The answer to the question above is probably a resounding, yes!
Cleaning your oven can be a hideous task, particularly if you don’t clean it regularly and you are something of a messy cook. Burnt on food items can become encrusted to the interior of your oven, and require a chisel to remove them, while the stove can become buried beneath a medley of spilled sauces and boiled over water.
Whether your oven has gotten to a point where you can’t even use it safely because it’s so dirty, or if you have guests over for dinner and fear what they’ll think of you when they see it, don’t put off giving it a deep clean as you’ll feel satisfied once it’s done and if you keep it up, it’ll make cleaning it each time much less of a hassle.
How to achieve a sparkling stove:
Electric stoves are easy to keep clean, and more so if you wipe up spillages as soon as they occur. However, if your stove has gotten a bit crusty, simply spray it liberally with an all-purpose cleaner (or make your own natural cleaner from vinegar and lemons) and wipe it clean with a cloth.
If you have a gas stove, then you may need to remove the grates and soak them in hot, soapy water, then any stains or food items should come off easily. The more often you do this, the easier your stove will be to keep clean, and if you can pop the grates in the soapy water as soon as you’ve finished cooking on them, then the result will be even better.
Some parts of your stove may fit into the dishwasher, making the stove cleaning task even easier, and for those difficult to reach areas like the hood, simply spray liberally with a grease removing solution and leave it on for a few minutes before wiping it off. If the hood is particularly sticky, then you may need to use hot water and lemons to really cut through the grease, or buy a stronger chemical cleaner.
Getting your oven squeaky clean:
Even if you have a self-cleaning oven, you will still need to remove the racks and trays and wash them yourself or pop them in the dishwasher if they’ll fit. Your bathtub may even come in handy at this point, and you could fill it with hot soapy water and dunk everything into it to soak, that way the grease and grime should be much easier to remove.
If you don’t have a self-cleaning oven and it’s in a filthy state, there is nothing else for it unfortunately, but to don a pair of rubber gloves and get arm deep in grease and grime! You could choose to use a powerful cleaning agent that you spray over the interior of your oven and leave for a few hours – or even overnight – and then you’ll find the food stains much easier to remove.
The best way of ensuring that cleaning your oven doesn’t become a mammoth task, is to keep on top of things and wipe spillages, grease and grime as soon as they appear. A warm oven will help you to clean it using less elbow grease, but if it’s really in a state that you just can’t bring yourself to tackle, then hire a cleaning company and have them tackle it for you!