Oven Cleaning Woes

If I ever buy myself an oven, I am not going to just willy nilly pick out any ol’ thing. No. I have opinions about important features ovens must have. Less than 12 hours ago, I did not have these opinions. But, now, I have opinions. My future ovens will be self cleaning ovens. My current oven is not.

I don’t think the opportunity to clean an oven has ever come my way before today. In fact, I’m sure of it.

I know how often I should vacuum and dust, how frequently I should change my sheets and clean out the fridge, and when I need to scrub the toilet. But, when does an oven need cleaning? I mean obviously if there was a mess in there I would clean it up, but other than that, when does one go about such business?

Well, lately our smoke detector has been piercing the air with it’s discontent of the air quality every time the oven is in use. One tires of rushing around opening windows and doors and fanning a cookie sheet under the alarms. It takes the joy out of the baking experience. This led us to believe it was time. It was time to clean the oven.

So, after googling instructions of how to go about such a feat, my roommate and I tackled this task with much gusto and elbow grease- literally. We made a vinegar and baking soda solution of some sorts and scrubbed like we have never scrubbed before. It took almost half an hour…and let me tell you 30 minutes of vigorously scrubbing can really do a number on the old body. My hands were sore, my knees and ankles were achy, and my neck was strained. I mean, we really got in there and scrubbed that baby. It was intense.

The experience formed my opinion. There is no need for such labor if there is an oven out there that can do itself- by all means, that is the way I will go.

P.S.- It wasn’t all bad. Melissa and I laughed a lot during the whole experience. We laughed at the crazy oven, we laughed at being crouched over the stupid thing on the kitchen floor, we laughed at the intense scrubbing we were sharing in, we just laughed. So, if you have to ever clean an oven, don’t go at it alone.