Lift the cast iron trivets, caps and crowns after photographing the layout, then soak the enamelled parts flat in a non-caustic degreaser. Keep every product off the enamel fascia below, which caustic cleaner marks permanently.
A La Germania hob is the top of a wide Italian gas range, and it sits directly above the enamel fascia that defines how the appliance looks.
Everything runs downhill onto enamel
This is the whole risk on this hob. The fascia beneath it is enamel rather than steel, frequently cream or coloured, and caustic cleaner marks it permanently.
Cleaner applied to the cooking surface runs down onto it. Spray onto the cloth, every time, and wipe the fascia last with a separate cloth and warm soapy water only.
Heavy cast iron, in several pieces
La Germania trivets run the full width in sections and they are heavier than those on a built-in hob. Photograph the layout from directly above, because the sections flanking a central burner are frequently cut differently from the outer ones and look identical until a pan rocks.
Soak them flat for an hour in hot water with a non-caustic degreaser, work them with a stiff nylon brush rather than wire, and dry every piece by hand immediately. Our cooktop cleaning guide covers ports, caps and electrodes.
Part of the range
On a freestanding La Germania the hob and the La Germania oven are one appliance and one job.
Enamelled burner bases as well
It is not only the fascia. On a La Germania the base of the hob beneath the trivets is enamelled steel too, in the same finish as the front on many models.
That matters because the base is where the years accumulate, and it is exactly the surface people reach for something aggressive on. Every boil-over has run down there and been baked by the burner above it, so on a hob that has never been taken apart it can look genuinely hopeless.
It is not, and it does not need a caustic product. A non-caustic cleaner with a genuine twenty minute dwell, applied twice if needed, lifts baked spills off enamel without touching the finish. Escalating to a caustic degreaser because the first attempt looked ineffective is how a La Germania base ends up dulled in exactly the places a lifted trivet reveals.
Patience rather than chemistry, on this brand more than most.
What actually goes wrong
A marked enamel fascia, from cleaner running down.
Trivet sections in the wrong positions, so pans rock.
Rusted cast iron, dried by air.
Should you do it yourself?
Do it yourself, lifting the burners every month or two and keeping every product off the front.
Get someone in for the whole range in one visit, which is how these are best handled.