01 May 2012

Cleaning a Nasty Oven



I had never cleaned an oven so I was a little bit nervous about how hard it would be. I searched everywhere online and tried to find the best options. I chose to go with the store bought cleaner: Easy OFF--fume free.

I was pleased to find that this didn't have any harsh fumes but it still cut through the grease and left me only needing the smallest amount of elbow grease! The baked on, almost film like residue at the bottom proved to be a little bit more difficult. A razor blade would have been great but all we had was a quarter. I would suggest something like a putty knife for those tough spots! We just scraped that along the bottom of the oven to loosen the residue and it wiped right up!

I'm so embarrassed right now!! :(
But at least it was looking new when I was done!!

For those of you who want a more homemade version here are some other ideas I found:

Baking Soda Paste: Mix some baking soda and water to make a paste. Spread it on the oven and scrub scrub scrub!

Ammonia: Place a dish with about 1 cup of ammonia in the oven and close the door. Leave it over night and in the morning you should have an oven that can easily be scrubbed clean with a green cleaning pad!

Lemon Juice and Salt: This lovely mixture is especially great for cleaning copper. We have a pan with a copper bottom and a bit of this mix makes it look like new!! So try this out on your oven and see what greatness happens there??

Baking Soda, Salt, and Water: One cup of each makes a nice paste. Spread this all over the oven stains, close the door and heat to 500-degrees for 1 hour. Let the oven cool completely and wipe with a damp cloth or sponge. Make sure it's rinsed well after!

I have a suggestion to make though! Our oven had gone about a year without being cleaned. Don't wait that long! I should have been more on top of it. A six-month cleaning would have done it good-- oh if only I was that great of a housewife!

So try one of these out when you clean your oven and let me know which worked for you!

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for the tips Kelsey! We're moving soon and I haven't even touched our oven! One of those things that slips my mind. I'm excited to see how this works!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No problem Melanie! It's tough in spots and need a little bit of elbow grease but you can do it. Come back and tell us what worked best for you! Good luck!

      Delete
  2. Kelsey...if you want to avoid the nastiness of the build-up on the bottom of the oven over-all, I recommend getting some oven liner. I bought some last year after spending hours cleaning the oven when we moved into our house, and it is awesome and SO easy to clean (just remove, wash, put back in). They sell a few versions at Bed Bath and Beyond (I went with the Betty Crocker brand for $9.99 - with a 20% off coupon). They also sell other versions at Walmart and Target too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I was looking for a way to clean the glass door on my toaster oven. I had tried the baking soda paste and it didn't work so I tried the salt and lemon juice and although I did have to use some elbow grease, it came off beautifully and the glass is now clear and sparkling. It did not work on the "crumb-cating" pan from the bottom of the toaster oven, however. Guess I should have been running that through the dishwasher everyday or something. Maybe I will try to product that you used. Thanks for the info!

    ReplyDelete

I love hearing from anyone who comes to visit!