Cleaning Your Oven And Stovetop

This is my kitchen oven after cleaning it the way Erin taught. Well..I guess I cheated a little. My top oven is a self-cleaning oven so it was MUCH easier than my bottom one. The bottom one is pretty clean but not nearly as clean as my top one. I just didn't have the muscle to clean the back of it that good. However, the top rack was put into a large bag with ammonia and then scrubbed. The bottom rack was not and you can see how much cleaner the top rack is!

You won't find many toxic chemicals in my home. I occasionally use ammonia. It is the only thing that Erin and I have found that cleans an oven. Commercial oven cleaners are terribly toxic and I would never use them. Erin found through experimenting that a little bit of ammonia does the job better than all the other methods that are suppose to work. HERE is a link to the uses and warnings about ammonia. Now on to Erin's detailed instructions on cleaning your stove and oven ~

There was nothing on the internet that told me how to use ammonia on the cook top, so I experimented. I doused a rag in ammonia {it is a very strong vapor, so please use caution!!!}, set it on the affected areas, covered the area with a bowl, and let it set overnight. The fumes from the ammonia break down the grime like nothing else. By morning, a gentle rub of my non abrasive pad took everything off!! It was amazing to me. And easy! Ammonia is super cheap. I bought a half gallon jug at the dollar store for a dollar and it it the best stove cleaner ever.

It worked so well that I used it for the rest of the tough areas. I placed the grills, grates, and oven racks into the oven and put a big bowl of ammonia on the bottom.  I was careful not to breath it in. I let the ammonia fumes do their work while I was sleeping.  

After a good nights rest, I placed a trash bag on my counter top for a protective barrier. {I cleaned mine in my backyard. I didn't want the fumes and mess in my kitchen! Do wear gloves, however. I made a mess of my fingernails.} Out of the oven came these filthy looking grates. Not for long! I used a wire brush to work off the grime which virtually flaked off in chunks. For harder spots I used a plastic scraper.  This was super exciting for the girls and me. For some reason or other, effective cleaning methods make us giddy. While we took breaks from filming, the girls and I went to work on these grates.  We were sort of fighting over the worst grates because the thicker grime was more fun to peel off with our tools. After getting the worst of it off, we gentle rubbed it over with a damp scouring pad and then with a rag.  Wow! The results were amazing.  

The oven grates were not as receptive to the wire brushes so we got out the old wire scouring pad. That worked so much easier because you can wrap the fibers around the long, thin, metal bars and power it off to a shine. The results were much the same-amazing. {THESE are my favorite wire scouring pads. They are made of high quality stainless steel, last a long time, and don't rust.}

Inside the stove we placed a rag and poured a cup of ammonia over it. Then we let it set over night for the fumes to penetrate the grime. It worked so well. All the grime came off the window. We could see all the way to the floor through it. Everything just wiped off pretty easy without too much elbow grease. I suggest putting a sheet of aluminum foil at the base of the oven as a preventative step. {Some newer ovens advise NOT to do this.} Any food that should drip or bubble over, will drop on the foil instead of the bottom of your stove. It is much easier to toss the foil into the trash than to go through this process all over again. My grandmother always said...

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

The last step was to spray and wipe down the entire exterior of the stove to make it shine. I made a homemade spray cleaner by combining 2 cups vinegar with 2 cups of water. A 1:1 ratio. Spritz the entire top, around the controls, the buttons, and door to complete the shine. Stand back and watch how it sparkles.  

To keep the stove clean, simply wipe down the stove top after each cooking session. The grime will come off with very little effort. Watch for spills and pay close attention to the grates as well. This wipe down will only take about 2 minutes a day. 2 minutes a day will save hours of detailing.  

HERE is a link to Erin's video and post!

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, 

having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, 

and our bodies washed with pure water.

Hebrews 10:22