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I cleaned my oven with a mixture of baking soda and water. Unfortunately, I got some of this on my kitchen worktop and it caused some stains (see picture). I scrubbed the stains for 1-2 minutes with water, but that didn't seem to have any effect on their visibility.

  1. What happened? Did the baking soda react with the wood, or with the surface sealant?
  2. What's the best way to remove the stains?

Stained wooden worktop

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  • One of the marks is clearly left by a pan being set down there. Was the oven cleaned as thoroughly as you imagined, or did it only soften the baked-on grime, which was then transferred to the worktop by a pan? Have you tried to clean the entire worktop with more baking soda, and rinse it thoroughly? Generally, I would never place any cooking pot directly on such a nice worktop, but on a mat, if only to save it from scratching.
    – Weather Vane
    May 23, 2020 at 23:32
  • @WeatherVane, I haven't set a pan down on the worktop. The ring at the bottom right is from a mug.
    – Ben
    May 24, 2020 at 9:58
  • That is highly unlikely to be baking soda. I remove odors from kitchen wooden tools using baking soda, and there is never any stain left.
    – virolino
    May 25, 2020 at 6:00

3 Answers 3

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I had this problem. I was cleaning my cooker and splashed my oak worktop with bicarbonate of soda water. When I looked about an hour later there were dark splash stains in several places that couldn’t be washed off. My clever husband said, bicarbonate is alkaline, so you need to treat it with acid. He squeezed fresh lemon juice onto the stains and left them for about 30-40 minutes. The stains had completely disappeared! No sign of any stains at all. I then washed the worktop with clean water, and once dry, I just reapplied the Danish oil. Problem solved!

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  • It worked for me, Mary! I would have brought you a box of chocolate if you were near me!
    – Julien Le Coupanec
    Sep 10, 2021 at 21:53
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If that's a solid wood worktop you're going to need an orbital sander, a range of sanding pads from 60 grit to at least 400 grit and some patience, then apply a worktop oil to protect it after you've sanded the marks off in stages (starting with the lowest grit - remove all the marks with it then work up to highest - each higher grit produces a smoother finish with fewer obvious scratches). Apply oil per manufacturer instructions; it may also require a sanding operation

If that's a laminate worktop (and it probably isn't as I don't think laminate would be thus affected) it will need to be replaced. The easiest way to tell is to look inside a cupboard at the underside. If it looks like the top, it's wood/if it doesn't, it's laminate

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White vinegar, which you apply with a clean cloth by diluting with water, will remove the difficult oil stains and the traces left by food residues. Likewise, baking soda and lemon alloy are very effective in removing these stains. You can safely apply this mixture, especially on laminate worktop.

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