Cleaning an Oven

Updated on November 16, 2011
S.B. asks from Chicago, IL
4 answers

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I've never cleaned an oven before. What's the best and easiet way to do this? My oven has a self clean feature, but I don't know how that works, either. Any tips? Thanks!

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T.H.

answers from Topeka on

I have never used the self cleaning feature on my oven. I do clean mine quite often with baking soda and vinegar and a sponge. I don't know how bad your oven is but if it is, you may want to let the vinegar & baking soda sit a while to work. You may have to do this several times.

I have used the Easy Off before too & it works. You spray it on & let it sit overnight & then you can wipe it clean but the fumes were too strong for me so I went to the baking soda option. Good luck!

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☆.A.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Do you still have the manual for your oven? There should be directions in there for using the self-cleaning feature.

J.W.

answers from St. Louis on

It depends on your oven. Some have a lever you must slide to lock the oven before cleaning others you just set it to cleaning mode and it locks itself.

Other than that you just turn it on to clean. It will not let you unlock it until it is clean. I can't remember how hot it gets when cleaning but you could cremate a small animal in there, that hot!

Once it is done and cooled you just wipe it down with a wet cloth to remove the ash.

It is better not to clean with the racks in. They don't slide as well if you do.

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J.W.

answers from Washington DC on

Industrial-strength degreasing foams/sprays might cut down the work if you decide to scrub the oven yourself, but you probably saw the recent news about the possible link between Parkinson's disease and certain chemicals in common refrigerants/degreasers. Granted that research is still in its infancy, but to be safe, it makes sense to avoid them. Some people swear by the effectiveness of this method, but I personally cannot stand the smell of those oven cleaners.

If you also want to avoid the use of those chemical cleaners, use the oven's self-cleaning feature. For our oven, it does temporarily get hot and sometimes a little stinky, but nothing that a few open windows can't fix. Since trying the self-cleaning feature as opposed to the scrubbing with harsh chemicals, I prefer the oven to do its own cleaning. It's less work and more effective for our oven.

If you don't have the paper manual, the manufacturer's website should offer a downloadable version of the manual online.

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