How To Easily Clean Your Oven Without Scrubbing #EOSpringCleaning

I have a confession to make. (Don’t judge me folks.) We have never, never cleaned our oven.

We have lived in our house for eight years, and it has never been cleaned. It’s a self-cleaning oven too. To be fair, we started to clean it once with the self-cleaning mode, but it started smoking and smelled weird so we stopped it. IDK, kind of freaked us out so that was the end of us cleaning our oven.

So when I was asked if I wanted to review Easy Off, one thing ran through my mind, “My husband is going to be so happy with me.”

When I found Easy Off at Target I was faced with two choices “Heavy Duty” or “Fume Free.” Both promise a powerful formula to eliminate baked-on grease and food spills with 5x more grease-cutting power than the leading all-purpose cleaner. Knowing the state of my oven, I was temped to go for heavy duty. But I am a total wimp for gross cleaning chemical smells, and I have two kids. So I had to go with fume free (safe for my self-cleaning oven too) – fingers crossed that it still packed some punch.

This is what I faced when I tackled my oven. Not so pretty.

Reading over the label (twice since I have never done this before), two points stuck out at me. One – don’t get the foam on the heating element. Two – don’t use in a convection oven. Ummmm how to get around the heating element, and I have a convection oven. Doh.

My husband had the genius idea to cover the heating element with aluminum foil. Problem number one solved.

Then we remembered our bottom oven (yep, we have a double) is not convection. Bingo. Let the spraying commence.

Let’s talk for a moment about “Fume Free.” Logic tells us that an aerosolized foam will produce stinky stuff in the air (technical terms here I know). But I didn’t think it through, and accidentally took a big ole breath – yuck! Let me assure you, “Fume Free” does not equal stink free. It means that it emits no caustic fumes, which still seems like a much better option! After spitting and sputtering a bit, I covered my nose with my shirt and resumed spraying. (Told ya I was a wimp.)

After spraying down the oven, I was on a cleaning streak and I really wanted to clean the upper oven (after all it is the one that is used most often). After some debate, we decided that we could easily cover the oven fan with some Press’n Seal wrap. (Please note, I do not know for 100% sure that my method is ok for your oven. It worked for me, but try it at your own risk.) So I sealed off the fan, and sprayed it down.

Since this was our very first cleaning (and I don’t like scrubbing), I opted for the overnight treatment. The next morning I awoke to this.

Armed with an old kitchen sponge (do not use a new sponge, it gets nasty) I wiped the door…

WOW.

And then…

Ewww!

No scrubbing. No grossness left behind. Just wipe. I was truly amazed.

I swear, I never scrubbed. All wiping. Now, it takes a LOT of wiping to get all of residue off. I mean a lot. I spent the next hour and a half wiping and rinsing, wiping and rinsing. (Remember, I have 2 ovens – so that is 45 mins per oven.)

The part that took the longest were the racks. Next time I do this (and there will be a next time), I will take the racks outside, lay them on newspaper and spray them like crazy. I sprayed them in the oven, and while I tried to be liberal I could tell where I missed. Then I will take the garden hose and rinse them off. (I rinsed them in the kitchen sink and made a HUGE mess. Doh!)

So what did I learn – my oven was gross. How did I like Easy Off? Two thumbs up! (Just remember not to breath in deep.)

When was the last time you cleaned your oven?