Cleaning your oven can be a daunting task, especially if you use it a lot. The quickest, best way to clean your oven, is to use your oven’s “Self-Cleaning” feature. It will pretty much do the job for you, with minimal effort. Check your oven’s owner’s manual to find out how to use your oven’s “self-cleaning” feature. My oven had several settings for self-cleaning. If you’ve never done it before, try it and see how easy it really is to do.
5 Tips for Cleaning Your Oven
1) When you use the self-cleaning feature, it usually takes 2-3 hours. You do not want to leave the house and leave your oven unattended. So, be sure that you are home for the duration of the cleaning.
2) The smell is very, very strong. Be sure that you pick a day where you can have as many windows and doors open as possible. My oven was not even very dirty, but the smell was very strong. I chose a warm day in November and was able to have all of my windows open. The spring is a “no-no” for me, as there is just way too much pollen in the air to open windows.
3) Your oven door will lock and not be able to open while you are using the self-cleaning feature. If you need to turn the oven off, or open the door for any reason, check your owner’s manual.
4) I recommend pulling your wire racks out prior to self-cleaning. Leaving wire racks in the oven during self-cleaning could damage them. I pulled mine out and let them soak in hot, soapy water (I could only fit half the rack in my sink at a time). Then, you can use a steel-wool pad to scrub your racks.
When the self-cleaning cycle is over, let your oven cool down before you try to wipe it down. Most of the dirt turns into an ashy-type substance that you can wipe out. For the glass door, I feel like the self-clean didn’t clean it very well. You may still need to try and get stubborn spots out using a different method (consult your manual so that you don’t damage the glass).
Happy Cleaning!
–Mellie
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