Self-cleaning Ovens?

[Katie H]

I've had a self-cleaning oven for nearly 13 years and love it. Mine, too, has a locking mechanism that secures the door while the cleaning cycle is in process. I usually time the cleaning of my oven to a cooler than normal day, so we can benefit from the extra time the oven is producing higher than normal heat.

I've never left my racks in while the cleaning cycle is running. Instead, I put them in a big black trash bag, spray them with oven cleaner, tie up the bag and let them "incubate" with the oven cleaner until the oven is ready to accept them back after cleaning and cooling.

By the time this occurs, all I really have to do is to lightly rub them, I'm serious, with a green scrubbie to remove any residue that the oven cleaner doesn't remove. There's rarely any elbow grease necessary.

The oven and racks look as good now as they did the day the oven was installed. FWIW, the oven we have is Whirlpool.

 

[Kayelle]

I've never had my smoke detectors go off, but I have a good vent hood over the stove. In addition to the oven racks, I also include the burner grates from the top of the stove. I don't care if the oven racks get discolored, and the burner grates are black and come out super clean.
I wonder if you could put a cast iron skillet in there, to have the outside come out clean and smooth, like new?

 

[spork]

Expect to see a small spike in your monthly power bill, too.

 

[roadfix]

I wonder if you could put a cast iron skillet in there, to have the outside come out clean and smooth, like new?

I'm sure that would work. I've done it using a charcoal grill.

As for smoke detectors if your oven is vented (meaning outdoor vent) it should not trip the detectors.

 

[Andy M.]

...I wonder if you could put a cast iron skillet in there, to have the outside come out clean and smooth, like new?

Yes you can. It will take off all the seasoning and leave you with the unprotected cast iron.

 

[bakechef]

When I got this stove I was amazed at what the self clean cycle could do! When it was done, there was just a tiny bit of ash sitting in the bottom of the oven that I wiped out with a damp cloth, the oven looked like new.

 

[n2cookin]

I learned the hard way about what time of year to use my self cleaning oven. I thought it would be a good idea to use self clean in the winter taking advantage of the extra heat from the oven on. Bad idea because of the smell and smoke of the oven when cleaning. I now only use the self clean when the weather is warm enough to be able to open the windows.

 

[roadfix]

I guess a good majority of electric ovens vent indoors. But I had no idea our wall oven vented outside until one day when I burned something in the oven by accident (steel bowl with plastic coating) which produced heavy black toxic smoke which I saw pouring out the side of the house.

 

[Barbara L]

Speaking of self-cleaning ovens (I almost wrote "onions" LOL), does anyone here have (or had) a continuous-clean oven? My mom looked at them, but from what we understand they are a huge drain on energy. If you have/had one, what do you think?

 

[Katie H]

We had one in our house in Maryland. I never cared for it as it was not what it was cracked-up/advertised to be. I still had to clean it.

 

[FrankZ]

As I understand it US Federal law has required locking mechanisms on self cleaning ovens for a long time, with good reason; 900F will bite ya bad.

 

[taxlady]

Speaking of self-cleaning ovens (I almost wrote "onions" LOL), does anyone here have (or had) a continuous-clean oven? My mom looked at them, but from what we understand they are a huge drain on energy. If you have/had one, what do you think?

My toaster oven is continuous clean. I hate that part. There is some sort of weird finish to the walls that is supposed to make the dirt get unstuck with some heat induced reaction. You still have to wipe it, but the coating is rough. It tears sponges and J-Cloths (I think the US equivalent is Handy wipes). So, it's harder to clean than if I didn't have the stupid, fancy, continuous clean.

 

[Joshatdot]

I wonder if you could put a cast iron skillet in there, to have the outside come out clean and smooth, like new?

Yes you can. It will take off all the seasoning and leave you with the unprotected cast iron.

this is a good bit of info to know

 

[Somebunny]

I've never had my smoke detectors go off, but I have a good vent hood over the stove. In addition to the oven racks, I also include the burner grates from the top of the stove. I don't care if the oven racks get discolored, and the burner grates are black and come out super clean.
I wonder if you could put a cast iron skillet in there, to have the outside come out clean and smooth, like new?

Kay....I'm interested are your "burner grates" cast iron? Mine are (GE Monogram) and I would like to try this. It's not like there is alot if food stuffs cooked on, but there is some cooked on grease. Hmmm...

 

[Claire]

I, too, love my self-cleaning oven. I'm not a big baker, so I run it a few times a year. I also don't give a care if the oven racks are discolor because I spent many hours of my youth scrubbing the darned things, wearing gloves up to my elbows and smellling noxious fumes. I just don't know why manufacturers don't make the racks in a black matte color rather than the shiny chrome. I'd buy them in a minute!!!

 

[medtran49]

I, too, love my self-cleaning oven. I'm not a big baker, so I run it a few times a year. I also don't give a care if the oven racks are discolor because I spent many hours of my youth scrubbing the darned things, wearing gloves up to my elbows and smellling noxious fumes. I just don't know why manufacturers don't make the racks in a black matte color rather than the shiny chrome. I'd buy them in a minute!!!

They actually do. We got a new stove/oven a year or so ago because our old smooth top ceramic cracked after 10+ years. Our racks are a really dark charcoal gray and can be left in during self-clean. Unfortunately, I didn't get that far as I was reading the instructions on how to self-clean and turning it on at the same time so took them out but I'll leave them in next time.

 

[Claire]

medtran, I'm glad to hear that. My oven is a Kenmore, and if and when they come out with that, I'll buy them immediately!

My other pet peeve with ovens is the window in the door. In every friggin' one of them I've had to deal with (and that has been many), something manages to get in between the panes of glass and makes an unsightly mess. I'm really NOT a meticulous housekeeper, but looking at these drips and drabs that I can't get at just annoys the heck out of me. I once (my first self-cleaning oven, decades ago) actually disassembled the oven door to try to clean them. That was a mess. Why do I need a window in my oven anyway? My husband noted that our oven light needs to be replaced. OK. But I don't really use it.

 

[taxlady]

medtran, I'm glad to hear that. My oven is a Kenmore, and if and when they come out with that, I'll buy them immediately!

My other pet peeve with ovens is the window in the door. In every friggin' one of them I've had to deal with (and that has been many), something manages to get in between the panes of glass and makes an unsightly mess. I'm really NOT a meticulous housekeeper, but looking at these drips and drabs that I can't get at just annoys the heck out of me. I once (my first self-cleaning oven, decades ago) actually disassembled the oven door to try to clean them. That was a mess. Why do I need a window in my oven anyway? My husband noted that our oven light needs to be replaced. OK. But I don't really use it.

Oh that is one of my pet peeves too. There has to be a vent in the door and that's how the food, spills, etc. gets in there. On my oven door, the vent holes are on the top of the door. grrr I have on occasion seen vent holes near the top, but at the front. Better, but not ideal.

I was really envious of the stove in my mother's apartment in Copenhagen. I took this picture before I cleaned the glass. I washed it in the sink! See the two little semi-circular pieces of metal on the right and left sides of the glass...

click the picture for a bigger version of it.

 

[Katie H]

I'm being educated here...as per the stains between the layers of glass on the oven doors.

I've been cooking for over 50 years, most ovens with windows, and have never had a problem. Even though, having said this, with Buck (my late husband) making homemade beer and running the syrupy mess over the front of the stove and all over the floor. HE cleaned up THAT mess. EEEEW, what a mess.

Guess I must've been lucky, but that's never been a problem. However, I do know how to take my oven door apart to get to the glass part if necessary. That's a long story, but it's not too difficult.

 

[Kayelle]

Kay....I'm interested are your "burner grates" cast iron? Mine are (GE Monogram) and I would like to try this. It's not like there is alot if food stuffs cooked on, but there is some cooked on grease. Hmmm...

No Bunny, my burner grates are not cast iron, and before I said they are black. I noticed while cooking last night that they are actually a light gray.
Geeze, I sometimes wonder about myself.
Anyway they get to looking pretty rough about the time it's oven cleaning time, so I always put them in with the oven cleaning cycle. They come out with white ash all over them and rinse all sparkle clean.