After a long holiday season I’m sure your oven could use a little cleaning, or a major detailing, I know mine does! So today I’m going to show you how to clean an oven. In fact, we will be cleaning every part of the oven.
The stove top will be sparkly clean {and it will smell good too}!
3. Take the sponge and wipe down the stove making sure to get all the grime that is stuck to the surface. If your stove has decades of grime crusted to it and the grease isn’t completely coming off with the white vinegar then sprinkle a little baking soda onto your sponge. The baking soda will cut through the grease and it will wipe right off.
4. Next drain the vinegar that the knobs are soaking in and scrub them clean too. I like to let my knobs dry for at least a few hours because I’m paranoid that a little water might mess up the stove. Once they are dry place them back on the oven.
*How to Clean a Self Cleaning Oven
*How to Clean BETWEEN Oven Window Glass
*How to get Oven Racks to Slide Easily
*How to Remove Discoloration on the Oven Door
Affiliate link
Thank you for your article Anna, the baking soda really works well, without those harsh chemicals.
One tip I found, being not too tall, reaching all the way to the back of the oven is quite hard. I found that the door can be taken off for cleaning making it a lot easier. This video on you tube showed me how to do it http://youtu.be/iyw-57ExLDQ
With the door off it was much easier to reach inside and clean the bottom at the back.
Awesome, thanks for the video! 🙂
Anna
Thanks for all the great tips. Especially like the one about the toothpaste!!
You’re welcome!
Anna 🙂
Is there a way to clean in between the 2 pieces of glass in the oven door? I have “stuff” that drips down in between there and have never been able to clean it! Any suggestions?
There is a link for those instructions at the end of this post: https://askannamoseley.com/2011/05/how-to-clean-the-oven-glass/.
Good luck! 🙂
Still would like to see a darker text on your site–the gray is tough to read
Hi, I just wanted to post a comment on here saying thank you for this tip. I was totally shocked that my oven came clean with no scrubbing. I stuck the stuff on there and let it soak for awhile. Came back and wiped it off and it came clean, even the window on the door. So thank you thank you thank you!
You must have looked at my bottom oven on Thanksgiving. It’s a mess. I will try this. THANKS!!!
Great, all-natural cleaning tips, Anna! Thanks so much for sharing!
Blessings to you and yours!
I can’t believe I’m saying this…but I am looking forward to cleaning the Oven tommorrow! 🙂 Thank you for the great tip!
American baking soda must have different properties than Australain baking soda. Following these instructions didn’t do anything for my oven, especially the glass on the door. Rather disappointing as I really wanted to get away from the nasty smelling chemical cleaner.
I’m sorry. 🙁 There’s another product that works great too, it’s called Scour Off and it’s made by Shaklee. You can order it here: http://blissfullyeverafter.myshaklee.com/us/en/products.php?sku=00430.
Do you have any recommendations on how to clean in between the glass of the door? I have some drip stains that were there when we bought the house and have no idea how to clean them!
Hello,
I pull off the stove knobs once a week & put them in the tray in my dishwasher..
works like a charm & NO elbow grease needed ..
my kind of clean..
Love your cleaning tips ..
lisa
Oooo, I love that idea! Thank you Lisa!!!
Maybe my oven is beyond needing a cleaning cuz the baking soda did NOTHING for it 🙁 Super sad when I had to wipe all that off and the junk was still there … I even let it sit for a couple of hours, could that be the reason it didn’t work?
This does not work AT ALL. I followed the instructions exactly and it did nothing to the gunk in the oven (which wasn’t that much to begin with). Not only did I waste 3/4 cup of baking soda, but I had to spend 10 minutes to scoop the baking soda chunks out of the oven. It took me less time to actually clean the oven with a Brillo pad.
How do you clean between the vents right behind the door handle on the oven? Mine are all greasy!
I use Q-tips dipped in vinegar similar to how I clean my window tracks: https://askannamoseley.com/2012/04/spring-cleaning-washing-windows-more/
This may be a silly question, but does any toothpaste work or does it need to be Arm & Hammer because of the baking soda?
I love this post! I was just wondering if you had a tip on the easiest way to clean the oven racks? Thanks!
I clean my oven racks in the self cleaning cycle on my oven. I know you can also clean them with ammonia though. Place your oven racks in a trash bag, pour some ammonia in and then seal the bag. Leave them in for 30 min and then take them out and wash them off in the sink.
One thing that you should try is to wrap the racks with aluminum foil after spraying them with ammonia. It acts as a catalyst and will get even the toughest grease off.
Amazing! I’ll have to try that. 🙂
Just remove the racks, bring them outside, spray them with oven cleaner and let them sit for a while. Then just hose them off. If they are not really really dirty, the grime will hose right off. You might need to use a steel wool pad (SOS/Brillo) to remove some of the build up that has accumulated on them.
Glad I saw this share from another friend. Will definitely use the info on cleaning my stove. Thanks for the tips.
I scratched my glad stop with a pot. Do you know a fix for that.
I don’t, I’m so sorry. I would call a local appliance store and ask them if it’s possible to fix/replace.
Use the glass top cleaner and a soft buffer rag such as chamis that should remove the superficial scratches. Maybe an appliance company would know more about it, but it like buffing a car with superficial paint scratches it should help.
I have a self cleaning oven and it makes more of a mess than not using it at all. The house gets really really hot — you have to turn the oven on 500 degrees or so, which really heats up the house. And the smell is horrific. The smoke is even worse. I’m sorry I even paid the money to have a self cleaning oven. You don’t want to watch your electric meter outside your house when you are using the self cleaning cycle. It sucks up electricity like crazy. But the smoke and smell and heat are almost unbearable. If you MUST use commercial oven cleaners, made especially for self cleaning ovens (there are some out there) — be sure to completely wrap your baking and broiling coils before spraying your oven — the chemicals in the cleaner will damage/destroy these coils and then you have the expense of replacing them. I’m going to try this baking soda method.
Anna, thanks so much for sharing these great tips! I will look for an opening underneath the door to clean drips on the glass on my microwave. Your tip to use baking soda toothpaste to clean glass stovetop is fantastic also!! Again, your excellent tips are greatly appreciated!!
Just came here through pinterest and i am so grateful for the cleaning tips! My oven is a little difficult when it comes to cleaning and i will try this first time tomorrow!
Thank you so much! 🙂
Great tips! I am in Spring Clean mode today and stumbled across your site on Pinterest. I wanted to add that in addition to doing all of the mentioned, if you can, pull out your stove and clean underneath. Also clean the sides of your cabinets and the sides of the stove. I didn’t realize the nastiness that was breeding under there!
Yes, that’s a great tip! Thank you. 🙂
oh my!!! I’m 4 hours in on a rental property…. i may have to find some bigger guns!!!! Holy LORD!!! people have 0 respect!!! Thansk so much for your tutorials though – I am applying them to my own home as well…..day 2!! 🙂
Can you tell me what kind of cooktop is that? I have a glass cooktop. Is that ok to use toothpaste and brush too?
Yep perfectly okay!
Thanks Anna for the cleaning tips using vinegar and baking soda! A great natural cleaning solution!
How do I clean the grates on the top of my stove. They are cast iron and difficult to clean.
Hey Barbara,
This is Monique, Anna’s assistant. Anna cleans her grates by putting them in her oven and turning it on the self cleaning cycle. If you don’t have a self cleaning cycle, you can check out this post we found through Pinterest. Hope this helps!
http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com/i-saw-it-i-tried-it-cleaning-the-grates-on-your-gas-stove/
Thanks for the information. Tomorrow I will clean the oven.
Put oven racks inside large garbage bags. Spray with low odor oven cleaner. Close bags up. Leave for a couple of hours. Rinse off in bath tub. Nice and Clean!!
Really nice article, Ana, thank you! I’m also trying to stay away from all these harmful chemicals. I use “green” products. I use baking soda to remove the limescale, and the bad smell of shoes. My husband use toothpaste to restore the former glory of automobile’s headlights. Thank you, Ana, I wish you good luck!
What about the area behind the handle of the oven. I never thought about using a toothbrush on the stove but would you suggest using it there.
Here’s a post we have about how to clean that area – https://askannamoseley.com/2014/05/how-to-clean-the-vents-behind-the-oven-door-handle/. I think a toothbrush would also work though. 🙂
Hi Anna, I just love you cleaning hints, just fantastic. Even though some of product names are not here in Aussie I have compromised and yeh they work.
Enjoy the day and I will keep following you.
cheers vicki
I hope this works as well when I am done trying these methods. I have a daughter getting married in July and they will be using our house for gift opening. I don’t want to try and keep people out of my kitchen just because of the nasty glass in my oven door. My stove is only about three years old and is black. I don’t want anything to scratch the top under the heavy burners. Baking soda should work fine for that! Thanks for all of your help!
Dear Anna,
I had cooked Honey Chicken in a glass pan. Well what a mess if you could imagine. I used the baking soda and apple cider vinegar just because it was there. (Not because it worked better) Well, it worked amazing!!! Thanks Elaine
Awesome! You’re welcome. 🙂
All soundds good but I have a gas stove/oven can I use these methods on them?
Yes, my current oven is gas and I’ve used this method on it. 🙂