How to Clean an Oven: Racks Door Glass & Deep Clean Guide

The Oven Nobody Wants to Deal With

I put off cleaning my oven for way too long once. We’re talking months. The kind of neglect where you stop looking at the bottom and just hope the smoke alarm doesnt go off every time you preheat. This was back in Texas, before the kids were old enough to notice or care, and I remember Raquel opening it one day and just staring at me. Didn’t say anything. Just stared.

That was enough.

The thing about ovens is they’re out of sight in a way that other appliances aren’t. You close the door and it looks fine from the outside. The inside could look like a crime scene and nobody would know unless they opened it. And thats how most people treat them. Ignore it until something burns or smokes or someone actually looks.

I’m not here to guilt you. I’m here to tell you how to fix it.

Start With the Racks

This is where most people mess up. They spray the inside of the oven, wipe it down, call it done, and leave the racks looking like theyve been through a war. The racks are the hardest part and also the part that makes the biggest difference. If youre going to clean your oven, you need to know how to clean oven racks properly or you’re wasting your time.

Here’s what I’ve learned after doing this more times than I want to count.

The Bathtub Method

Best way to clean oven racks. I dont care what else youve heard. The bathtub method works and it works better than anything else I’ve tried. You fill your tub with hot water, as hot as your tap goes, and you add dish soap. Not a little. A lot. Half a cup at least. Then you lay the racks in the water and you leave them overnight. Some people say a few hours is enough but those people are wrong. Overnight. The grease needs time to break down and the carbon buildup from years of spattering needs to soften. In the morning you take a brush, something with stiff bristles but not metal because metal will scratch the coating, and you scrub. The stuff comes off like it was never there. I learned this from a guy I worked with in Atlanta who used to flip houses and he said his grandmother taught him and she was cleaning ovens before any of us were born. The only downside is your tub looks disgusting after but thats what cleaning the tub is for.

If you dont have a bathtub or you dont want to use yours, you can do the same thing in your yard with a large plastic storage bin. Same principle. Hot water, soap, time.

The Ammonia Method

This one works too but I like it less. You put the racks in a large garbage bag with about half a cup of ammonia, seal it up tight, and leave it outside overnight. The fumes do the work. In the morning you pull them out and rinse them off and the grease wipes away. The problem is ammonia stinks and you have to do this outside because the fumes will make you sick. Also dont mix ammonia with anything else. Ever. People have hurt themselves badly mixing ammonia with bleach thinking theyre making some kind of super cleaner. Youre making poison gas. Dont do it.

I still prefer the bathtub.

The Dryer Sheet Trick

I’ve seen people recommend putting dryer sheets in the water with the racks. Does it work. Kind of. The fabric softener helps loosen things up. Is it better than just soap and time. Not really. It’s one of those oven cleaning hacks that sounds clever but doesn’t actually save you anything. Use it if you want. Whatever.

The Inside of the Oven

Once the racks are soaking, you can deal with the inside. This is where cleaning oven with baking soda becomes your best friend.

Baking Soda Paste

Mix baking soda with enough water to make a paste. Not runny, not dry. Should be like a thick spreadable consistency, somewhere between toothpaste and frosting. Coat the entire inside of the oven with this paste. Bottom, sides, back, top. Avoid the heating elements if you have exposed ones. They dont need this and it can cause problems.

Let it sit. Minimum four hours. Overnight is better. The baking soda is a natural oven cleaner that works by breaking down grease and burned-on food without toxic fumes. It’s non toxic oven cleaner that actually works, which is more than I can say for some of the “natural” products at the store that cost fifteen dollars and dont do anything.

After it sits, you wipe it out. Damp cloth. You’ll need to go over it a few times because the paste leaves residue. Then spray white vinegar on whatever’s left. It’ll fizz. That’s the baking soda reacting. Wipe it again. Done.

Commercial Cleaners

Look. I’m not going to tell you not to use them. I’m not your dad, do what you want. But I will say that those spray foam oven cleaners are brutal. The fumes are serious. Open your windows. Run your vent. Don’t stand there inhaling it. I’ve walked into houses where someone was using that stuff with all the windows closed and I had to leave. Eyes watering, throat burning. It works but it works because it’s basically dissolving the grease through chemistry that you probably dont want in your lungs.

Mr. Davis, my woodshop teacher back in Atlanta, used to say respect your materials. He was talking about wood. Knowing what you’re working with and how it responds. Same thing applies here. You want to use harsh chemicals, fine, but know what you’re dealing with and protect yourself.

The baking soda works just as well if you give it time.

How to Clean Oven Door Glass

This is Raquel’s thing. She calls the oven door glass the “company test.” If someone’s coming over, she checks it. According to her, people notice. I dont know if thats true. I’ve never walked into someone’s house and inspected their oven door. But she’s convinced, and honestly the door does get disgusting in a way that’s hard to ignore once you see it.

The Outside

Easy. Glass cleaner. Wipe it down. Done.

The Inside

Same baking soda paste. Apply it to the inside of the glass, let it sit, wipe it off. Spray with vinegar at the end. For stuck-on spots, use a razor blade scraper held at a low angle. Careful not to scratch the glass. Go slow.

Between the Glass Panels

This is where it gets annoying. Most oven doors have two panes of glass with a gap between them. Grease and gunk get in there somehow. Laws of physics I dont understand. And cleaning oven door glass between those panels means either figuring out how to remove oven door or finding another way in.

Some models have a slot at the bottom of the door where you can slide a thin brush or cloth in. Look for it. If you find it, wrap a microfiber cloth around a thin stick or ruler, spray it with cleaner, and work it through the gap.

If your model doesnt have that, you might need to remove the door. I’m not getting into that here because every model is different and if you mess up the hinges you’ve created a bigger problem. Look up your specific model number. There are videos. Or call someone.

How to Use Self Cleaning Oven

My oven has this feature. I dont use it.

The self-cleaning cycle heats the oven to something like 900 degrees. Burns everything to ash. You wipe out the ash when it’s done. Sounds great in theory.

In practice, I’ve seen it set off smoke alarms, fill houses with smoke, and in one case I know of, actually damage the oven’s control panel because of the extreme heat. The electronics aren’t always rated for what the self-cleaning cycle puts them through.

Whatever. If you want to use it, use it. Remove everything from inside first. Remove the racks. Open windows. Don’t run it when you’re leaving the house. Be ready for smoke and smell.

I just use baking soda.

Deep Clean Frequency

My mom Shirley would’ve told you to wipe down the oven after every use. She was serious about that stuff. Saturday mornings growing up in Atlanta, she had her whole routine. The oven was part of it. She’d check the inside, check the stovetop, check the drip pans. I dont know how she found the time with working at Sears and raising me and everything else she had going on. She just did it. Made it look easy.

I asked her once why she bothered cleaning things that nobody sees. She said something about how you know. Even if nobody else knows, you know. And how you do the small things is how you do everything.

I dont clean my oven after every use. I’m not Shirley. But I think about her every time I do clean it. I think she’d approve of the baking soda paste. She didn’t like harsh chemicals either. Anyway.

The Real Schedule

Here’s what I actually do.

Wipe up spills when they happen. Thats the easiest thing and it prevents the worst buildup. If something boils over or splatters, deal with it when the oven cools down. Dont let it bake on.

Light cleaning monthly. Spray the inside with vinegar, wipe it down. Takes five minutes. Keeps things from getting out of control.

Deep clean twice a year. The whole process. Racks in the bathtub, baking soda paste, door glass, everything. I do it before Thanksgiving and after winter. Before Thanksgiving because we’re about to use the oven more than any other time of year. After winter because it needs it.

My dad used to say, about something totally different, he used to say “don’t make future you clean up after present you.” He was talking about tools. Putting things away when you’re done. But it applies. Wipe up the spill now or chisel it off later. Your choice.

Quick Reference

How to clean oven racks: Bathtub, hot water, dish soap, overnight, scrub with stiff brush.

Inside of oven: Baking soda paste, overnight, wipe, vinegar spray, wipe again.

Oven door glass inside: Same baking soda paste method.

Between glass panels: Look for slot at bottom of door. Or look up how to remove door for your model.

Self-cleaning function: I dont trust it but its your oven.

Frequency: Wipe spills immediately. Light clean monthly. Deep clean twice a year.

Thats it.

The oven is one of those things that gets worse the longer you ignore it. The grease builds up, the carbon builds up, and eventually you’ve got a real project on your hands instead of a simple maintenance task. I learned that the hard way with the shower tile shortcut, not oven related but same principle, skip the maintenance and pay for it later.

Don’t be me in Texas with Raquel staring at the oven. Just clean it.

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