Protective mat on a gas stove: first impressions

I'm a fan of electric stoves, but under the pressure of electricity bills, I gave up last year and became the owner of a gas hob. And from that moment on, my life changed dramatically: I literally settled in the kitchen. No, not because I like to cook. It is simply much more difficult to keep a gas stove clean than an electric one.

What's wrong with the gas stove

When choosing a hob, I deliberately refused enamel and glass-ceramic coating. I just saw enough of the dreary glances of my friends who could not protect the fragile coating from chips and muddy stains - traces of untimely cleaned up dirt. That is why a spectacular stainless steel became my chosen one, because in order to damage it, you need to seriously work hard.

The understanding of how stupid this decision was came after the very first use of the new thing: sparkling the surface is covered with clearly visible cloudy spots due to the fact that a few drops escaped from the pan boiling water. But this was not yet a disaster. Serious disappointment came a little later, when I did not keep track of the milk.

Using an electric stove, in such a situation, I usually just quickly removed the pan, brushed off most of the foam with a towel, and then continued to cook. The solution, of course, is not ideal, but effective: it was not difficult to wash the surface at the end of cooking. But on the gas stove, the escaped milk became a problem - for some reason, there was no desire to extinguish the burner and remove the hot grate.

The result is natural - the first real acquaintance with scraping off the foam that has stuck to the surface. And you know, I didn't have a desire to repeat this feat. So I started looking for "lazy" ways to solve the problem.

Acquaintance with the miracle rug

First, folk remedies were tried, starting with rubbing the panel with petroleum jelly and ending with covering it with aluminum foil. Both options, by the way, do not add beauty to the stove, and the first is also not particularly effective. Then heavy artillery was used - household chemicals. At this stage, I became firmly convinced that there is not much difference between expensive and cheap means. Well, two months ago, I accidentally stumbled upon protective pads-rugs in AliExpress.

Honestly, I was bribed by their appearance: an ordinary gray or black rug, which, it seems, should not be very conspicuous. There were strong doubts about the effectiveness of this device, since among the reviews there was also a dreary "melting". But having estimated the cost, I nevertheless decided and ordered silver rugs.

The package arrived pretty quickly - just 4 weeks later. Having unpacked it, I did not feel much joy: well, I could not believe that this flexible canvas is able to withstand high temperatures. But it was too late to retreat, and therefore, with ordinary scissors, I adjusted the size of the rugs to the dimensions of the grate with the burner and began an experiment that has been going on for a month.

I think the first positive result is that now there is no longer the need to constantly wipe the marks left by plain water - they are invisible on the rug. Well, among the rest, I can note that:

• they really withstand high temperatures - even at the burner itself, the web did not melt;
• dirt does not stick to the rug, and the escaped milk and jam are calmly washed with plain clean water;
• the overlay looks quite attractive, as if it was intended;
• the surface of the stove heats up noticeably less - I accidentally noticed it during the next emergency cleaning.

Well, and the most interesting thing: remembering the amount of foil that went to ensure the cleanliness of the stove, I sat down at the calculator and I was pleasantly surprised - only a month of use, and the mat has already turned out to be more profitable than regular underlaying with aluminum foil. And this despite the fact that I covered only half of the hob (two burners) and I still have a couple of overlays in stock (there are 4 of them in the package). So my experiment continues.

In case you decide to also check the effectiveness of this device, I leave link.