Embarrassingly filthy oven

[SomePeopleSayImBonkers]

My oven is minging I have to tackle it!

I've bought some Oven Pride cleaner (the solution and bag thingy)....is that good? Also, I live in an open plan flat, so kitchen is in the living room. I'm a bit worried about the smell and fumes. Was thinking about doing it in the evening and leaving it overnight.

Good idea? Bad idea? Any better ideas?!

Oven Pride doesn't really give off fumes and it's pretty good stuff.

The other alternative is to get one of those oven cleaning companies to come and give it a blitz - supposed to be well worth it.

Oven Pride is good - you'll need to leave it on overnight if the oven's really filthy. Don't overfill the bag or it won't work properly, so if you have lots of racks you'll need to get another bag.

I second the oven cleaning companies.... They came around to my minging oven after babies etc meant I hadn't gotten around to cleaning it for a few years months, left it clean enough to eat off. Best £40 ever.

I've got someone coming round next week to clean ours. I'm very excited - which is very sad, I know

Pay someone else to do it. They'll also replace any broken bulbs etc. Google ovenu

I do my own oven every three months or so! Can you remove the inner glass on your oven? If so get two boxes of oven pride and put the trays in one bag, the glass in the other! I leave them overnight then all there is to clean is the outer glass and bottom of oven. I wouldn't pay for a professional myself when I can get a sparkling oven for less than a tenner and very little work!

Get a man in. You won't regret it.

Fate you clean the oven every 3 months! Every time I think I'm getting on top of this housekeeping lark someone else comes along with another unachievable standard!

Another recommendation for Oven Pride here, but be careful - it's pretty strong stuff. I put my metal shelves to soak in the solution on my countertop and some of it leaked out of the bag, damaging the wood.

Alright alright, maybe more like six months!

Really my house is a cesspit. I have 4dc lone parent and it's constantly destroyed. I just have an oven obsession. Oh and a hob obsession. I think because it's the only thing the kids can't mess up again once clean!

Fate even every 6 months is amazing to me. We moved into this house in Dec '10 and it's never been done. It's only getting done next week because I'm getting someone in to do it.

Ooooh, I used oven pride for the first time yesterday on an oven that I have never cleaned despite being in this house for 6 years. I was very pleased with the result, but be careful when sealing the bag - I thought I had but when I lifted it up to take out the racks some of the yucky brown liquid leaked all over my bare feet.

Oven pride is great but I've just bought a Vax steam cleaner - so quick and great results.

I probably wouldn't bother as much if I owned my house but it's my brothers and he is here regularly so I feel more of a duty to keep on top of things!

I've got a self clean neff but don't know how it works :-( so have to just scrub

Oven pride is awesome. If you have access to a garden I would do the bag part outside as it can be a bit messy, and leave overnight for best results. Then hose down or rinse off with Bucket of soapy water. Tbh, all the crud just falls off so no scrubbing required. I also used a bit of the gel stuff on the glass door, a couple of hours was enough and it came up as new. I'm a complete oven pride convert!

What brand and model number is it needs? A quick google should tell you how. Mine is self cleaning but it just means it has the coating on the side of it that on a high temp the grease slides off and pools in the bottom which isn't self cleaning!

Wow!! Thanks for all the responses, is it sad that I'm now quite excited at doing my oven?? Well, looking forward to the results!

Have thought about getting a company in. Will try Oven Pride first as I've already got it and see what results that gives me.

Thanks everyone (I love Mumsnet!)

Will Oven Pride work on my iron pan stands on top of my gas range cooker?
I'm meaning the iron things that sit over the burners that you put the pans on to cook stuff.

Needstotidyup - if your oven is the same as mine, the 'self-cleaning' is rubbish.

You pour in a little water & washing up liquid, set the button to self-clean and wait.

All it does is warm the water, it doesn't actually clean - waste of time.

And oven pride didn't work for me, but I didn't try leaving it on overnight. Another warning to be careful of the bag, mine leaked on the floor and cleaned marked the tiles.

I find the shelves come up sparkling in the dishwasher, the glass door cleans well with a magic eraser and cif cream, and I try not to look at any of the other manky bits.

I prefer to use Oven Mate from Lakeland. I think it is much better than OvenPride.

One tip is to put a bowl/pan of boiling water into the bottom of the oven for an hour or so, so the steam starts to loosen the grease before you put the cleaner on, so it works better with less scrubbing.

Ooo good advice! Thanks!

Fiveflowers - with the shelves, did you use oven pride then put them in the dishwasher? Hadn't thought about using the dishwasher.

No SomePeople, just put them in the dishwasher. With mine it sometimes takes 2 goes, but they really come out lovely and clean.

The grill pan doesn't though

When we used ovenu they didn't use any horrible chemicals at all - amazingly its all natural stuff. Oven was sparkling

Thanks for all the tips! There's a groupon for £18 oven clean so I might go for it after reading some of your experiences.