I'm not sure it's possible to take a good inside-the-oven photo.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I post a picture and just a few words.
But if you look at these two photos, it is possible to see that I cleaned my oven window!
I used a steel wool pad and a lot of elbow grease, but then when I mentioned this on Instagram, several of you had much better suggestions for me, which involve 93% less scrubbing.
So, after I roast a few chickens and spatter up the window thoroughly, I'll give some of those baking soda/boiling water ideas a try.
I must say, it is quite lovely to be able to check on baking progress through the window. It was so dirty before, I really had to open the door to be able to see if anything was browning.
(Everything kind of looked brown through it before. Ha.)
Our old oven had a self cleaning mode and you could wipe the window with one swipe. It was amazing. Now that we've downsized and have an older kitchen with an older oven I have to use lots of elbow grease too! It's a good little workout 😉
Good to know because I can't take the caustic smell of oven cleaner! Your blog inspires me in so many ways, thank you for posting this!
Our rental came with a primitive oven with no window at all! At least it's one less thing to clean!
A cousin of mine told me the same thing. Fortunately, I've never had one without a window, not even in our first apartment with the avocado green 1970s stove!
This post is a great reminder not only about cleaning the window, but also to replace the burned out light bulb.
Oh, yes. I had to replace mine a few years ago. Unfortunately, in the midst of replacing it, I dropped the glass cover for the lightbulb.
So, then I had to order a new one.
It was sort of an expensive light bulb replacement project. Whoops.
A Mr. Clean Magic Eraser sponge is a great tool for cleaning and keeping an oven window clean, and it doesn't scratch the glass. It's also great for getting rid of spills in the oven.
I'll keep that in mind-thank you!
I once took apart my oven door to clean the inside of the glass. I had gotten the window clean, but there was a "drip" going down between the two layers of glass. It drove me nuts. My oven door lifts off, so I laid it on my kitchen table on newspapers, and unscrewed two screws and it came apart. I cleaned the heck out of it and put it back together. I learned this on Pinterest.
Yep, I did that when I cleaned my door as well. There was milk dribbled down on the inside of the glass and it was driving me crazy!
About the oven photos, it could help to shut out the lights of your kitchen, and only keep the oven light on. It dims the photographer's reflection in the door 🙂
Yep, I had no other lights on (I typically do not leave any lights on when I take photos.) It was just natural light bouncing off the oven door. Oh well!
I guess next time you'll just have to clean your oven in the middle of the night so there's no light from the window 😀
Our new house came with a self-cleaning oven. We tried it and is amazing! All the grime turns into char/dust. Ofcourse the day after the last cleaning there was an unfortunate baking accident, so it was dirty again right away, but it will be easy to clean!
What's a good way to clean a gas oven...?? It came w the place and I've not figured out a good way to do a thorough clean.
I learned this on the Internet.
Make a thick paste of water and baking soda. Smear a thick layer on your (open and laid flat!) oven window. Wait 15 minutes. It will wipe off with very little scrubbing.
I use almost the same technique for burned on gunk on pots. Put a layer of paper towel over the bottom of the pot. Wet the paper towel and sprinkle liberally with baking soda. Leave overnight. In the morning, discard the towel and baking soda and the funk will come off easily.
I second this method - it's amazing. Another great use for the lowly baking soda! And no fumes.
Oh no! Gunk not funk!
I don't have anything to say about cleaning ovens or taking pictures of them, but that food sure does look good!
Popovers!
I wouldn't feel too bad about your oven pics. I don't think I can even see through my window, so caked in crud!
I can now vouch for the baking soda idea. I tried it on my oven door this afternoon. It still has some gunk, but considering it has not been cleaned in years I am very happy with the results so far.
This is great to hear! I'd dearly love to avoid the scrubbing I did this go-round.