How do you clean your grill?

Some people are really on their game and they thouroughly clean their grill before they store it away in the fall. Some people open it in the spring to find the whole previous summer's worth of "leftovers" to deal with.  Either way, it needs to get cleaned at some time!

But how?

Very basically, you want the grates to be clean. Once you have removed the debris from your carcoal grill or gas grill, the standard recommendation to clean your grates is to preheat your grill for 10-15 minutes before brushing them with a stainless steel bristle brush. This will clean off any excess debris that may have been left on your grill from prior cooking. 

The rest of your grill will need to be cleaned too... When your gas grill is cool, you can use the grill brush on your gas burner tubes and deflectors. The drip pan and deflectors can be removed and cleaned with warm soapy water (think dish soap - not bubble bath please!) and a non-scratch scouring pads.

For the exterior and inside the lid, most commonly just warm soapy water and a sponge or maybe window cleaner/stainless steel cleaner and a lint free cloth.

But there are always other creative ideas...  I have heard people soaking their grill grates in coffee, coke and countless other cleaning products. 

What has worked best for you?