Oven cleaners professional or DIY?

Use to be one of the jobs I hated but since getting a new oven use a Lakeland oven mat and Oven Mate, put shelves in the DW regularly and it does not take much time to keep clean. Have not thought of using Pink Stuff but it is amazing stuff. We have full length aluminum sliding windows in metal tracks. Overtime the tracks go black which seems to be a magnet for small GC's fingers. A scrub with an old toothbrush and Pink Stuff brings the tracks up like new.

Years ago, my mother used a pink paste when we lived in Britain. Never seen it here.

I am fascinated by all the people who have their ovens professionally cleaned. I had only ever heard of this service on gransnet. It doesn't exist here. Is it a UK thing?

I had a domestic science teacher who quite seriously stated,
" Young ladies, "(we were 16) " you should always clean your oven the minute you switch it off before sitting down to eat."

I imagined her in her Sunday best holding up Christmas dinner while cleaning her oven!

I hadn't the nerve to ask her if she always did clean her oven every time she had used it.

I see the point though, it is easier to clean, but surely next morning would do as well?

I never clean my oven. It is a mini oven and my cleaner keeps it in good order.

I do my own use the evil bag cleaning stuff in the garden but it is a chore I hate. My daughter has hers professionally cleaned twice a year and at £50 a pop it's not cheap but it is stress free no spillage of corrosive stuff and the oven looks great. I think I will just stump up and pay once a year for the luxury

How strange! I just booked my usual oven cleaner fifteen minutes ago, checked my emails and there was the post on oven cleaning. I used to do it myself using the products with the skull and crossbones on them until one day one of my DILs said: Life's too short, get it done professionally. So I did and, since then, I've done it every year. My kitchen opens onto the garden and gets all the sun (when it shines) so this morning when I came down there was my oven lit up in all its dirty glory. So....

Marigolds and Brillo pads seem to do the trick for me, on shelves and glass, although I don’t do the sides as they are self cleaning, or the bottom as I have a liner that I just wash every now and then.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

My Husband cleans ours

I do both: professional every now and then, and clean it myself with Oven Mate & the Lakeland Ltd "kit". A professional clean is fantastic - we had one when we were selling our house and truly I think that's what decided the people who bought it. (They were very impressed with the oven!)

Professional cleaner, deserves every penny.

My friend had her oven professionally cleaned. The next day it would not work. The repair man said the acidic cleaning fluid had eaten through the electric in the fan and he'd seen this happen before with professional cleaning. So I do mine myself! I use an eco friendly product that does require more elbow grease but I think it's worth it.

I had my oven professionally cleaned before I moved house and it was worth every penny. The guy asked if I cooked a lot of chicken as chicken fat is the worst thing for ovens apparently.

I have a Lakeland mat on the floor of the oven and self cleaning sides. But I too recommend bicarbonate of soda, tried it very recently and it was brilliant at getting the oven door clean with very little effort. I've since cleaned the bathroom with it!!

I use Oven Pride and really pleased with the results. Pink Stuff works on other thing but not my oven.

When we moved into this house the oven base had half an inch of dark brown gunky gel on it. I refused to use till it had been professionally cleaned and waited about 6 weeks for them to come!

I've checked out Oven Mate and it says not suitable for self cleaning ovens. I'm in rented property so how do I know whether the oven is self clean or not?

A man in my village does mine, double oven £60. I am quite allergic to all the oven cleaners so I would rather pay

For the glass I use white vinegar and baking soda. Pour it on and let it fizz away working its magic, anything really stubborn gets help from a ceramic hob scraper.

I can highly recommend the pink stuff. Got my tub from Poundland and they also sell a pink cleaning spray.... great for the bathroom.

Just had my done professionally on Friday. £60 for a double oven. The top oven wasn't bad, the bottom oven was grim.
Over the years, one minute I was cleaning the oven every use, then suddenly, it seemed, it became horrible.
It was worth it to have a brand new looking oven but I've promised myself to Do Better in future.

Our local b&m sells Pink Stuff. ?

What about installing a self cleaning oven next time you need one? We had that option but decided not to go for it. I don't find it hard to clean the oven. I use some foaming spray.

How do you clean the glass door without getting the Ovenpride on the rubber seals?

I'm disabled but manage to clean the oven myself, just put the shelves in a bag to soak and the rest just takes a quick wipe, it's a doddle. Oven pride is excellent and any stubborn bits just require a bit longer in the bag. I discovered Oven Pride when needing to clean my sons flat after tenants moved out and I think the oven hadn't been cleaned in years there was so much burnt on crud. I left the shelves to soak for several days and they came out like new. Virtually no effort from me. I now use it about once a year on my own oven and it's virtually effort free.

Oven Pride makes the job almost a pleasure. Sparkling results with no elbow grease.

I use Pink Stuff for the oven shelves but it makes no difference to the oven door. Brillo pads work better however nothing beats the man from Ovenclean.