Getting the kitchen cleaned and sparkling takes a lot of effort, especially when you need to get rid of hardened grease, stubborn stains, food splatters, sticky grease, and others. It’s not only about wiping these stains once they find their way to your kitchen countertops but also protecting your kitchen countertops.
Many people depend on oven cleaners to wipe away all sorts of stains on their kitchen countertops. Nevertheless, oven cleaners contain powerful substances or chemicals that enable them to clean grime, grease, and dirt from some surfaces. Hence, before you resort to using oven cleaner for your kitchen countertops, it’s crucial to find out its effects on your kitchen countertops.
Let’s see what oven cleaners contain and how they work on various surfaces of kitchen countertops.
What Do Oven Cleaners Contain?
Almost all oven cleaners are made with sodium hydroxide or lye, which is not a gentle but harmful chemical. At times chemicals like MEA (monoethanolamine), ethanol, or turpentine are used to produce oven cleaners. Other times sodium carbonate (soda ash) known as an alkalizer used in swimming pools, is also used in making oven cleaners. Other substances found in oven cleaners include foaming agents, fragrances, and emulsifiers, among others. That’s why you should make your findings before using an oven cleaner to clean your kitchen countertops.
Oven cleaners dispense foam on the surface sprayed to breakdown the persistent stains or grease. Thanks to the harsh chemicals in the oven cleaners. After the breaking down process, wiping the grease, or stain off will be easier, making it less tasking to make the oven clean.
How Do Oven Cleaners Work?
When the oven cleaner touches the grease inside the oven, there will be a foamy reaction that softens the grease, or dirt in the oven. That reaction is different from what will occur when you spray oven cleaner on the kitchen countertop.
Dangers of Using an Oven Cleaner to Clean Kitchen Countertops
Using oven cleaner on other surfaces is harmful due to the toxic chemicals it contains. Therefore, using it on kitchen counters is dangerous.
The oven cleaner that contains harmful chemicals may get into your food, which results in food poisoning. Specifically, a kitchen countertop where you prepare your food is at a higher risk of getting you and your family poisoned.
Effect of Oven Cleaner on Kitchen Countertops
Although the oven cleaner will make cleaning your kitchen counters effortless it has some side effects on your kitchen countertops.
The dangerous chemicals in the oven cleaner may damage your kitchen counters. That is possible because the oven cleaner will find its way into the top surface of your kitchen counters and eat them off.
How will the oven cleaner react to different materials of kitchen countertops?
1- On Stone Kitchen Countertops
If your kitchen countertop is made with stone like granite or marble, they may not experience any damage from the oven cleaner. Nevertheless, using an oven cleaner is still not a good idea. Your stone kitchen counter may not be affected, but the top surface will wash off, making it lose its shiny beauty and become dull or spotted.
2- On Tiled Kitchen Countertops
It’s very wrong to use oven cleaner on the tiled kitchen countertop. When the oven cleaner stays for a long period on the tiled surface, the top surface will be destroyed by the oven cleaner, and it may be permanently damaged.
3- Oven cleaners, stainless steel countertops
You may think using oven cleaner will not damage your stainless steel kitchen counters but that’s not true. An oven cleaner will make your stainless steel counter messy by leaving stains on it. Ordinarily, vinegar, gentle dish soap, and water will do a perfect job.
4- On Wooden Kitchen Countertops
Kitchen countertops made with wood are the most susceptible to being damaged when exposed to harmful chemicals of oven cleaner. The chemicals in the product will stick into the wooden material from the surface, and break it down. As a result of that, the countertops will become gummy. Although some wooden countertops may be hardened, again others may not survive the damage. When that happens the major, solution is to refinish the wooden countertop’s top surface.
5- On Formica Kitchen Countertops
Kitchen countertops made with Formica is similar to stone made kitchen countertops. This type of material won’t get damaged easily when cleaned with oven cleaner, that’s if you rinse with water instantly. Nevertheless, the Formica kitchen countertop may suffer discoloration.
If you are not aware of this before and your Formica kitchen countertop is already damaged, the solution is to polish the surface. Another idea is to coat the butcher block with oil and seal it up to avoid further damage.
Another benefit of these tips is that you will find it easier to clean your Formica countertops, and they will appear cleaner.
Choosing a Better Alternative
Indeed getting rid of persistent stains or grease is challenging; you need to go for the safest method of doing it to protect you, your family, and your kitchen countertops. Therefore, the right choice to make is to opt for a natural cleaner that is safer than oven cleaners are.
