Since we are moving soon, I have started cleaning some of the tougher things ahead of time to make it easier to clean before we go. I saw the forum suggestions for cleaning windows. How about your best suggestions for cleaning the oven and stove (the cleaning products you use, the cloth/sponge, special techniques, oven/stove hot or cold, racks and tray cleaning, etc)
Thanks in advance for your tips and advice

Not knowing how many years of grime are built up or what kind of stove/oven you have...

I always boil a big pot of water and then set it in the oven (heat at 50-100C) for an hour or so. The steam loosens up a lot of the grime and it can be wiped away with a damp cloth or ten. No chemicals needed and minimal elbow grease required.

HTH

Thanks for the tip! I can post a picture if you like. Max. 1-2 years gease and grime. It is an electrolux Intuition, stand alone stove/oven with ceramic stove. The oven is pretty much a normal one, nothing special. I also have no fan/light above it. It can cook convection, bake, etc.

Based on the pic, you can use a similar strategy for the top surface.

First, turn on each burner to middle heat for about 15 seconds. Then turn OFF. This warms the surface slightly so that when you add water it does not shock and crack.

Then, pour warm (but not boiling) water from your kettle in a thin layer on the surface. Just use enough to coat it. Leave for about 10 minutes or until surface is cool enough to wipe with a cloth, but don't let cool until cold. If you have grime in the edges where the ceramic contacts the case, gently use a toothpick to loosen and then wipe away.

If you have some spots that are a little tough, make a paste with sodium bicarb (that's baking soda for the Americans) and gently scrub in a circular motion with a soft, damp cloth until gone. Test this first in a small spot to make sure the ceramic won't scratch! I have had no problems.

You can scrub the oven with a similar paste, but can use a slightly more abrasive tool like the rough side of a dish sponge. I use an old bath sponge with the string and staple removed (staple scratches everything).

There are chemical products out there, but I prefer this natural method of letting water, heat and time do the work. After all, it's where you prepare food. Who wants the fumes of the chemicals left behind to infuse their dinner?

Good luck!

One tip to make life easier in the oven-cleaning department - the door can be removed. Makes life so much easier when cleaning the inside. Where the hinges are at the bottom, there are two small catches. Release these, by moving them back out the way and you can then remove the door by closing it half way and pulling it out. The instruction manual should tell you how to do it. Re-attachment is the reverse, but don't forget to put the little catches down before you close the door fully, as you'll wreck them.

Also, the heating element at the top of the oven compartment has a clip on it; release this and the heating element will swing down about 45° for greatly improved access.

Other than that, I had a collection of windscreen cleaner kits (as you get from the carwash). These are great during the inspection when the landlord finds a spot of grease on the oven somewhere. Whip one out and clean the grease off. Also leaves it smelling nice.

Check if the oven has a self-clean mode, and if it does, use that before cleaning (having let it cool down for several hours).

Actually you should do that After you have removed or cleaned the non-self-cleaning bits otherwise you'll burn on anything making it twice as difficult to remove.

Well - yes, you do have to remove the plasticky bits, before cleaning the self-clean parts if you want to be pedantic...

Putzstein from the Migros.

I use this to clean our Oven and the Glass cooking top.
It cleans away the burnt oil and all the other rubbish on the inside. You just keep rubbing until it is all away.
The chalk shadow on the Glass top can also be cleaned with this product, without fear of scratches.
The glass door can also be cleaned with putzstein.

Simply wetten the sponge (which is provided), rub the sponge over the putzstein and then rub your dirt away.

It could take a bit of rubbing, but it do'es work.
Ah by the way its sold in most of the bigger MIGROS.
Salut Zämma

Now you see, this is what happens when I get on the internet and see great tips, I am in a bit of a steam cleaning jag right now and thought to myself, YES! I knew those doors should come off, so I had a little try and see.

My oven doesn't have any little catches underneath, but I was sure it must work ( they had to put it on somehow didn't they!?).

Soo, I gave the door a few tries at different angles, waiting for that moment that would make it clear to me I can give it a little hoik up and out, which I did, and it did, with a clackety, clack, bang!

This is great so far, I have quickly steam cleaned the inside and cleaned the crumbs away from under where the door WAS ( until now, no amount of coaxing would ever work on them), but as you may have guessed already, now I can't seem to clackety, clack, bang, the door back into place.

I wish I wouldn't do things like this, but it seemed such a simple thing to do.

I don't mind too much, if I can't figure it out myself, I can always ask the caretaker of the house, just, I was planning to make something wondrous for lunch in the oven, for my overseas visitor tomorrow.

Actually, if I haven't already fixed it, she is a smart lady, so I'm sure I can still make her something wondrous in the oven tomorrow after she gets here and she applies her smart mind to my oven door problem.

I write this just as a caution to others like myself, don't attempt these things if you know you have visitors the next day, you may be sorry, otherwise, great tip,

Do you mean you have NEVER cleaned the oven for at least a year?

The fact is, the longer you leave the spills etc in the oven, the more they get baked on, making them even more difficult to remove.

In such extreme cases, there is a spray you can buy to clean the oven. You spray and leave it to do the work.

for the top, I just use this stuff today, http://www.migipedia.ch/de/node/77839, I first used the razor scraper thing, (use to get tape off windows) http://www.signcraftersupply.com/com...&category_id=0

and finished up with the Potz stuff... amazing clean.

I guess the ovens here are not like the states and have a "cleaning cycle" where it gets real hot (hotter than you can bake at) and it disintegrates anything on the oven walls.

I think that trick with the boiling water and having it condense on the cold walls sounds like a great tip.

Some people here really do need it explained down to the smallest detail.

No, they only have great ovens in the U.S.

Oh, hang on... ours is self-cleaning and so is everyone else's I know here. Would you believe it

I left this one behind in the house I'm selling... amazing http://www.kenmore.com/shc/s/p_10154_12604_02297203000P

the electrolux that I have here, does not have the feature of "self clean"

Exactly, I clean it myself.

I just wanted to add that after having scrubbed, using hot water etc. I was getting desperate with some very burned in old brown stains on the side and back of the oven. Very skeptical, I bought a foam-spray in Denner called "K2r Backofen-Grillreinigung" and it worked like magic - no heating required, just sprayed it on and left for a couple of hours and I could wipe all those stains off - and no nasty chemical smell.

I find simply not using the oven is the best way to keep it clean.

Hi,
Need to know product that can be used to clean oven and the greasy trays. Had never used ovens earlier and now have a greasy baking tray and some grease left on the oven base...please help..

Did you check it's not a self-cleaner before you started?

With our oven, if you use any products or harsh cloths/scrubbers it wrecks the self-cleaning properties.

Otherwise, there are some decent oven cleaning products in places like Coop Bau & Hobby.