Strong oven cleaner

[linguistmama]

BS, cream of tartar and vinegar isn't cutting it this time. We're moving in a week and I need to get the oven cleaned. It's really bad since I haven't cleaned it in a year and didn't put any aluminum foil on the bottom

Is there something strong that will clean it even if it's the nasty conventional stuff? We won't be cooking anything once it's cleaned.

[wednesday2004]

This takes a little elbow grease also but the last time I moved I just made a paste out of baking soda and water and spread it inside the oven overnight, in the morning I scrubbed it good with a scouring pad and almost all of the black stuff came off. I had to repeat with a few spots but for the most part it worked great. I hadn't cleaned the oven at all in the year that I had lived there either.

[elsie]

Easy Off is pretty hard core, but it does work. Be sure to buy heavy duty gloves and have plenty of paper towels available.

[SunshineJ]

I have a cheap, effortless and very effective way to clean anything out of an oven! My grandma used this trick for years and it's amazing. Saturate a sponge in ammonia and leave it in the oven over night. Do NOT turn the oven on. Just let it set there. In the morning, remove the sponge and wipe down the oven with a soapy rag. The fumes break down all the crud and it comes out just as clean as can be. The ammonia is nasty but you're only exposed to it for a few minutes (and a cat box can be just as bad in some cases LOL!).

[LVale]

I second the use of easy off oven cleaner. I use the no fume one. I mean vinegar and baking soda do have their place. But when it comes to ovens, I have to go hard core. Same with mold and mildew. Nothing beats bleach.

[missmich]

be careful with Easy Off though. I cleaned an oven a couple weeks ago and got a small burn on my arm from it. I was wearing gloves but got just a touch of the stuff above where the gloves didn't cover.

[amber913]

I second the ammonia idea. I'd heard of leaving a bowl of it in the oven overnight--same idea.

[sunshineafterrain]

I was thinking of the ammonia, I too heard it can be left overnight and the oven wipes clean the next day...I have not actually done it though- but I have tried the spray cleaners and I just can't take the fumes- so next time I am trying ammonia overnight myself

PS I have a self-cleaning oven and it produces an acrid smoke which is nasty, so I feel like I can't clean the oven with it unless every window and door can be left open for hours

[TortelliniMama]

When we moved out of our first apartment, I just didn't get around to cleaning the oven (which really needed it), what with all the other hubbub of packing and moving to a different state. It turned out the apartment complex charged us $50 to clean it. Not a tiny charge, but considering how much time/effort it would have taken, and how little time/energy I had at that point, I thought it was money well spent!