Cleaning the oven is a task that many people tend to forget about.
You use your oven every day to bake and cook, but because the grime, dirt, and food debris is behind closed doors, it’s never the first item on the cleaning to-do list. It also tends to take a long time if you don’t have a self-cleaning oven, so putting it off as long as possible makes sense. But cleaning your oven doesn’t have to be the nightmare that you think it is.
In this post, we’re going to give you some oven cleaning tips to make this process a breeze. You don’t have to get bogged down in grime and grease if you don’t want to – these tips will help you keep your oven spotless without taking up too much of your time, so keep reading and enjoy a sparkling clean oven from now on.
1. Get Rid of Excess Dirt and Grime First
If you fall into the camp of someone who doesn’t have the time to clean their oven on a regular basis (every 3-4 months), then you’re naturally going to have a buildup of grime and grease in there. What you’ll have to do first, in order to make your life easier, is to get rid of all of the nasty bits of burnt food and other debris before you really start the cleaning process.
The more you can get off in the beginning stages, the better and more effortless the rest of the cleaning process will be. Obviously, make sure that your oven is cool, then remove the racks so that you’ve got a nice open space to work with. Next, just grab an old cloth or some paper towel and start scrubbing as best you can, tossing everything into the trash (including the old cloth when you’re finished).
2. The Perfect Home Made Remedy
There are lots of oven cleaners out there that claim to be the best at taking your filthy oven and transforming it into the perfect example of what an oven should look like. However, the best method that we know of is a green cleaning homemade concoction that won’t cost you much money and probably won’t even require a trip to the supermarket.
Our natural solution is a baking soda and vinegar-based, an all-natural cleaner that takes about 2 minutes to whip up. According to Martha Stewart, the best solution is to mix 3/4 cup of baking soda with 1/4 cup of water, which should make a gooey paste. If you want to add essential oils to give it a nicer smell, by all means, put a few drops in as well.
Spread the paste all over the bottom and sidewalls of the oven, as well as the inside of the door. Try to avoid the heating elements, then leave the mixture to sit for at least 2 hours, but if you can leave it overnight, that’s even better.
Once the waiting’s over, fill a spray bottle half-full with white vinegar and half with water, then shake it up and spray it all over the baking soda mixture in the oven. There’ll be a small chemical reaction between the vinegar and the baking soda, causing it to bubble up.
Wait another 30 minutes to an hour, then grab a rag or dish brush and start scrubbing all the dirt off. It should be a breeze after the chemical reaction has had time to do its thing.
3. The Steam Clean Method
For a quicker, but equally low-maintenance method for oven cleaning, you can use a steamed hot water and vinegar mixture to achieve a similar effect as the baking soda and vinegar.
First, fill up a pot of water until its 1/3 full, then heat on your stovetop until it’s boiling. When it starts boiling, add the same amount of white vinegar and let it boil for 30 seconds to a minute, then remove from the heat.
Take the pot from the stovetop, stick it in the oven and close the door. You don’t have to turn the oven on, but let the pot sit there for about an hour (or as long as you can).
When you’re ready, open it up and start cleaning with a soapy rag. The dirt should come off fairly easily, though not as seamlessly as the lengthier baking soda method.
4. Doing the Racks
The oven racks aren’t usually the part that people dread about cleaning the oven. They can be really tricky to get clean, but they don’t have to give you headaches anymore, so long as you use this method. We’re going to need your bathtub, though
If you’ve got oven washing powder, pour some of it into a tub of really hot water and leave your oven racks in it overnight. When you don’t have oven powder, then dryer sheets could do the trick as well. When you take the racks out in the morning, the dirt should be easy to remove with a light scrubbing.
5. Toothbrush Cleaning
Even the best and most effective oven cleaning methods are going to leave the nooks and crannies full of dirt. If you want to get every last inch of the inside of your oven clean, then you’re going to have to grab an old toothbrush and really get in there.
You can even use the same cleaning solution that you made earlier to help you out. When you’re applying the baking soda paste to the oven, take special care to get it in the corners as well. After you’ve wiped out the main part of the oven, dip your toothbrush in the water and vinegar solution and chip away at those tight corners.
Enlist Everyone’s Help to Keep Oven Cleaning Easier
These are a few great homemade methods for oven cleaning, but if you really want to make it easy, then you’ll do your best not to make your oven dirty. Enlist everyone’s help and you won’t end up with layers of grease and burnt food caked on the bottom, sides, and racks of your oven. If you can do that, these methods will work even better and your oven will always look (and smell) great.
At MFY, we understand that it’s not always possible to keep your oven perfectly clean. If you’re busy and you have trouble staying on top of your house cleaning, give us a call. We’re one of the top maid services in Concord, NH, offering deep, green cleaning that’ll make you happy with your home.
Contact us today to discuss how we can help you keep your house clean.
