Head to EuroStoves and look at the videos on cleaning.

Here is a link that might be useful: Eurostoves_video_site

We've had ours for a little over 6 months and have only had to pop the "lid" once to clean beneath after a bad boil over. Good news is no problem with the igniters afterwards like we use to have with the Viking drop-in. SS surface still looks new after a good cleaning.

Noticed your login name. You'll love using your cast iron on this cooktop. I've also got a trick for using a wok on the drop-in cooktops if you're interested. Posted it a while back.

Have fun with it.

amcook and sfjeff, thanks for the replies. I appreciate the link, sfjeff. Amcook, we use nothing BUT cast iron; in fact, we've recently published a cookbook detailing our exploits. Blue Star promises us the heat we need for the high-temp sears we count on. Sure glad to have this info about clean-up. We're getting close to purchasing.

Amcook: curious as to your wok hint with this cooktop. We're planning on getting one next spring. The dealer mentioned taking out the individual burner grate and inverting it for use as a wok ring. Is this what you had in mind?

Inverting it won't really do much except scratch up the top. I really loved the center ring grate design on the full range but I would have had to loose too much cabinet space and would have involved lot of tile and cabinetry work. I have found that dealers will say anything to sell the product.

I've attached a link to a post where I described what I did. If you have a grinder, just put on a metal cutting wheel and go at it. It took me no more than 2min to do all the cutting. Took longer to drag the tools out and put them away. Alternately, a Sawzall (or any recip saw) with a metal blade or simple hack saw would work bit might take a bit longer and require a vice. Let me know if you have any questions.

Here is a link that might be useful: My old post...

Thanks, amcook. I was interested in the slide-in, not the drop-in, though, and the grates are indeed different. As far as I can tell, the slide-in's grates are more like the range, and can be inverted to place the wok a *little* further from the burner, as well as give it stability.

I like your idea about sacrificing a grate and cutting the rays for dedicated wok use, though. I just may do that if inverting it doesn't do the trick.

When you purchase a range or slide in cooktop all you do is take out the center ring, you don't need to invert anything.

The slide in range top is easier to clean than the drop in.

If you are unable to adapt a grate as amcook suggest, then buy a bluestar wok ring for the drop in cooktop

The "slide-in" afaik is just like the range which means you would just remove the center part of the grate. castironcook2 original questions were regarding the drop-in which is what made me think that was you situation as well. Bluestar has a couple of "wok" cooking videos that shows this on their web site.

ok...i've watched the cleaning video and i still can't get the top of my range clean. i'm spending a small fortune on sponges that all seem to "break apart" into little pieces when i'm trying to clean the top, the grates and the burners. My cook top looks like it has lint/dust all over it. I even tried the olive oil seasoning, but the rag i was using just left lint. Ugghhh!!! This doesn't seem like it should be so difficult, but I can't get this thing clean. What am i doing wrong????

I've only tried using fume free oven cleaner (Easy-off) and let it sit overnight on one grate/ring at a time and it works excellent.. Just brush the next day with a little water, rinse and you're good.. No linties,etc.. I've yet to clean the burner though..

We settled on the slide-in rangetop and love it. We treat the bowls and grates the same as we do our cast iron pans. The drip tray makes for an easy clean-up. This unit is much easier to keep clean than our sealed-burner 30" GE Profile at the ranch. Wish we'd known about BlueStar when we built up there (though the Profile is a nice little range).

Hi, I guess I could have posted this in any of several threads about cleaning stainless steel, but since I do have the BS 36" drop-in, I thought I'd post it here.

In retrospect, I might have preferred the rangetop, as castironcook2 purchased, but it was $1K more expensive and would have involved more extensive carpentry to get it into our nonstandard countertop.

But I'm very happy with the new BS (just a couple of months old at this point). I am running into the cleanup issues, and I'm paying attention to your recommendations (here and in other threads).

Simple detergent and water is not working for the splatters any more, so I will be looking for something stronger.

There is an old SS hood above the cooktop (from the 1950s?) that was so grungy nothing would clean it. Then I recalled that I have easily cleaned my metal bicycle parts with kerosene, and since this old hood was due for replacement soon anyway, why not try it on the hood?

It worked fantastically. Years of grime disappeared in seconds, and now it has a nice matte shine to it. I would feel safe using it on the cooktop too, but I'd like to try something a bit less heavy-duty first. So your suggestions are welcome.