REALLY minging oven, 3 options, need advice.....

fairydust30

Ashamedly I have to admit to having a REALLY bad filthy dirty oven - to the point where it now stinks the whole house out with a 'worse-than-chip-shop' greasey smell that irritates my eyes and is making everything smell forever. I know, i know, dont ask - just a reeeeaaaaally busy family and cleaning the oven just got left and left for other chores. The oven was already here when we moved so it is at least 7 years old and Im wondering if theres a pile of grease hiding somewhere as we have tried to clean many times (just not in the last month) and although it looks clean from what we see it still smells awful when we cook and it gets heated up.
Anyway - I have 3 options and could use some advise as I dont want to waste money on either - cause we dont really have much money, let alone money to waste. Plus I dont really want to spend money on a new oven when our kitchen will probably be replaced in the 'far-away' future. I have tried baking soda which does clean it ok apart from a lot of stubborn patches but it still smells. Even my husband has tried cleaning it with a nasty smelling oven cleaner.

1. Spend a small fortune on whatever cleaning products I can find at my local supermarket and gas the family out in the process of using them.
2. Spend £40-60 getting someone in to clean the oven
3. Magic some money from somewhere and BUY a new oven, bearing in mind i would be replacing a built-in double oven so Im guessing £400-600

I am worried that options 1 or 2 will not stop the horrible smell so am undecided as to what to do..... please help?

macman

Option 2 is well worth it, a caustic dip will remove dirt that is impervious to domestic oven cleaners. Certainly did the job with our oven after 10 years.

ormus

shop around. you can buy double ovens from about 275 quid.

and a single oven from 125 quid ish.

olias

Have a look on ebay, you can get them for less than £100!

Olias

thescouselander

Another vote here for a professional cleaning company - should be the cheapest option and they really do a good job.

Aquatronixjenny

Yep, another vote here for option 2

pinkteapot

My mum had her oven professionally cleaned last year for the first time ever and she said it was amazing - the oven was literally like new afterwards. Hers wasn't as grubby as yours from the sounds of it so worth asking them to have a look and tell you how well they think they'll be able to clean it.

Fuzzy_2

Option 2, I had my old oven cleaned this way a few years ago. Money well spent IMHO.

fairydust30

I wondered out to see what the supermarkets had to offer and bought an Oven Pride set with a bag and a bottle of oven cleaner in it. Think it was just less that £4. I put my racks in the bag with the cleaner and I have to say I cant believe the racks have NOT ONE SINGLE BIT of grease left on them. The cleaner worked well on the oven (wasnt actually fume-y) but it very corrosive so BE CAREFUL its lethal! The oven needs another go and I havent done the top oven yet but once all that is done I will see how it smells when cooking. I think that the Oven Pride will get it as clean as I am able to and not sure a Prof Cleaner would be able to do any better as it has really eaten through the grease! If it still smells after a thorough clean, not sure....

SuzieSue

Once you have got it cleaned, you should buy an oven liner (Lakeland do one).

I had a filthy oven and had to stop using it until I re-did my kithchen and got a new one. I've used an oven liner since then and it is so easy to clean.

emjay99

Maybe a steam cleaner will do the job. I ( dressed in an all over safety suit and whole face mask) once steamed off all the gunge from a really hard baked oven in 15 minutes.