Or is a dirty oven really that unusual??

[SandysMam]

I am currently having my oven cleaned by a professional oven cleaner. That is his main job...to clean the ovens of those who cannot be bothered. I will admit my oven is disgusting, I mean really gross, but probably no worse than anyone else who cooks but doesn't have time to clean it. However, upon inspection the man appeared shocked and disgusted!! Not even an act to justify his existence, genuinely shocked. I mean seriously, if your oven is bad enough to call in a pro cleaner, what does he expect? Or do people pay £40 to get thier already clean ovens cleaned? Am IBU or is he??

I feel disgusting now. I've cleaned the oven twice in 4 years . It does need doing...

There are some right slovenly slatterns on mn :)

Get a pyrolytic oven and induction hob....sooooo easy to clean!
:)

That's not disgusting Glitz. Disgusting would be cleaning it twice in 7 years. Not that I know anyone who'd be that minging.

in the persons defence, the rest of their house is spotless and organised within an inch of it's life.

I do my oven every month. It would be minging if I left it for months without cleaning it.

When we moved in here the cooker was disgusting (even by my low standards), so I cleaned it then bought one of those tabletop halogen jobbies. I still have a clean oven

I haven't cleaned mine in 8 years. Perhaps it's time to investigate a professional oven cleaning service as I'm guessing it shouldn't go for another 8 years before I get round to it

I do mine every few month or so , but tend to clean as I go along if I notice food spillage. Doesn't take that long as I don't leave it long enough to be a big job (I know I would never have the motivation to do it if it built up ) ,I have a bathroom downstairs so usually soak the trays in a bath of bleach for a few hours.

I'll second the comment about getting an Aga, avoids an awful lot of bother. Ok, so it came with the house rather than us choosing to get one and the top needs wiping over but that's about it.

Is there anything other than the oven pride etc. that can be used to clean a very crusty oven? 3/4 of the household have fucked lungs and the last time I tried to use oven pride type cleaners I ended up out of action for days.

Oven cleaning has to be one of the worst jobs ever invented. It isn't a favourite pastime of mine.

Once the professional has got the oven sparkling like new, invest in some oven liners (I have one on the bottom of my oven, and no problems). Available from Lakeland, Amazon and others. They just take a few minutes to wash in hot, soapy water. Money really well spent.

To reduce or even eliminate spatter from roasting meat etc, buy a large lidded roaster. I got mine from Amazon, and it is great.

To stop lasagne etc. from boiling up too much and dripping onto the oven floor place it inside a wide roasting tin.

All stuff I learned the hard way. I am another who would rather buy a new one or move house than clean mine, although I have done it once in a blue moon.

I had to clean mine the other week as it had a problem and I was too embarrassed to get someone in to look at it. I think it was getting on for 10 years since it was properly cleaned...
I found 3 unused bottles of oven pride under the sink, but I used ammonia in the end. Dead easy, Google or pinterest for details.

I wouldn't use an over liner. I did buy one but did a bit of research before I used it.
Telfon when heated gives off very dangerous perfluorinated gases when heated which are toxic and teratogenic. I particularly wouldn't want these near my food.

jerseygal the inside of self cleaning ovens have a special coating that allow it to self clean at the very high temp they get up to - fecking scorching

If you scrub that off with oven pride and it won't work any more...

I wouldn't even consider an oven that doesn't self clean - I've done my share of scrubbing

He sounds like a bit of a twat but it's hard to judge properly without seeing a 'before' picture!

I clean my oven after every use. Just a spray and a wipe while it's still a bit warm.
I just use lemon juice mixed with water (in a squirty bottle) and chuck a bit of bicarb on once a week or so.
We got it last year, it's a Rangemaster double oven thing and is in our new kitchen diner where we spend pretty much 99% or our waking time when home. I couldn't stand to have a skanky oven when we have people round or even just when we're in it.

I had it cleaned last month (pretty much a year after we got it). £120 and the man was shocked we wanted it cleaned as it Was fairly clean anyway. But he managed to get rid of those horrible bits of grease that are trapped between the 2 panes of glass and also cleared out the back vents which had got really greasy.
We use our oven a lot and cook meat at high temps so would be in a right state if not kept on top of.

I wipe over my induction hob Every day with hob brite. Takes 30 seconds.
The pyrolysis action on my oven takes 2 hours and you have to leave the windows and door open but I can set off and then sit on the sofa watching TV for 2 hours :)
When it's cool I just wipe it down with a damp cloth.
I do it every 6/8 weeks.
The oven is over a year old and still looks like new.

jerseygal I also have a 'self-cleaning' oven that doesn't. The trouble is the lining only covers the top and sides so I still have to do the bottom, the racks and the door. And they get rank.

If any so-called 'professional' was ever rude about it though I'd chuck him out the door without paying. That's not good service.

Oh so glad I have a cleaner. She does it every 2 weeks. It's never been dirty. Bliss!

That's not disgusting Glitz. Disgusting would be cleaning it twice in 7 years. Not that I know anyone who'd be that minging

Beauty

WaggleBee

Our's isn't actually that bad despite the neglect, there's not much grease inside it at all, but it's a noisy fecker and I'm genuinely considering buying a new one instead of cleaning it.

I had it done professionally years ago. When I've had it done, it looked like a new oven. I now I clean it myself with oven pride.

When I've done it myself, I've never managed to clean the sides, as the shelf holders get in the way, or the top, because the oven pride solution just drips off!

Any solutions to this conundrum?