It’s that time of year again! Summer heat is fading slowly (shhh, Texas… I know), holidays are creeping closer and thoughts of all those fall and winter culinary delights are starting to dance through your mind. What does it all mean? Well, some of us are still wearing shorts but all of us need to start sprucing up those kitchen appliances and getting ready for marathon kitchen sessions. Let’s start with one of the top picks on the Kitchen All Star list… your glass cooktop!
First up? Bubbles under the glass! A conundrum for sure, but this is actually a very common concern and is caused from splashes when cooking that may not have been cleaned up quick enough or just flat got cooked onto the surface. We’re not casting aspersions on the quality of your house keeping… it happens to all of us! The appearance will be what looks like bubbles in or under the glass top, but they are actually on the surface. What you might call an optical illusion.
And the ring marks on the burner? Also caused by spillovers while cooking, but also can be transferred from the bottoms of cookware. Always turn those pots and pans over and check the bottoms for baked on debris. Put it on a burner, warm it up and that same debris will then transfer onto said burner. Cooking can be a messy business!
Sometimes we see water spots on the glass. Much like the tricky bubbles mentioned above, these spots can simply be caused from water splashing while boiling. If you’re in an area with hard water, these deposits dry quickly and leave water marks that will need to be polished out.
So what do we do about these particular issues? Well, cleaning these types of spots takes some effort (a.k.a. elbow grease) with the use of a cooktop cleaning kit, and may also involve a razor blade. Just don’t let TSA into your kitchen when gathering your cooktop cleaning tools. Cleaning kits are often found online, or by checking your Use & Care Guide for Accessories. You can use this handy link to assist you in how to clean up.
How about let’s go over a few more serious issues that may involve service? If you notice breaks or cracks in your glass down the center or in corners or sides, well this is actually somewhat common and can be caused by installation issues when the cooktop is not supported correctly, under tension, or rocks from not being level. These type cracks normally have no impact marks or slivers. You’ll need to check to see if the cutout of the cooktop is cut to the manufacturer’s specifications, and that it is level front to back and side to side in all areas. Side note: a solid cooktop can indeed flex! No Olympic medals, but still surprisingly flexible.
Now what if there ARE impact chips and / or breaks? This type of break will show an impact area with slivers of glass loose from the crack. This is the kind that pretty obviously is caused by accidents (i.e., something falling or hitting the glass). Hey, accidents happen, just remember cracking your cooktop by stepping on it while trying to reach the gravy boat in the little used cabinet above it? Not covered by warranty.
There’s glass shard “chipping” in the cooking surface area. What?! This one will confuse many and if they don’t know what caused it, it will happen again after replacing the top. Let’s put our science hat on and discuss this further. The cause is from super heated pockets of air that are trapped under cookware due to the cookware being bad or warped… as in no longer flat on the bottom. If your pot of soup is rockin’, that’s no good. One way you can check your cookware is with a ruler or other straight edged item by sliding it across the bottoms of all cookware. If you see towards the center that there are small gaps, it just may be time to replace the cookware to avoid failure of the glass top.
Last, but not least, what about heat stress cracks? This problem is not as common as those above. Caused by continuously cooking for long periods of time at high temperatures, you will see that your glass surface has turned grey / white and multiple cracks appear within the cooking burner ring area. This type of failure of the glass sometimes is covered by the manufacturer, but you must check your warranty guide in the Use & Care Guide to see if it qualifies.
We hope these tips have provided some help in determining what’s going on and how to correct the situation! If you need a technician to come on out and give you hand, don’t hesitate to call us.
Thank you for letting our family help yours!
