Stove Gap Covers Are the Most Useful Kitchen Tool You Don’t Own

Think about everything that drops in the gaps between your stove and countertops. Breadcrumbs while you’re transferring chicken cutlets from bowl to frying pan. Bits of dinner as you plate your food. Enough salt to make the Dead Sea jealous. Your challenge as master of your kitchen and domain is to seal off all potential sources of vermin mischief, and stove gap covers can help. If you’re unsure of this product’s potential or which type of stove gap cover is best for your kitchen, here is a brief rundown of what you need to know.

The space between my range and counter is only about ¼ inch wide, so even the smallest version of this stove gap cover (21 inches long and 2.3 inches wide) looked large on my counter. This wasn’t a deal breaker, though, because the cover is made from silicone that can be trimmed to fit. These gap covers provide a hybrid approach between covers that sit over your stove gap and those that you insert into it (like Linda’s Essentials Stove Gap Covers, below). They feature a thin silicone strip on the underside that nestles in the gap, but there was a lot of silicone overlap on my counter. It comes in three sizes and three colors, and the manufacturer claims that it is heat-resistant up to 446° F. Each pack comes with two stove gap covers.

Pros
• This stove gap cover is grippy; once placed alongside my range and counter it mostly stayed flat.
• Cutting the silicone to fit my space was a cinch to do.
• It’s dishwasher-safe.

Cons
• The material looks somewhat inexpensive and didn’t elevate my kitchen decor.
• Even though you can trim them lengthwise, they may still be wider than you’d like.

Right off the bat, you’ll notice Linda’s Essentials Stove Gap Covers cost more than the TSV Silicone Gap Cover (below). But they barely seem like they belong in the same product category. These are designed from stainless steel and work by pushing the base into the gap between your stove and counter, leaving nothing more than a thin strip at the top to block the gap from food and other spills.

It features three springs that keep it in place; it didn’t budge or move at all. It comes in two sizes and two colors, black and silver. These are the least conspicuous-looking stove gap covers of the three we tried. As long as they fit properly, they blend in perfectly, and you won’t even notice they are there. One downside I noticed when trying it out was that it collected spilled sea salt and wasn’t as easy to clean off salt as the other covers.

Pros
• They’re simple to install; just push the covers into the gap.
• They’re the most aesthetically pleasing gap covers, blending into my kitchen decor.
• They didn’t budge.

Cons
• It’s crucial that you measure your counter length and the gap between your stove and counter. These covers fit gaps of up to 0.65 inch.
• It wasn’t as easy to wipe off sea salt particles from them.
• Although stainless steel is generally safe in the dishwasher, the manufacturer recommends wiping these with a damp cloth to keep them clean.

At first glance, the TSV Silicone Gap Cover, which is sold at Walmart, seems nearly identical to Linda’s Essentials Silicone Stove Gap Cover, but little details matter. Looking closer, we noticed these gap covers are flimsier than Linda’s Essentials. They’re also more flexible, which means they didn’t lay flat without some effort. I had to push them down and try to smooth them out, and they still revealed an unaesthetic bump that brought down the look of my kitchen. They only come in one size but can be easily trimmed, and like Linda’s Essentials silicone gap covers, they come in black, white, and clear.

Pros
• These are somewhat grippy.
• Cutting them to size was easy to do.
• They’re dishwasher-safe.

Cons
• The silicone material feels thin and flimsy.
• Even though you can trim them lengthwise, they may still be wider than you’d like.