The Ultimate Guide To Cleaning Your Oven

How many times a year do you clean your oven? Twice? Once? Maybe never?

Cleaning the oven is often seen as one of the most challenging and laborious domestic tasks. In fact, a survey of over 160,000 participants revealed that cleaning the oven is the most hated household chore in Britain – even more so than ironing, unclogging the sink, and cleaning the loo!

And, we get it, cleaning spillages and burnt-on food left for a year or more requires a great deal of time, scrubbing and elbow grease. Plus, you need to get yourself into all sorts of awkward positions to get to the back of the oven or underneath the extractor hood. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

We’ve compiled our top tips and cleaning hacks for stress-free oven cleaning. Keep reading for quick methods and easy techniques to tackle stubborn spillages, prolong the life of your oven, and reignite your passion for cooking.

Why is it important to clean my oven?

Put simply, a clean oven is a safe oven.

For keen cooks, an oven can be in use every day or even several times a day, meaning there are many opportunities for bits of food, spillages and grease to gather at the bottom. If left, this may cause your kitchen to fill with smoke and, in the most serious cases, pose a fire risk.

A dirty oven also acts as a breeding ground for germs and bacteria, which can be transferred to your food. Plus, burnt-on food and excess grease can affect the efficiency of your oven. A dirty oven has to work much harder and use more energy to heat up and maintain a steady temperature, which in turn reduces the life of your oven and leads to costly repairs or unnecessary replacements.

How often should I clean my oven?

Stovetop spills and splatters are quick and easy to clean once the hob has cooled and as part of the post-meal clear-up, rather than leaving them to dry and scrubbing at a later time.

The inside of the oven should be cleaned at least every three months. But if you notice food debris, spillages or if your oven is smoking, it is best to tackle the problem then and there rather than wait until the quarterly clean. Cleaning your oven little and often will make the whole process much easier to tackle – trust us.

How to clean the hob       

You only need to take your eye off a pan for a few seconds for it to boil over and for starchy water or sticky sauce to end up all over the stove. These spills can be too hot to clean up safely straight away, meaning they risk becoming hard stuck to your hob.

But fear not, here are our top tips for getting your stovetop sparkling clean:

• Start by brushing away any dried pieces of food, so you can focus on the more stubborn stains.
• For ceramic, halogen or induction hobs, it is important to use a specialist cream cleaner, applied with a damp cloth, to protect the surface.
• For a stainless-steel hob, spray grease stains with a solution of white vinegar, leave for a few moments and then wipe with a sponge.
• Warm, soapy water can also be used on most hobs. Simply leave to soak for a few moments before wiping away.
• You may need to repeat the cleaning process a few times to ensure all grease and debris are removed, but take care not to use abrasive cleaning materials, such as steel wool or metal scraping tools, to tackle stubborn stains.
• Lastly, buff your hob with a cleaning dry cloth so that it’s left looking beautifully shiny and clean.

Removing burn marks from your hob

It’s not just grease and grime that can spoil the appearance of your hob, but also burn marks.

So, how do you remove burn marks from your hob? Here’s our step-by-step guide:

Step 1: Make sure all other stains have been removed from the hob before you begin.

Step 2: Apply a specially designed hob cleaning product or a naturally abrasive and acidic mixture of baking soda and vinegar to the hob surface, leaving it to soak in for a few moments.

Step 3: Wipe away the product using a clean cloth, scrubbing where necessary to bring up any flakes or dirt. Repeat step 2 if necessary.

Step 4: Buff the hob with a microfibre cleaning cloth to leave it looking as good as new.

How to clean the inside of your oven

Many people assume that cleaning the inside of your oven is a messy and awkward job that requires using potent chemical-based cleaning products.

But the good news is, you don’t actually need to use any commercial cleaning products or spend hours fruitlessly scrubbing to get your oven sparkling again.

So, rather than staring at the grime inside your oven, get looking in your kitchen cupboards for some baking soda and white wine vinegar. When used together, these ingredients make an effective abrasive combination that is fantastic at removing burnt food from the bottom of an oven.

Here’s our hack for how to clean the inside of the oven the eco-friendly way:

• Make the cleaning paste by mixing half a cup of baking soda with a few tablespoons of water, until you have a fairly thick consistency.
• Apply the paste to the bottom of your oven, the sides, the shelves and the door.
• Leave overnight to work its magic.
• In the morning, fill a spray bottle with a little white wine vinegar and spritz onto the paste.
• Use a damp cloth or sponge to wipe away the dirt and grime, and then buff with a dry cloth for a sparkling gleam.

Restore your oven door

If you have a glass oven door, steam and grease from your cooking and baking can leave it looking rather grubby and murky. So, how can you achieve a crystal-clear oven door?

Step 1: Mix a couple of tablespoons of baking soda with enough water to form a thick paste. Add the water gradually, mixing as you go, until you get to the right consistency.

Step 2: Apply the paste to the inside glass of your oven door.

Step 3: Leave the paste to work its magic for around 20 minutes.

Step 4: After 20 minutes, use a damp cloth or sponge to wipe away the paste, and then buff the glass with a paper towel for a gleaming finish.

Is it time to hire in the experts?

If you don’t have the time to clean your oven or simply can’t bear the thought of it, you can always hire in the experts.

Oven cleaning is one of the key services we offer at FastKlean. Our experienced cleaners will restore your hob to its former gleaming glory and leave the inside of your oven looking as good as new. And that’s not all. They will also tackle those hard-to-reach areas like the extractor fan and hood, where dirt and grime can quickly build up.

We can give your entire kitchen a thorough deep clean too, so if you want the job done properly and with none of the stress, book online or contact the team at FastKlean today.