How clean is your oven? Help!

I splashed out on a really good self-cleaning oven - and I use the kits with the plastic bag for the racks and the caustic liquid. Works a treat...

I have one oven that cleans itself. It is sparkling clean! The other one.......

Can recommend the professionals, well worth the money.

This has reminded me of a time, about four years ago, before we retired and moved onto our boat, when I decided to get an oven cleaning ‘professional’ in to do ours. He came, he took one look, he left. He said ‘I can’t clean that!’ I. Didn’t think it was too bad. ?

Mine is reasonably clean even though I use it often. Every two or three months I spray it with "Easy Off", wait about an hour, then sponge off all the grease and grime. Steel wool gets the stubborn spots and I always wear gloves.

My pet peeve is that somehow a small drip got inside the glass and there's no way to get to it. I can't figure out how that happened (glass is sealed), much less remove it without taking the oven door apart. DH says it's not that noticeable, but it does bother me.

I often wish I'd planned my kitchen for the day when I'd have trouble getting down to clean the oven. In my last house it was eye-level and so easy to manage. However, mine doesn't get too messy as I don't cook things that 'spit'! So it doesn't make a dent in my income to have it professionally cleaned every few years.

My disability doesn't allow me to get down on the floor to clean my oven. My dd normally helps me, I buy the ovenpride stuff and she does the hard work. It hasn't been done for some time, she wasn't able during pregnancy (For obvious reasons) and has been very poorly since. I'm not bothered, the oven works and clearly her health matters far far more!
I wish I could afford a professional though, that sounds amazing!

Worth knowing about Astonish, I am a bit wary of using Oven Pride!

I was absolutely astonished that the professionals got an oven I was about to replace back to sparkling newness in about an hour and for just less than £40. We found him facebook

A hand-held steamer. Quite affordable and it would come in handy for cleaning the shower, kitchen tile grouting, round hinges of toilet seat and lid etc etc.

My friends son is an oven cleaner, he uses no chemicals and the ovens look amazing. He's not too expensive either. I intend to have him do mine, ... but first I need to try some of these tips so I won't be too embarrassed

I do clean it myself using that one with the big plastic bag to soak shelves in - can't remember the name but I get a professional in once a year too! It looks amazing when they do it.
However you have to be careful . One firm did not replace the bottom oven door properly & the element blew- I should have been warned as they did not speak much English when they got here & obviously did not understand what I was trying to tell them although when I phoned the man on the phone did. My Polish is very basic!
Then the next man ignored my instructions NOT to remove oven door which a very good handyman had sorted with a small shim- he insisted he could get door back on again & of course couldn't so very nice handyman had to come back & do shim again so I had to pay him too.
Currently looking for a new firm!

When it is clean....those silicon shelf and bottom liners (black) are brilliant. They go in the dishwasher when splattered on and then wipe clean and dry! I have bought them for all three of my grown up children to put in their ovens. Much cheaper than endless boxes of Oven Pride.

Me too springychicken! As I’ve got older I seem to have got lazier (wiser?).

When I’m in my “domestic goddess” mode (admittedly not often!) I wipe the still-warm ovens with a damp cloth. Shelves then go on top of the cups in the upper dishwasher tray and when the cycle is finished I remove and wipe the still-warm oven shelves with either a damp cloth or soft scourer to remove the offending remnants. Job done!

Similarly with washing/ironing: all slightly damp items go directly from washing line to dryer. Items are removed individually after 5-10 minutes, hung on a coat hanger, a quick flick to straighten them and hung up to ‘air’. Only cotton pillow cases/duvets are left to iron.

When I think of all those hours I spent (wasted?) as a young housewife in the kitchen! Now back to my I-pad.........

Used Oven Pride before acquiring my pyrolitic oven. The Oven Mate is good and you can spread over the inside too not just into the big plastic bag. Or get a professional in for the first clean. My son was renting out his flat and I and DH were appointed to renovate,paint and clean after the letting agent had been round to assess and advise. After all the work the same agent came back to assess again and accept as a rental. He apparently commented that the new hob and oven were great. Son informed they hadn't been replaced. Agent couldn't believe what son was saying and opened oven to check it out. Asked who had cleaned it all - a very cheap cleaner - my Mum. Does she want a job from Agent? Oven Pride, loads of non scratch pads, and even more sweat!

Instead of using those dangerous products, I put all shelves and removable bits in the bath with some biological washing product and enough hot water to cover. Leave overnight and most of the burnt on grease will have come off or softened enough to use a scourer on. Works every time!

For some reason my wife keeps saying we should have a new digital oven.

Meanwhile our decade-old gas oven has a Teflon mat (from Lakeland) which protects the oven from most encrusted spills.

Best thing to use for burnt on grime is a single edge razor. It can also be used on ceramic or glass hobs. Amazon and ebay both sell them for a few pounds. Cheap and works really well.

Why would any one want to advertise the fact, to all and sundry, that your oven is disgustingly manky???
Wipe it over inside and out everytime that you use it and treat any spillages straightaway !!!simples!
Or don’t use it!!

If it isn't too rude a question.approximately how much would it cost to have an oven cleaned professionally?

Sorry,I have just spotted that Rosina had already mentioned the Lakeland Oven Mate.
Lily pops mentioned Astonish.
Their fabric cleaner is excellent too.
In fact I have a row of Astonish cleaners which are far cheaper than most makes .

A friend of mine has her oven professionally cleaned .
I don't know how much that costs her.
I use Lakeland's Oven Mate.
It is brilliant.
Not only does it clean the oven but any pans too.
Even really greasy ones come up looking like new .
You just spread the gel over the surface with a brush (provided) and after a short amount of time clean it off with paper towels
I think there is a cleaner specifically for the oven shelves but I haven't used that.

Since having my kitchen refitted 3 yrs ago I now keep my oven clean. For a really dirty oven, I would suggest a good steam clean which will dissolve most of the grease and grime but put down lots of newspaper or old cloths underneath to soak up the mess. I also use Oxyclean type cleaner dissolved in hot water (wear thick rubber gloves) which works as an excellent de-greaser. Elbow grease and metal scourer would be helpful for removing stubborn deposits. I don't envy you the task but think of how satisfying it will be for you to see it looking clean again.

It might be worth paying to have it done professionally just this once. Afterwards it will be easier to keep clean by mixing a paste of lemon juice and bicarb of soda when the oven is cold, leaving it on for a couple of hours or so, then washing it out with hot water and washing up liquid, this is not always a perfect result but does cut through a lot of the grease.
My DiL buys a kit. It includes a large polythene bag and some liquid cleaner. All the shelves and loose bits go into the bag, the liquid poured in and the bag sealed up. She leaves it overnight. The following morning all of the shelves are sparkling clean. However you do still then have to clean the inside of your oven out by whatever means you use.

Lakeland's oven cleaner (a paint on gel) is fantastic. I also have one of their large blue trays to soak everything removable in hot soda water (check if ok for shiny parts on top of oven, it's ok for the runners. ). Cup of coffee, read the paper, go back and wipe off the horrible goo in the oven and a really quick rub with a steel scourer (no effort involved at all) gets everything off the runners and pan supports. Incidentally, my oven is spotless. It is new too - that helps!

I paid a very good professional to do my daughters and my cooker before last Christmas. Best money I ever spent.