Inspired by buying new ones yesterday to replace the mostly rusted out ones. It seems like it takes about a year for the drip pan under the burner to corrode to the point that they develop holes and are fragile and not really usable any more.
My stove is electric, I don’t know if that makes any difference in the drip pan’s lifespan.
My stove has drip pans? And they’re supposed to be cleaned?
I have one of those ceramic top stoves that doesn’t really have burners, just places where the top gets hot. They’re called eyes, apparently. So I don’t have drip pans. I just wipe down the stove every day, after I load the dishwasher.
We don’t cook enough to get the drip pans completely fucked…but I still change them about every two years because I don’t like the fact that I can’t get them clean!
[Never](http://www.theelectricdiscounter.com.au/images/whites/electric upright stove/Westinghouse/PSP632W/PSP632W2.jpg).
Add me to the “Drip pan what now?” category. No idea it had one, nor that it might need cleaning.
I’m surprised that your drip pans corrode to the point that you get holes in them. Maybe I don’t use the stove enough, but on mine, they just get really baked on dirt after a while. So eventually I replace them, but only after many years.
I imagine we will buy new ones some day when we sell the house. After five years of minimal cleaning, they are still going strong. Ours are black, so the roasted in crud is no so obvious.
I use my stove nearly every day and I have never had holes appear in my drip pans. My problem is the caked crud. And to answer the OP’s question, my current drip pans are five years old. At one point they were a nice shiny silver color. They are now as black as black can be. I don’t plan on replacing them until I move out of that apartment.
What’s a drip pan? 
Every time I switch apartments, so every 1-2 years. I didn’t replace them once before moving and the apartment landlord tried to knock $25/each off my security deposit ($100 total). After writing them a nice letter pointing out the illegalities of this (at least here in Michigan) they kindly refunded the money. In conclusion, replace these before you move!
Never. I clean them of food when I get around to it, which isn’t really that often.
I was going to say, whoa, you’re supposed to change them? Then I read the part about rust - my stove is over a decade old, and the pans are nice enameled metal, no rust.