As the owner of small student rental property, it’s that time of year again. College students moving in and out, signing a lease with the promise to leave the property as clean as when they moved in. I’ve had great tenants through the years, because I screen them carefully. And they usually do a good job of cleaning the place when they leave. But one thing that none of them seem to understand is how to clean a stove. This isn’t rocket science, but even engineering grads don’t get it. When will they ever learn? Soon, I hope. Because a dirty stove means hours of intensive labor for the landlord, which takes a big chunk out of the tenant’s return deposit. College students should learn to clean stoves. Here’s how:
Don’t leave food spills in the oven. Some students cook a lot more than others, but most everyone heats frozen pizza. Many brands tell you to bake it right on the oven rack. Sounds easy, but there’s usually some drippy cheese that end up on the oven floor. Scrape it up as soon as the oven cools. If you leave layers of cheesy tomato sauce from numerous pizzas throughout the course of a year, it’s going to leave a hard, black crust on the oven floor. Which means someone will have to invest in oven cleaner, and spend hours scraping up the disgusting residue.
Sometimes, I find the oven pretty clean. Which means the student has eaten a lot of meals at their girlfriend’s place, or they eat out a lot. Maybe they work in a restaurant. Who knows? But most everyone uses the stovetop to heat up pans of soup, chili, spaghetti sauce—whatever. Inevitably, they have numerous spill overs that fall through the burners and onto the drip trays. Why do they ignore the greasy gunky mess? . Most stoves are now electric, which means the heating units and drip trays should be taken out and cleaned, but most students don’t seemed to understand how to do that. Wikihow explains how to do this pretty well.
“Remove the burners from your gas or electric stove top. Be sure that the stove is off and that the elements are completely cooled down before taking off the burner grates or coils. Place them aside on a counter top to be cleaned.”
With the burners removed, it’s easy to lift out the drip pans. When a spill happens, remove the drip pan and any separate decorative rings as soon as possible. Fill your sink with hot water and add a few drops of dishwashing detergent. Place the drip pans and any other removable components in soapy water. Allow them to soak before cleaning with brillo or whatever it takes. It’s no different than cleaning a dirty pot or pan.
.Many instruction manuals recommend you clean the burners and trays after each use. I’m not expecting tenants to go that far. If you’re boiling a pot of water, it’s not going to make a mess. But if you know a pot has boiled over, it makes sense to take out the burner and drip tray, and clean them before any other food residue gets baked on.
One of these days, students are going to graduate from college, get jobs, and move into their own place. Eventually, they’ll have to learn how to clean a stove. So why not start now?