Cleaning an oven can be challenging. Owning Weekend Cleaners pdx, a cleaning service in Portland, OR, I’ve seen a range of ovens in various states. It’s unlikely to restore an oven that has collected a lot of grime over years of use to a state of perfect cleanliness, so have reasonable expectations. Here are some tips to get your oven as clean as possible.
Easy Off Fume Free Oven Spray is the best product to use. It is designed to be sprayed into a cold oven, which is more convenient. Despite being “fume free,” this product does still contain fumes and there are some measures one should take to protect themselves while cleaning the oven. Open windows for ventilation. Protect your clothes with an apron or wear old clothes. Wear clear glasses to protect your eyes from fumes. Wear nitrile or latex gloves to protect your skin. And finally, wear a disposable face mask to protect your lungs.
The items you will need for cleaning an oven:
- Paper towels
- SOS steel wood pads
- Old rags
- Bowl for water and gunk
- Nylon OXO deep clean brushes
- Protective clothing
The first step is to spray the oven and let the chemicals do their work. If possible, spray the oven well in advance of cleaning. If you are cleaning someone else’s oven, ask them to spray it the night before. Spray the oven 9-12 inches away from the walls and floors of your oven. Spray the racks all over from a similar distance. You can spray the ceiling too, but don’t spray the heating elements or pilot lights. This is a good time to evaluate the pilot lights to make sure they are working properly.
Once the Easy Off has done its work, use paper towels to do the first pass over the gunk that needs to be removed. The paper towels can be thrown away easily and then you can switch to rags and pads to do the rest of the cleaning work.
SOS steel wool pads are soft when they are wet, so they’re good for scrubbing the oven walls and floor without damaging the surface of the oven.
Nylon OXO deep clean brushes are great for working on the racks, grates, and rims of the oven. The brushes have a spatula end that is effective in cleaning the seal of the oven.
Once the majority of the cleaning has taken place in the oven, the racks should be removed and cleaned in the sink to finish the job. Doing this step too early in the process can leave the sink a mess, so try to get most of the gunk off of them in the oven.
Tips:
Don’t mix Easy Off with other cleaning chemicals, as there could be a reaction
Run the oven at a high temperature after clean to burn off chemicals
Hope this helps, Kristen Heldmann
