Even experienced balabustas might feel flummoxed by crusty hot water urns or off-smelling washing machines. The best ways to tackle ten common household items
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Get your cleaning gloves on and let’s go.
The traditional way to clean oven grates — spray strong chemicals liberally and let them sit for a long time — doesn’t do much to remove baked-on grease. And if you don’t want to destroy the shiny chrome finish of your oven grates in the self-clean cycle, here’s my tried-and-true method.
Lay a towel in a bathtub to prevent scratches, and place the grates on top. (Be sure to mark the milchig or fleishig ones with a twist tie or the like so you can tell them apart later.) Fill the bath with hot water and add a generous amount of strong dishwashing soap. Let the grates soak for at least an hour or more.
For the next step, you can remove the grates from the tub if it’s more comfortable, and continue in a large sink or on a towel on the kitchen counter. Wipe each line of the grate with either steel wool or half a piece of magic sponge. The grease should come right off, leaving shiny chrome. If you’re continuing in the bathtub, make sure to use steel wool that doesn’t shed; otherwise, the small pieces could cause rust damage to the bathtub and towel.
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