Thursday, January 16, 2014

Cleaning the Oven

I thought that when we got our new oven I would feel comfortable using the self clean feature on it.
No. 
When Bill and I were living in our first little rent house we tried to clean the oven. A small fire broke out in the drawer underneath. It didn't do a lot of damage but we did lose the new pot holders that we had gotten as wedding gifts.

 

I have been a little paranoid about cleaning the oven ever since. This oven is only a few years old. I usually can keep the spills inside cleaned up but the glass was kind of a mess.
I saw a pin on Pinterest and that got me motivated to clean my oven door. I like to do some deep cleaning in January after all the Christmas stuff is put away.  
I used baking soda like the pin suggested but it didn't get all the gunk off. I realized too late that I didn't leave it on for for 20 minutes like the pin suggested.
So I squirted it with some Greased Lightening and worked on it with a scraper. I cleaned the front of the door with regular old glass cleaner.
I noticed a big drip on the glass.
It wasn't on the front and it wasn't on the back. 
It was in-between the glass. How on earth did it get there?
I hunted down another blog post about how to clean in-between the glass. 
This is not original to me but I thought I would share. 
There is a great post about it here at Mom 4 Real.  
I tried to do this myself on Friday but I couldn't find a screw driver that looked like my screw. 
I figured different manufacturers will have different screws because it wasn't the same as on the blog.
I decided to work on my grates instead. 
I used the same mixture of Greased lightening and baking soda. I cleaned and scraped until they looked like new and my hands looked worn. I really should wear gloves to clean. 


Bill helped me with the glass on Saturday.
He used just a regular Phillips head screw driver but these were tight so it kind of stripped the screw a little.  


I'm glad I waited for Bill because this job is better with two people. 
It helps to have one person hold the door pieces and one person grab the glass. 
We didn't have a third person available to hold the camera. ;)
It takes two to clean off streaks and make sure the glass is clean from both sides. This very important. We put it back together only to see a streak but we had stripped the screw. He was only able to undo one side. I had to use a back scratcher and a paper towel to clean the streak. 
It definitely takes two to put it all back together. 
I am completely taken aback that a big drip could even get in-between the glass.

Then we vacuumed out from under the oven drawer and out from under the fridge. 
I like to keep a pretty clean house, something that isn't completely possible with the amount of dog hair we have. 
I feel somewhat confident that when a repair man comes into the house he won't be grossed out. 
When the guys came to install the new stove and take out the old I was horrified to see not one but two old hamburger patties under there. TWO! 
I hate to blame my then teens but…
No hamburger patties this time. 
It is such a good feeling knowing that something is really clean. 
:)
What are you doing today?
Katie 


6 comments :

  1. i thought that I would feel comfortable using that self clean feature too. I have had my stove for 5 years now and continue to clean it the old fashioned way. It is one of the reasons that I boutght this one, the self cleaning feature was important. January is a good time to do that deep cleaning for me too. It is too cold to be outside, might as well do something constructive. Working on my kitchen today too and this post reminds me that my oven will need some attention today.

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  2. You are a very meticulous house cleaner! I wish I could hire you to come over and clean mine! LOL. I have a self cleaning oven too and don't like using it because it dirties up the outer area on the oven door while it cleans. So, then I'm left with having to clean the dried grease off it which is not easy. So, I switched to Easy Off oven cleaner for self cleaning ovens. I just spray it in my oven and wait 2 hrs. Then wipe it clean. It does a pretty good job but not perfect. There aren't too many fumes with it either. I hate cleaning my oven racks though! I've heard you can spray them with oven cleaner and hose them off outside. I think I will try that when it warms up. You can also do that with grill racks. I've never had a problem with stuff getting inside the glass oven door though. Glad you were able to clean yours!

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  3. I took the easy way out and hung 2 towels over the stove handle, but after reading this, I may actually take it apart and clean it. Now the microwave is another story. I kept thinking that I was leaving water spots on the door, when they were actually in between the layers of whatever the window is made of. I didn't realize it until after the warranty expired. When I called the company they said nobody's ever had the problem before. Right.

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  4. Ugh, oven cleaning! I just bought a new oven, and I knew it was inevitable that something icky would spill sooner or later, and it did. I keep putting off the cleaning, even though it is a self-cleaner. I laughed out loud about the 2 burgers under your stove!

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  5. A very thorough job, well done. Most people seem to struggle with the doors when trying to clean them and usually just give in. You didn't give in, and you did a great job. And, you even took the door apart, I am impressed.

    Happy new year to you, Katie.

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