Cleaning the Oven... And the Stove... And the Vent Fan...

Bacon. The Foundation of life.

At least that's what my Mister would argue.

That being said, I cook a lot of bacon which creates a lot of grease which clogs up our vent fan filter. That filter hasn't been cleaned since we moved into our house almost three years ago.

Go ahead. Say it with me. Ewwwww.....

In addition, my attempt to make what turned out to be ahhh-mazing cinnamon bread last week, left my oven an amazing disaster.

And to top it all off, our stove top gets abused on a weekly basis. Boil overs from the Mister's beer brewing, cat foot prints (grrr), food splatters, spills, bacon grease - it just destroys that poor cook top. 

I wanted to share with you my attempt at resolving all three of these dirty issues and the three magical formulas that allowed me to do just that without fumes, gagging, or an excessive amount of energy.

First, let's start with the oven. I shared a DIY oven cleaner here and that's exactly what I used this time around. I doubled the recipe to make enough paste to really cover the entire oven well. I removed the racks and slathered the paste on every square inch of that oven. I let it sit for about 20 minutes.

In the meantime, I put the racks in our bathtub and filled the tub with super hot water and about a half cup of powdered dishwasher detergent. 

I let these soak for about two hours and the gunk literally floated right off. I had to clean the tub afterwards...but hey, beggars can't be choosy right?

While the oven paste was working, I started boiling a large pot of water on the stove. Once the water was boiling, I added 1/4 cup of baking soda to the pot. Word of warning, add the baking soda s-l-o-w-l-y. I put the vent fan filter in the pot and let the water boil off all that grease and grime that had accumulated over the years. 

Since the filter wouldn't fit all the way into the pan, I flipped it over after about 15 minutes to get the other side.

Check out the icky gunk stuck in the pan afterwards!

Once the filter was clean, I rinsed it under cold water and let it dry before re-installing it.

By this time, the oven paste had sat for long enough, so I went back into the oven and wiped it all down. All that burnt cinnamon and sugar came right off. Truly a miracle. I sprayed down the walls of the oven with some vinegar to get the white film of baking soda off and it was nice and shiny again.

Lastly, I addressed the cook top. 

I sprinkled some baking soda all over the top of the stove. Then soaked a clean rag in some hot soapy water and laid it out on the stove where the worst stains were. I let it sit for about 15 minutes and then scrubbed the entire cook top with the rag and baking soda. Turned out beautiful!

Our stove/oven gets a lot of use so I know it's important to keep it clean so it will last us awhile. It's just not the most fun job in the world... But these three easy cleaning solutions made these chores much easier. I hope they help you too!

In summary:

Oven Cleaner: 5 Tbsp. Baking Soda, 4 Tbsp. Vinegar, 3 Drops Dish Soap. Spread paste. Let sit. Scrub. Rinse.

Oven Racks: Soak in hot, hot water in the bathtub with 1/2 cup powdered Dishwasher Detergent. Let sit for 2 hours (or overnight). Scrub. Rinse. Clean bathtub.

Stove Fan Filter: Slowly add 1/4 cup baking soda to a pot of boiling water. Insert filter. Let boil 15 minutes. Be grossed out. Flip filter around. Be grossed out some more. Rinse filter. Let dry.

Cook Top: Sprinkle baking soda all over cook top. Get clean rag wet with hot soapy water. Lay rag over baking soda. Let sit 15 minutes. Scrub cook top. Rinse. Let dry.

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What's your least favorite cleaning chore? Do you have any miracle cleaning solutions that save you time and money?



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