How to Resurface/Refinish the induction cooktop

Question

We cook 4-5 times a day using our induction stove, resulting in a lot of scratches and spots on the surface.

Is there any super smart way to remove the scratches?

Thanks

Answer 1

This may be helpful: I use a combination of apple cider vinegar and baking soda, I'm afraid the ratio is "until it forms a thin paste", rather than anything more specific/scientific. Apply with paper kitchen towel, leave for 5 minutes, then scrub with a nylon scrubbing pad. Then wipe off with damp paper towels until all is gone.

Answer 2

Easiest thing is to put down a thin silicone rubber pad or pot holder to prevent scratches. The EMF should go through a thin pad without loss and without heating it. The pad will get as hot as the bottom of the pan, though, so don't let the pan overheat by boiling dry.

Answer 3

I believe your induction stove is covered with some kind of glass. You could try to use one of glass polishing techniques, e.g using cerium oxide powder.

Of course this glass may be harder than standard glass, but still it might be worth trying. And here is a movie that shows how to remove scratches from glass using this powder.

Answer 4

Short answer: glass aquarium scratch removal kits, after proper cleaning.

Induction cook tops (from images here and here) don't seem to be made from tempered glass. That's good news.

This means you can remove scratches by sanding, without risking decompressing the internal glass which will cause shattering that looks like this.

Any technique of removing scratches starts with cleaning, so you can use a number of approaches to clean the glass. This cleaning reduces the amount of sanding you will do. Ensure that the glass is clean an free of cleaning residue.

Cleaning approaches generally follow these paths:

• Cleaning with a light acid (lemon juice) followed by rinsing with water.
• Cleaning with a light alkali (baking soda paste) followed by rinsing with water.
• Mixing the two is sometimes effective (for the wrong reason), but it is better to clean with one and then the other.
• After cleaning, clean again with a regular glass cleaner.

Polishing approaches generally follow these paths:

• Starting with a light abrasive (or making one) and rubbing it against the glass, replacing it with lighter abrasives until you are at a polish level (2000+ grit)

Cheap abrasives are salt, generally made by mixing an alkali with an acid (hence the baking soda and lemon juice). Unfortunately one cannot easily control the salt crystal size, so it is sort of a hit-or miss. Others suggest toothpastes, which contain a small amount of grit, but if the grit size is too large, you will add fine scratches (and you may lack a smaller grit to polish those scratches out).

I suggest you obtain a "glass aquarium polishing kit" and not skimp on the quality of the kit. Most of these kits contain Cerium Oxide, a very fine mineral powder that scratches the glass. You are effectively grinding the glass down in the area you work until you have sanded off the glass that forms the edges of the scratch.

Time and patience are necessary here. It is a good idea to sand down the entire glass surface, as you will be able to tell where the glass has been "sanded".

Now as for fillers, I haven't seen a filler that works as well as those that work for automotive windshield chips. That's because most glass lacks the internal layers of plastic that windshields contain. That plastic layer provides enough flex to give the filler a place to expand into (slightly compressing the plastic layer) and contract from (slightly backing off of the plastic layer). In a pure glass scenario, as the glass heats and cools, you will have one of the following problems:

1. The filler will expand more than the glass, and finding nothing other than glass to push against, will squeeze itself out of the crack.
2. The filler will expand more than the glass, and finding nothing other than glass to push against, will act as a wedge to expand the crack.
3. The filler will expand less than the glass, and will pull the glass, causing a new crack between the filler and the glass.
4. The filler will expand less than the glass, and will pull the glass, causing stress that leads to more cracks.

And the above answers don't even address the food safety of a filler.

Now that you see that the answer is effectively sanding, let me tell you how they "drill" glass. They basically sand a circle through the glass. You can't cut it by traditional means, as pressure on any crack causes the crack to expand, and cutting drill bits provide pressure on the walls of the circle.

The bits that look like they have blades actually have diamond attached to the blade and are designed to sand. Traditional glass drill bits look like this and should be preferred as there is less of a chance of pushing a blade into a cutting scenario and fracturing your glass. Of course, there are lager ones too, which look lik open cylinders with diamond grit around the edges.

Deeper scratches? Sand more, either by using heavier grits and more steps down to polish (the final grit) or more time with finer grits. It is really the only surface refinishing technique that works.