Oven cleaning tips & tricks

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1. First, wear PVC gauntlet, open a window and turn on the kitchen hood for ventilation. This way you will protect yourself from skin iritation and from unpleasant vapors that the oven cleaner might produce.

2. Place paper towels on the floor underneath the oven as it can get messy later on.

3. Cleaning the oven racks & trays:

- Remove oven trays and racks and place them in the sink.

- Use a metal scraper and scourer pad to remove crude food leftovers and carbon.

- Spread them with a heavy duty oven cleaner and scrub it into the fat using hard nylon brush.

- Then, spread the oven cleaner over the trays and racks again and leave them like that to rest in the sink while you clean the rest of the oven. let chemistry do its job for a minimum of 10-15 minutes.

- Finally, brush the trays and racks one more time vigorously using the scourer pad. Then, wash them well with hot water to remove the oven cleaner and the grime.

- Check for remaining leftovers and remove it using the scraper.

- leave the trays and racks to dry out.

4. Cleaning the oven chamber and oven glass:

Go back to your empty oven and take out crude food leftovers and carbon from the oven glass and chamber using the same metal scraper and scourer pad. The oven is ready now for deeper cleaning!

5. Preheat the oven to 50°C/120°F. This will boost a little the oven cleaner performance later on. Disconnect the oven from the power supply before you go on with the cleaning for your own safety.

* Heating-up the oven further will probably boost the oven cleaner performance even more, but you take the risk of possible burn injuries and unpleasant vapors from the oven cleaner in the .

6. Apply the oven cleaner on the oven glass and inside the chamber generously. It is better to spread it using a dish-brush rather than spraying it all over. It is safer for you as well as for the oven interior parts (like the fan and the heating element) and wires that might be sensitive to caustic detergents. Furthermore, it will produce less unpleasant smells.

* It’s important to use a thick oven cleaner capable of clinging to vertical oven walls. This way it won’t run down immediately and the oven cleaner will have enough time to break down the caked-on fat.

7. After applying the oven cleaner, scrub it into the fat using scourer pad to allow the oven cleaner penetrate the burnt-on grease layers. Then, shut the oven door to let the oven cleaner do its job. While cleaning the oven glass, avoid scrubbing the oven rubber door seal as you might damage it .

8. If you are using a heavy-duty oven cleaner (I.e. alkaline/caustic one) you’ll probably have to wait no more than 10-15 minutes till it break the baked-on grease inside the oven. On the other hand, if you choose to work with a soft oven cleaner (I.e. PH balanced/Eco/Bio), you will probably need to wait few hours to get real results if any.

9. Keep brushing the oven cleaner you already applied using hard nylon brush every 2-3 minutes to maximize its penetration into the fat layers. It’s really important!

9. After about 15 minutes, the burn-on fat (carbon) suppose to be melted inside the oven or at least become much softer (if using good oven cleaner). Use the scourer pad again all over the oven interior to scrub the grime mercilessly.

10. Only then, wipe down the grime using paper towels. If you still spot stubborn leftovers, use the scraper to remove it. Then use more paper towels till the last one remains white!

11. Finally, clean the oven inside and out by first using a dump Micro fibre towel and then by dry one. Leave the oven door open for the oven to dry out and ventilate. This finishing is important to eliminate any trace of the oven cleaner.

12. You may use a glass cleaner or glass wipes to make the oven glass shine. You may also use stainless steel polisher or stainless steel cleaning cloth over the oven exterior for extra gloss.

Done!

Learn how to clean a domestic greasy oven (without self-cleaning abilities):

You will need:

- Heavy duty oven cleaner

- Dish-brush

- Metal scraper

- Scourer pad

- Paper towels

- Micro fibre cloth

- PVC Gauntlet

How to clean an oven?

The best way to clean an oven is to prevent ahead burnt-on spills from building-up!

1. Wipe up spills immediately after they occur.

2. Clean your oven after every baking cycle using soapy scourer pad and damp cloth.

3. Treat oven trays, racks and rack supports the same way.

4. You may use non-stick oven Liner to protect the oven base from spills.

5. Use the services of an oven cleaning company periodically (at least once a year). There are hidden/unreachable corners and parts inside the oven such as heating wire/fan/blower-wheel/bulb requiring periodical checking and cleaning. Oven cleaning companies suppose to know how to reach these corners and parts.

6. You will avoid most of the common oven problems as well as the tough scrubbing by appropriately maintaining your oven, keeping it in top condition.

Done!

Safety instruction for cleaning an oven:

Read the safety instructions listed in the operations manual.

Disconnect oven from power supply prior to cleaning or servicing.

Never spray the oven with a hose.

Read the safety instructions listed on the oven cleaner label.

Keep the window open for ventilation.

keep wearing long rubber/PVC gauntlet and protect your eyes.

Find out whether your oven cleaner is pH balanced or alkaline. Alkaline oven cleaner are more efficient by far, but they can harm your skin or eyes. Furthermore, it might damage aluminum parts and Teflon coating.

Therefore, First try the oven cleaner on a remote corner to see if it causes any damage before you spread it all over.

Spread the oven cleaner using dish-brush instead of spraying it all over. Sometime, one or more parts inside the oven such as trays/liners/fan/blower-wheel are made of aluminum. These parts can be damaged by caustic oven cleaners. By spreading the oven cleaner gently with a brush, you have better control where the oven cleaner touches. Furthermore, spraying is messy and might produce unpleasant vapors in the kitchen.

Don't apply the oven cleaner over the wiring or thermostat.

Don't scrub the rubbery gasket that seals the oven door as you might damage it. Clean it using damp cloth only.

Do not line the oven cavity with aluminum foil. It could melt and permanently damage the surface. Alternatively, you may use a non-stick oven liners to protect the oven base from spills.

Do not use steel wool pads or a wire-brush for risk of damaging the porcelain finish.

3. Cleaning the oven racks & trays:

How to clean an oven?

Safety instruction for cleaning an oven:

How to maintain an oven?