What is the Effect of Oven Cleaner on Kitchen Countertops

Updated on July 21, 2022

If you’ve ever run out of your usual kitchen countertop cleaner, you’ve probably wondered – What effect will oven cleaner have on my kitchen countertops? Oven cleaner, as the name implies, is designed to clean the grease and gunk build-up from the countless meals that have been cooked in your oven.

Using any oven cleaning product on your kitchen counters is not advised. Although it’s a great way to remove those pesky stains, the effects will be detrimental, not only to your counters but possibly your health.

Oven Cleaner

Oven cleaner is composed of corrosive and toxic chemicals, such as lye, sodium hydroxide, ammonia, etc., most of which are harmful to yourself and kitchen countertops. Designed to ease the work involved in scrubbing ovens clean, over cleaner wasn’t designed to be used on most surface areas.

Cleaning products are formulated with a specific purpose in mind and undergo rigorous testing to ensure they achieve their desired result. Substituting one for another is usually not a good idea unless you know what you’re doing.

Kitchen Countertops

cleaning supplies on a kitchen countertop

Kitchen countertops come in a variety of materials, such as granite, quartz, metal, tile, and wood. Although restaurants primarily have metal kitchen counters, it’s still not advised to use oven cleaner to clean them.

Granite

Using oven cleaner on granite kitchen counters can cause the color to fade irreversibly.

Instead of using oven cleaner, you should use a little soap, warm water, a sponge, and some elbow grease on granite counters. If that doesn’t work try baking soda and water.

Quartz

If you use oven cleaner on your quartz kitchen counters don’t be surprised if your countertop color starts fading and you damage the top layer on the counter.

You should use hot water and soap to clean the quartz countertops instead.

Metal

Although it won’t corrode the metal, you could risk leaving behind trace amounts of the toxic chemicals contained in the oven cleaner.

You can use a variety of products to clean metal countertops, such as soap, mild degreasers, and any number of food-safe cleaning solutions.

Tile

Oven cleaner will eat away at the top glaze of tile, so it’s recommended to use a mild soap or cleaning solution.

Wood

Wood countertops are quite susceptible to being damaged from oven cleaner. You should use a mild cleaning solution, such as vinegar/water or soap/water instead.

Recommendations

If you’re unsure of what to use, do the research. While a little warm soap and water will do the trick for most countertops, it’s best to be sure before making a costly mistake. It’s a lot easier to check which cleaners work best than it is to replace your kitchen counters because of being misinformed.

Use the wealth of knowledge at your disposal.

Even if you’re in a pinch and need to clean your kitchen counters, don’t reach for the oven cleaner if you run out of your normal cleaning product. That annoying, persistent stain may finally meet its maker, but so might your countertops.