January 23, 2025, 4:39 pm | Read time: 3 minutes
Some kitchens still have an old electric stove with raised cast-iron burners. Although the burners are more robust, they are usually more time-consuming to clean and maintain than a modern ceramic cooktop. One way to make the stove look like new is to blacken the burners. How do you do this, and what do you need to bear in mind?
No matter how diligently you clean and scrub, stove burners that turn grey over time can make the kitchen look unclean. To restore the stove burners to a deep black, you can and should blacken them. Blackening has more than just aesthetic benefits.
Blackening the Stove Burners – Here’s How!
You don’t need much to blacken the stove burners:
- A damp cloth or rag
- Steel wool or a wire brush, if necessary
- Stove top black (alternative: cooking oil such as sunflower or linseed oil)
- A soft cloth
- Gloves
Once you’ve gathered all the materials and utensils, you’re ready to begin. However, it’s crucial to ensure that the stove burner has completely cooled down before starting.
- The first step is to clean the stove burners. Stubborn stains can be removed with steel wool or a wire brush.
- Use a damp cloth to wipe the hob clean and remove any remaining dust and cleaning agents. Then, remove the moisture with a dry cloth.
- Now blacken the stove burner. To do this, apply a little of the special stove top care product, stove top black, or cooking oil to a soft cloth to spread evenly over the surface.
- Next, turn on the stove to heat the burners on a low setting. This allows the care product to soak in and form a protective patina.
- Allow to cool well, and repeat if necessary.
Tip: Do not use too much care product or oil! Otherwise, a lot of smoke can form when heated.
How Often Should You Blacken Stove Burners?
How often you need to blacken the hotplates depends entirely on how often you use them. With normal use, it is sufficient to blacken the hob every one to two months or so to maintain the protective coating of the hotplates and protect them from rust. If the plates appear gray, dull, or stained, you can treat them earlier.
Blackening is also beneficial if the stove has been thoroughly cleaned and scrubbed to remove rust, for example. The care restores the protective layer so that the plate does not rust again.
Tip: After cooking, you can wipe the cast iron stove burners with a slightly oily cloth. The oil maintains the surface and the protective layer remains active for longer. The longer the protective layer remains intact, the less frequently you’ll need to blacken the stove burners.
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What Are the Benefits?
Apart from aesthetics, blackening the hotplates also has other advantages, as already mentioned. Cast iron stove burners are typically found on older electric stoves. Here, it is important to blacken them in order to maintain and protect them. In fact, this is a tried and tested maintenance practice. Similar to cast iron pans, the surface is preserved by the care product.
By blackening – whether with a care product or a thin layer of oil – a protective layer is applied to the cast iron surface. This protects the iron from dirt, moisture, and oxygen. This maintenance step protects the hotplates from rust and keeps them functional for longer. But that’s not all: a well-maintained stove burner with a smooth surface is easier to clean, as food residues are less likely to stick. A smooth surface that is free of dirt and rust also distributes the heat much more evenly, which also saves electricity – a win-win-win situation.