glass cleaners like Windex, which can leave streaky and very stubborn stains on the stove top. In fact, we suggest sticking to vinegar and baking soda—namely because they are less expensive and much safer than most store-bought cleaners.

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