To Clean or NOT to Clean!

Well it is that time of year, the holidays are here and everyone is coming to your house for Thanksgiving…or Christmas…or New Year’s.  Whatever the holiday may be, you are cooking and your house is spotless EXCEPT…the inside of the oven!  That’s ok, you bought a self-cleaning oven, so all you have to do is clean that puppy up and you will be all set, right? WRONG! 

A self-cleaning oven is a nice little luxury for which you probably were willing to pay a little extra.  Who wants to be on their hands and knees for hours scrubbing all that cooked on mess?  A self-cleaning oven can have your oven clean as a whistle anywhere from 2-6 hours depending on the brand.  BUT here is the problem…the self-cleaning cycle is the most vigorous setting you can put your oven in.  The oven goes up to a temperature beyond 800 degrees.  And believe me when I say, if your oven is going to break during a self-clean cycle IT WILL BREAK the day before you have 30 people coming over…so DON’T DO IT!

What is one to do?  I have a few suggestions for you:

1.       If you are hosting a holiday that is at least 30 days away (E.G. NOT Thanksgiving) self-clean your oven now!  That way, if there is a problem, there is plenty of time for a servicer to get out and fix your oven before the big day.

2.       If you are hosting Thanksgiving, just use some hot soapy water and clean up what you can.  Your cooking is going to be so fabulous, no one is going to care if it came out of a not so clean oven.

3.       Do not use oven cleaner on a self-cleaning oven.  This might seem like the perfect solution for you in your time of despair…but it isn’t a good idea.  In fact it is almost as terrible an idea as self-cleaning your oven the day before your big holiday.  Self-cleaning oven liners are made of porous material.  The chemicals will disintegrate the walls over time.  The oven cleaner will harm the inside of your oven and may cause you to need an entire new oven.  I am assuming this is not the holiday gift you were hoping for.

4.       If you do not have a self-cleaning oven, get cleaning with the oven cleaner.  You can use oven cleaner in these ovens as the walls are not porous and are made to withstand these chemicals.

We here at Holloways wish you a marvelous holiday season with or without a clean oven!

Best,

Laurie

Holloways Appliance Center serves all of Connecticut including Avon, Canton, West Hartford, Glastonbury, Farmington, Windsor and western Massachusetts.