The short version
Spray, wait, scrub, wipe. The cleaner does the hard part while you wait: after 10 to 15 minutes the burnt-on spots go soft, and a scouring stone lifts them off. No hours of elbow grease, no chiselling.
What you need
- A stove and oven cleaner. We use Weiman Stove & Oven Cleaner, a 2-in-1 gas cooktop and oven cleaner and degreaser.
- A scouring stone: like a pumice stone, but harder. It wears down as it works, which is how it lifts the grime.
- Rubber gloves.
- Two or three damp microfibre cloths and a bowl of warm water.
- An old towel for the floor in front of the oven.
Before you start
Turn the oven and the burners off, and let everything cool completely. Open a window or turn on the range hood fan. Put the gloves on. Read the cleaner's label: oven cleaners are strong, so keep children and pets out of the kitchen, and never mix the cleaner with any other product. If your oven is self-cleaning, check its manual before spraying anything inside.
Step by step
- Empty it. Take out the oven racks, the gas grates and the burner caps. Pull the knobs straight off if you want to clean behind them.
- Spray inside and outside. Inside: the oven floor, walls and the inside of the door. Outside: the grates, the burner caps and the cooktop, where the label says the cleaner is safe for that surface.
- Wait 10 to 15 minutes. Do not rush this part. It is when the hard, burnt-on spots soften.
- Scrub the soft spots with the stone. Wet the stone, then rub the spots in small circles with light pressure. Let the stone do the work. The grime comes off as a paste.
- Wipe it all off. Use a damp cloth, rinse it often and go over every surface two or three times, until no cleaner or residue is left.
- Go again where needed. A very thick spot may need a second spray, another wait and another pass with the stone.
- Dry and put it back together. Dry the surfaces with a clean cloth, then put back the racks, grates, caps and knobs.
Where not to use the stone
The stone is for baked-on grime on tough surfaces. Keep it off a glass-ceramic cooktop and off stainless steel, where it can scratch; use the cleaner and a soft cloth there instead. On any surface you are not sure about, test a small hidden spot first.
A real before and after
This oven had burnt grease across the floor and around the racks. The same oven, after the clean:
Keep it clean between big cleans
Wipe spills as soon as the oven has cooled, before they bake on again, and give the cooktop a quick wipe after cooking. Our 15-minute kitchen cleaning routine fits that into a normal week.
Rather hand it off?
The inside of the oven is part of a deep clean, along with the fridge, dishwasher and microwave, and of a move-out clean. A regular visit covers the cooktop. Tell us what needs doing; the scope and price are confirmed before you book.
