Cleaning A Gas Stove

I love cooking with my gas stove.  I grew up with it and when I had to use electric when we first got married, I had a hard time getting used to it.  I was very happy to have it once again in our current home. One thing I hate though is trying to clean the metal grates and pans.  With as much cooking as I do, it is inevitable that things will get spilled or splattered on them.  And then when it gets cooked on, it sure doesn't want to come off.  I am a little embarrassed to show you this picture, but this is what my stove looked like a couple days ago. 

 Some of that is fresh and would scrub off, but most of that is pretty well stuck on.  I have spent hours (literally) and tried every cleaner I could think of the try get them clean, all with no success.  Until today, that is!  I came across a very handy tip last week, gave it a try, and now my stove looks like this:

Amazing!  And hardly any scrubbing was involved!  Want to know this amazing trick so your stove can sparkle too? :)  Ammonia is the answer.  With little kids in the house, I don't normally keep ammonia around, but I ran out to get some just for this.  All you have to do is put the grate in a gallon zip lock bag along with 1/4 cup ammonia, seal it up, and let it sit overnight.  (I recommend putting it out in the garage or on your deck.) The fumes from the ammonia will do all the work for you and in the morning, all you have to do is wipe it off!  A couple of the most stubborn spots took a little elbow grease, but for the most part, it all came off so easy!  Now you too can have a sparkling clean stove!