So you want to Clean the Oven?

If you're like me, you've probably waited to clean the oven until the last possible moment of spring cleaning. I've always hated the horrible smells of the toxic stuff they call "oven cleaner." Want a way out of that horrible afternoon stink? What if there were a way that you could get rid of all those nasty chemicals but not sacrifice any of the cleanliness? Well, my friends, there is a way!

Exhibit A: Gross-Nasty Oven

This was my oven before I cleaned it. It had crumbs, spills, and caked-on, mysterious nasty from who-knows-when. It was in some bad need of TLC. If your oven is as bad as this, or worse (gasp!) then it's time to take action.

1. Make sure the oven is COMPLETELY cool. This is not something you want to do after whipping up a batch of cookies or while making tonight's lasagna. This may seem like utter common sense, but I'm sure there's someone out there who needs reminding...
2. Remove the wire racks from the inside of your oven. This might be a good opportunity to clean these as well. Luckily, mine fit in the dishwasher. If yours don't, good old fashioned soap and hot water will do the trick. 
3. Gather your ingredients. (Here is the real key, so listen up!) You'll need some generic scrubbing tools, as long as the brush from your sink isn't as nasty as the oven, it'll do fine. You'll also need something to wipe up the cleaner and make it sparkle when you're done. A washcloth would work, but I personally prefer to use a cut up old t-shirt. (It won't leave any streaks!). The last thing you need is the cleaner. Mix together 2 parts baking soda, 1 part salt and 3 parts warm to hot water.
4. Apply the cleaner to the icky stains in the oven, and let it sit for a few minutes. 

   

   Here is the cleaning agent. I chose to put mine in an old soap dispenser to make it easier to apply to the deeper parts of the stove. You can also see the brush I used to do the scrubbin' in the background of the picture.

5. Scrub! (This honestly shouldn't be as hard as with over cleaners which aren't abrasive enough despite all their toxicity to take some of the elbow grease off your hands, or, I guess...elbows)
6. Repeat as necessary 
7. Wipe clean
8. (If there is a particularly difficult stain, you can apply this cleaner, wait a few minutes as you did before, and then spray some lemon juice or vinegar, whichever you have on hand, onto the mixture. This WILL get that nasty goop off.)
   
   And here is the finished result! Now that's one oven I'd be proud to bake in! Let me know in the comments how this worked for you. Pictures of the results along with any questions about the process are welcome.