During this busy season of entertaining, our ovens play a vital role in holiday success. What are some winter oven DIY maintenance tips to get it in tip-top shape? Cleaning the range top, as well as the oven’s interior and exterior, removes buildup and identifies issues before a big event. Use this stove and oven maintenance guide to ready your cooking appliances for the holiday hustle.

Get Holiday-Ready With These Oven Maintenance Cleaning Tips

Devoting hours to cleaning your oven isn’t possible during the busy holiday season. Our oven maintenance cleaning tips use simple steps to clean oven and stove components quickly and effectively.

How to Clean the Oven Exterior

Don’t let fingerprints, spills, and splashes leave your oven looking lackluster when it will be on full display. A little elbow grease and some simple supplies can make the exterior sparkle.

Use these oven maintenance tips to clean the exterior:

• Scrub the door’s interior: Use a non-abrasive sponge or cleaning pad and a mild cleanser to remove grease and residue.
• Wash and polish the exterior: Spray the door with a mild cleanser or dampen a cloth with warm soap and water. Wipe down the door’s exterior and remove any cleaning residue with a damp cloth. Dry to remove any streaks.
• Clean knobs and/or control panel: Wipe down the control panel with dish detergent or glass cleaner and dry with a soft cloth. Apply the same methods for the range knobs, using a q-tip dipped in soapy water to clean behind them.

How to Clean the Oven Interior

While many oven maintenance tips recommend cleaning the interior with the self-clean feature, it carries significant risk. The self-clean function’s high heat can damage interior components, resulting in an oven not heating up when you need it the most. However, using soap and water isn’t advisable either, as lingering residue can also damage oven parts.

Use these oven cleaning tips to clean the interior with a baking soda paste:

• Mix cleaning paste: Mix together ¾ cup baking soda with ¼ cup warm water.
• Apply to oven interior: Remove the oven racks and cover all visible surfaces, excluding any heating elements. Let the paste sit overnight.
• Remove the paste and spray with vinegar: The next morning, use a damp sponge or scraper to remove as much paste as possible. Spray the interior with vinegar and wipe away any lingering residue.

How to Clean the Range Top

Range maintenance for the stovetop depends on its material. There are different cleaning methods and supplies for gas, electric, and glass cooktops.

Here’s how to perform a stove cleaning for each type of range top:

• Gas cooktop cleaning: Remove the grates and burner caps and wash each separately with a non-abrasive pad and warm, soapy water.  Spray a mild cleanser onto a paper towel or cloth and wipe down the stovetop surface, being careful not to soak the igniter. Replace burner caps and grates when they’re completely dry.
• Electric cooktop cleaning: Create a range cleaning paste of baking soda and warm water and coat the cooktop surface, avoiding any electrical connections. After 20 minutes, wipe away the paste with a damp cloth.
• Glass cooktop cleaning: A glass cooktop cleaner is ideal for regular glass stove maintenance. Apply it with a non-abrasive pad and gently scrub away the debris. Use a razor blade to carefully remove baked-on stains.

After performing your stove and oven maintenance, test both to make sure they’re working properly. Does something seem amiss? Call Appliance & A/C Parts Today to schedule a pre-holiday repair.