I cannot stress how much I hate cleaning the oven. But I cleaned my oven anyway. I’ll confess, I’m not the best at keeping on top of that unpleasant task. And of course, living in a rental, we have a basic oven. Not self cleaning. Bummer. Still, I needed to clean the oven before we move out of the house, so I decided to tackle the dreaded task over the weekend. I didn’t have any oven cleaner in my cleaning cabinet, because the fumes make me sick. So I searched the internet for a better solution to my problem than Easy-Off. I found it. But would it work?

On Saturday afternoon:

  • I sprinkled about 1/4 inch of baking soda on the bottom of my oven.
  • I also sprinkled some on the door, because there was some grime there, too.
  • Then I took a spray bottle filled with plain tap water and sprayed the baking soda until it was damp.
  • Every couple of hours I’d spray it some more.

Sunday evening I went to work. I took a basic scrub sponge and began to scrub out the baking soda.

I was surprised at how quickly the baked on grime came off! I definitely had to scrub some, but it wasn’t any more difficult than using commercial oven cleaner, and it sure smelled a lot better. I didn’t have to worry about burning my hands, either!

When I finished the inside of my oven, I used the same baking soda and water trick on the section under the stove top coils. Only this time I only sprayed the baking soda once and only waited 20 minutes or so. It still worked well!

I used some soapy water to wipe down the outside of the oven, and voila! All clean!

And the next tenants won’t have to smell Easy-Off the first time they use their oven!

Photo by SuperFantastic.