Today was the dreaded oven clean day. I hate this task, has to be done though. I thought I'd share a couple of tips that I use to get the job done easier. In the past I've been scrubbing away for hours, and the oven still didn't look tip top. Now I employ a couple of methods that take the scrubbing out of cleaning the oven.

Make life easier whilst cleaning the oven

Most of us will have an oven door that drops down, providing an obstacle to really getting inside the oven. I take the door off, normally a pretty simple case of locking the hinges into place using the locking mechanism already on most oven doors. Be very careful, remember you only have the one oven door so if you smash the glass you've well and truly had it. You will now have easy access to clean the oven and manage to clean the bit between the door and the oven that's normally hard to get to.

I then take the door apart, mine just has two screws that release the interior window. You'll find all sorts of grime as you're taking it apart. I also unclip the rubber door seal and wash that in the sink. Racks / shelving come out which normally have burnt-on grease. These are a nuisance to clean inbetween the wires so, biological washing up powder is the key.

How to clean the oven shelves easily

I lay a towel in the bottom of the bath (to protect the bath from scratches) and place the dirty oven racks or shelving on the towels. Fill the bath with hot water until they are covered, and whilst it's filling sprinkle a bit of biological washing powder in the bath. Leave for a good half an hour to work, you'll then be able to wipe off the grease and grime with a wire-wool pad. It must be biological powder because it contains enzymes that eat through dirt. NB. We have a plastic bath as far as I can tell, and no damage has ocurred. I don't know what the effect biological washing powder would have on an old enamel bath.

Soaking some oven parts whilst cleaning others will save you time

Whilst they are soaking I attack the interior of the oven, I used CIF oven cleaner today, which I sprayed on before I removed the door. Pretty effective stuff, after the specified 30 minutes I just wiped the interior down and the oven was clean. Good product.

When the shelves or racking is clean I put the glass from the oven door in the same bath and allow that to soak too. Same again, after 30 minutes or so a wipe down is all that's needed as the biological washing powder has done the work for you.

Put the oven back together, and because I don't like drip marks and smears so I give it a quick once over with a microfibre cloth which shines glass wonderfully. These microfibre cloths I've found are great for removing smears on windows and the windscreen in the car too, inside and out.

Some of you may already know these cleaning tips, however some of you won't and will have done what I've done in the past and scrubbed away for hours trying to get the oven clean. End result is the same, a sparkling oven just with less effort.

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