How to Safely Clean Your Oven
Get Rid of Stuck-on Grease and Residue with These Oven Cleaning Tips
Your oven is one of the hardest-working appliances in your home. It heats up quickly to cook your food inside and out. But ovens are notoriously hard to clean. Crumbs and melted cheese will start to collect on the bottom of your oven, which can be a fire hazard. These particles will continue to burn every time you heat up your appliance, so it’s best to scrape them off as soon as possible. Learn how to properly clean your oven when food starts to appear to keep your appliance in tip-top shape.
Deciding How to Clean an Oven
There are several ways to clean an oven, and many appliances come with a self-cleaning option that sounds too good to be true.
- Self-Cleaning Ovens
Self-cleaning ovens use extremely high temperatures to burn off food particles until they essentially turn into ash. This can be a safe and effective way to remove debris from the walls and floor of the appliance.
Before you hit the self-cleaning button, be sure to remove any large clumps of food by hand, so these particles don’t catch fire. The extreme heat will only harden these large particles, which could make them harder to remove.
Take out the racks to avoid ruining the metal finish or warping the dimensions. Put your oven racks in the dishwasher or wash them by hand to remove stuck-on grease and food. The self-cleaning process takes several hours to complete.
Keep pets and children away from the oven during this time as it will be extremely hot. You may need to open a window to let the heat escape.
- Manual Oven Cleaning
If you don’t have a self-cleaning oven or the self-cleaning option doesn’t successfully remove all the food particles, you’ll need to clean your oven by hand. Make sure the oven is off and cool before reaching inside.
Mix a ½ cup of baking soda with warm water until it becomes a smooth paste. Use a clean brush to evenly apply the mixture to the floor of the oven. Combine vinegar and water in a spray bottle. Spray it onto the baking soda mixture. This creates a foaming reaction that will dissolve the grease naturally, so you can give your arm a rest. Let the mixture sit overnight or up to 12 hours before wiping up the grease with a clean rag or sponge. Use a multipurpose cleaner and brush to clean the oven door and glass window.
It’s best to let the grime soak instead of using a stiff brush or scraping device to remove stuck-on food particles. If you scrub the bottom of the oven too hard, you risk permanently damaging the finish.
Using the self-cleaning option may not be enough to keep your oven clean. Most people need to clean their ovens by hand at least twice a year to get ride of food crumbs. It’s always easier to clean up food particles when they are still at room temperature compared to those that have burned into a crisp. Keep a rag handy and clean up drips and spills as they occur to avoid having to scrub your oven by hand.
If you’re having trouble removing food from the inside of your oven, schedule a full oven cleaning with the professionals at Absolute Appliance Repair in Marin County.
