Cleaning Stovetop Gunk

How's that for a title? This is a project that I tackled almost a year ago, but it worked so well, I had to share it on the blog.

A little background: It's amazing how much you notice when you get ready to put your house on the market. Our last home was built in 1989, and as far as we could tell, the oven was original to the house. We wanted to make it look as nice as possible, but no matter what cleaners I tried, it just made the sticky, greasy mess on the panel worse.  Eww...

 It is really hard to take a good picture of the grossness, but I did my best.

So, I googled this dilemma, but then I pinned it. So, I think it still counts to say I was Pinspired by Yahoo Home Remedies.
And I couldn't believe what one of the solutions was: rub the spots with oil! It seems counter-intuitive, since the gross, greasy, gunk is caused by dried oil and grease, but it totally worked!  Check it out:

Now, I wouldn't say it looks like a new appliance, but it was a huge improvement. AND, we did sell our house! I mean, I'm not saying the clean stove was the selling point, but you never know... :-)