Oven cleaners professional or DIY?

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?

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.

I have Oven Mate and it is good (don't get it on aluminium).
Pink stuff apparently available in pound shops and Home Bargains. Expensive on Amazon.
I am going to give it a go, at under £1, what can I lose?

I’ve just booked! ????

You've come to the right place!

My husband and I run our own oven cleaning business, but it is different from other operators' systems.

Of course, it's entirely your choice whether to do D.I.Y. or ring a local professional service. Nevertheless, I believe professional, at least asfaras we are concerned, is best. I'll list the reasons:

Most operators work from vehicle-based soaking tanks. This means your front door open in all weathers (not pleasant in pouring rain, howling gale, snow ...), and obviously unsafe for children and/or pets. Our method is unique - we work right by your oven. Once we're indoors, we stay put until the oven is returned to its fresh, clean best.

The so-called oven cleaning products you buy in the shops are caustic (can burn your oven finish, and possibly you), and not biodegradable. However, our system is biodegradable and non-caustic.

Our works car is all-electric.

Safe for use at properties where there is septic tank drainage.

We are not a franchise, unlike other operators. This means that profits stay in the U.K., and not sent to some unwieldy overseas holding company.

Take your pick but I say professional every time.

Yes I use it, also on a professionals advice, and I find excellent for more things that I ever expected, including my oven, although it doesn’t ever get really dirty. Great for cleaning UPVC widows etc.x

Ha ha ..OVEN !!! what;s that ...since I was widowed, sold my bungalow and moved to a retirement flat on the coast (which has a lovely built in new oven) .....it has never been used !! I now intend to be as bone idle as possible, having cooked, cleaned, etc etc as we all have to when we have a house, husbands and children, guests, etc etc for years ...SO NOW it is my turn to only do what I want ....which means a new microwave with an oven built in, a steamer, a slow cooker, a grill and anything else I need ...and as soon as the restaurants are open no need to use even that !!! I fully intend to grow old disgracefully ....even bought a robot hoover ......now all I need to find is a self operating duster .................so if anyone knows of one ...................

Pink Stuff, Brilliant stuff you can get it for £1 at B & M

I've never tried pink stuff, but I'll give it a go, thanks for the heads up.

Thanks for letting me know not to use Pink Stuff on aluminium. I cannot say I am a fan of this product- it does not appear to work for me.

The last time I had my oven cleaned professionally was well over 2 years ago and then it cost around £90. It needs redoing but I will look for somebody cheaper. Mine is only a single electric oven.

All this talk of cleaning ovens made me look at mine - it’s probably the most hard-working thing I own, on every day. Yes, I think I’ll invest in a professional clean and then promise to keep it clean myself.

I clean the racks and doors regularly, but inside the oven is another thing.

Professional clean every time. I had it done a few years ago, on the recommendation of my neighbours, my husband isn’t keen, says he will do it, but never does! So get the Ovenu man in when my husband is on his golfing holiday! Obviously back-fired this year with lockdown. X

I've just 'discovered' it and it's great. Can't use it on my Aga when it's on though but it was serviced last week and came up looking good when I gave it a good scrub! Must try Pink Stuff on the regular oven next

Mine gets done once in a blue moon. It’s far from pristine inside but then I use it a lot so any germs aren’t going to last long.
I did once Get A Man In - best £45 I ever spent, but that was ages ago. Last time I cleaned it myself the fumes struck me as very toxic so that’s my excuse for not doing it since.

For the oven racks and any other parts that come out, we use fairy dishwasher tablets/pods. Soak for a couple of hours and a quick rub down and they come up almost like new. I'm a big fan of anything that doesn't involve hours of scrubbing!!

I do it myself but as a vegetarian I’m not roasting meat which is what splashes fat around.
My bugbear is the glass door on the bottom, unused oven. Somehow it gets condensation from the top oven in between the two glass plates and Every time I have to get the manual out to see how to take off the outer skin of the door to clean between the two glass panes.

Utter bliss is having my pyrolytic oven

Oven mate, put rungs in bag, tip in gloppy stuff,swish around leave over night wash next day like new.Also put on glass oven door and bottom.of oven wash out,jobs done.
The sides self clean.

i bought a new cooker last year, with a special offer on a yearly professional clean, which i took, don't usually but do find it a chore to clean my oven. seeing this thread reminded me to ring and book an appointment, couldn't do before because of restrictions. just hoping it's worth it.

I’m intrigued by those of you who get someone in to clean your oven because it’s so bad you can’t tackle it yourself. Does that also apply to your microwave?

Sister of an ex colleague couldn’t face cleaning her oven, so she just bought a new one. ?
I like her style!

Feeling very virtuous as I did ours this morning.
Racks in the dishwasher, and glass doors cleaned with ecoegg, hard surface cleaner. All now clean and brilliant.

This thread has persuaded me to book an oven clean (next Tuesday) with a clear conscience. I have told myself I have more than enough to do (I have) and an immaculate oven (well, two), hob and extractor will cheer me up enormously. After all, think of all the coffees out I haven’t had for months!

I’m so glad so many of you have taken the plunge!
There was a little criticism from one poster suggesting it was wrong to get your oven in such a state it had to be professionally cleaned!
Well I really ?‍♀️ don’t care, the joy when someone else has done such a grand job and you still have some skin left on your hands and decent fingernails is worth it.

When I lived in a house we had a gas double oven. I had it professionally cleaned one year and decided to do so again a couple of years later. I booked a different chap from last time (can't remember why, cheaper probably) and when he turned up he took one look at my oven and announced he wasn't cleaning it because it was too dirty! He flounced out of the front door and I never bothered with a professional again!