burn, baby, burn.

I use the self-cleaning feature on a cold night, which is any night since I live on the foggy coast. Right after dinner...so the oven is still warm, I set it to self cleaning. A quick wipe in the morning takes care of the soot.

Works for me. Your mileage may vary.

I'm with Rebecca. Push the big button after dinner and let 'er rip. Sometimes I even wipe up the soot in the morning.

I too use the self cleaning part, but in addition to that - I always lay down aluminum foil at the bottom, so all I have to worry about is the tops and sides, which generally isn't too bad anyways.
After about 3/4 months, I simply remove the foil and put down new.

I pretty much only clean my oven if a disaster happens (which has yet to occur) or when I move out of an apartment. Usually it isn't too dirty, so I make a paste of baking soda, salt, and vinegar, then scrub the whole thing down. If there is a tough spot, I'll let some baking soda and vinegar sit on it for a while before continuing.

I'm also a self-cleaning convert, doing it about once a year. I try to run the self-cleaning cycle during the winter, and directly after I've used the oven while it's still hot.

This is so much better than my old oven, a WW2-era gas clunker, which required a lot of awkward scrubbing and a worklamp to light up the job.

i haven't actually tried this but you can spray it with a mixture of ammonia and water and just let it sit overnight and then wipe it clean the next day.

Hmmm, I'm like you Elizabeth. I rent and have never cleaned my oven in the 4 years I've been there. It doesn't look TOO bad. It is gas and doesn't have a self cleaning option. I'm interested in trying the baking soda vinegar salt solution but I know I need to be careful and not put out the pilot. That is much harder to light than the one on the range (which I am constantly knocking out and relighting).

I think I might just wait till I have to move...or till I'm REALLY bored and the rest of my house is REALLY clean some weekend.

i spray it with water and then sprinkle everything with baking soda. let it sit over night and then everything just wipes right off.

i don't have a self cleaning oven and i live with 5 other people there are often disasters.

My oven is gas and doesn't have a self-cleaning feature, so I try to scrub it about once every couple months. I just used the paste of baking soda.

However, the first time I cleaned my oven, it had a lot of baked on crud (that came with the rental), so my usual method didn't work effectively. To soften the crud, I left a bowl of ammonia in the closed oven overnight (don't do this if your oven doesn't seal -- stinky). I try to avoid using the toxic stuff, but it works well as a last resort. And it's definitely less frightening than commercial oven cleaner.

My oven is a Siemens and I love it! But it doesn't have a self cleaning feauture. So I spray some Cilit Bang inside and wipe it after a few minutes. The same goes for the cooker, too. I am happy with that. But I do not make any frying on the cooker; instead I prefer a special fryer machine for such messy job.

....Confession is good for the soul....

About a year ago, I wanted to clean the oven in my apartment. I asked my roommate when the oven had last been cleaned; she sheepishly replied "never." She'd been there four years, and the person who had been her roommate before I moved in had been there another few years before SHE got there. Not only was the oven not cleaned, the grease trap over the range had also never been cleaned.

I surveyed the situation, and then after repeating "it's only just this once" as a mantra, I did go ahead and get the can of Easy-off, turned all the fans in the apartment up to "high", sprayed everything down and wiped it out a couple times, and then promptly donated some money to Al Gore's environmental task force.

Since then I just wipe up spills when they happen and haven't had any real cleaning problem since.

I must confess as empresscallipygos has before me - I too recently cleaned the oven of the apartment I just moved in to with a toxic spray. Judging by the lack of regular cleaning evidenced throughout the rest of the house, I suspect it hadn't been cleaned since well before the previous tenant lived there. If I could just get other people to follow my general rule of light, regular cleaning, I could avoid resorting to these terrible methods. But, the truth is they work. At least I didn't have to get a new oven (yeah, it was that bad - and looks that good now).

Until I can convert everyone to respecting rental appliances, I fear "it's only just this once" may have to happen each time I move into a new apartment.

Now, I just wipe it down regularly (no self-cleaning option). It takes very little time if you stay on top of it.

The last place we lived had a self cleaning oven which worked amazingly well. I had never used a self cleaning oven before this one and I was hooked. All I needed to do once it cooled was to wipe up the white film off with a damp sponge.

Sadly, our new place doesn't have a self cleaning oven, but the range is gas, so it's a fair trade off. The oven was moderately dirty when we moved in. I cleaned it with a soft scrub made by Ecover. It worked great and didn't require as much elbow grease as I thought it would. Plus, there are no nasty chemicals in it. Due to my allergies/asthma, I have to be really cautious about what I clean with.

I have a maid that comes every other week and does it for me. :)

i don't!
i'm not a huge baker, and i seems to move apartments every 1-2 years... i know i'm supposed to clean it out before the new tenants move in, but i never do.
i just forfeit that $25 of my security deposit...

Uh, yeah, so...moving out of our apartment next week and haven't cleaned the oven in the 2 years we've lived here. Why? Probably because I'm usually lazy. And...we do use it, a lot. Thanks for posting this right in time for me..haha!

Mine is a combination microwave and conventional oven (living in a small place requires such space saving). I try to keep an eye on it and wipe it down once in awhile. However, the best way to do it is to put a bowl or cup of water in the microwave and boil it for a bit to steam the interior then wipe it down.

Er.... one time I exploded a spaghetti squash in my oven, and I was working that night so didn't clean it up right away. The dang stuff dried all over the inside and was impossible to get off. So... (thinking that the self cleaning feature was just really, really hot) I cranked the (non-self cleaning) oven to 500 degrees and let 'er go... smoking myself, the hubby and our three cats out of the house in -5 degree weather. (It was cold that year!) After everything cooled off, I found that everything inside was pure carbon, so I took a hand-held paint scraper to the insides (being careful not to scratch the finish) and then vacuumed the whole mess up. NOT an approach I'd recommend, but it worked! :P

hi, i've been looking for a way to clean my oven, and tried the baking soda & the self-cleaning. i can't seem to get the glass part clean, though - it's got a rainbow film or something and as much as i try to scrub, it doesn't seem to come off or clear up. can anyone help? thanks!

Honestly, I never have! I used to move very frequently -- every year or so, and/or my housemates looked after it -- so it was never an issue. Since those days ended, I've twice just bought a new oven when the old one got nasty! Now, of course, I'm looking at needing to clean my (almost) one year old, wonderful KitchenAid oven, and I'm nervous!

I use the self cleaner with pretty good luck.
For the really tuff spots I'll warm the oven and spray on some Dawn Power Disolver and let it set for a bit before wiping it off. Works like a charm. Does a great job and pans too, as well as removing grease spots from clothing too.