10 Oven-Cleaning Tools That Our Editors Recommend to Everyone

This multi-purpose cleaning powder has been around for over 100 years and is still getting the job done, whether you're cleaning your bathroom or your kitchen. To use it, you have to make a paste by combining the powder with water, then apply it to the dirty area and let it sit for 45 minutes. If you have the time to wait or tackle other chores while the paste is doing its work, you'll be pleased by how easy it is to wipe away all the gunk. Our contributor Ashley Poskin tried several ways of cleaning her oven grates and found this one to be the most effective. "This method is a bit messy (the paste will drip!), but — holy cow! — it works wonders," she wrote. "It ended up being my favorite method because it was easy and cleaned with very minimal effort."

Because the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser works on so many surfaces — ovens, tile, painted walls, sinks, etc. — this is a smart one to use if you plan on cleaning more than just your oven and want to keep using your cleaning tool elsewhere. The other nice thing about this cleaner is that you just need to run it under water to activate it and then you're ready to start wiping away dirt and grease. Our contributor Shifrah Combiths recommends this more for when you don't have a lot of surface area to clean. "For spot cleaning your oven’s interiors, it’s the Magic Eraser for the win," she wrote.

The Pink Stuff is a tried-and-true all-purpose cleaning paste that's been around since 1938. Our editors love how helpful it is for cleaning kitchens and bathrooms, and that includes ovens. Just apply some to a rag or scrubbing pad of your choice and spread it around your oven. It starts to work right away, so when you wipe it off, you're left with a pleasantly clean surface. Our executive lifestyle director Lisa Freedman tried it on her oven's door and was thoroughly impressed. "The glass got so sparkly clean, I could literally see my face in it," she wrote.

If you just need to do a little spot cleaning or want to try something with very little cleanup and no harsh sprays, this pumice stone stick is surprisingly effective at getting rid of baked-on grease. All you have to do is wet it and scrub any dirty spots with it — sort of like using a big eraser. Out of the five oven-cleaning methods our contributor Shifrah Combiths tried, this simple tool worked the best. "This method was the easiest, most straightforward, and most effective," she wrote. "The only thing I didn’t love (and it wasn’t a huge deal), was that the stone felt a little rough in my hands. Luckily, pulling on a pair of gloves easily solved that problem! Other than that, the stone worked so well that it was almost fun to use it on the oven."

This popular and proven oven-cleaning spray requires a little bit of patience, but the results are worthwhile. You can spray down the interior or exterior of your oven and let the foaming elixir do its work for up to two hours. When you come back, just wipe the messes away with paper towels and you'll be left with a sparkly-clean surface. For our contributor Ashley Poskin, this got rid of all the baked on grease inside her oven in a single afternoon. "I was very impressed with how little effort on my part it took to get the oven clean," she wrote. "The actual cleaning part took the tiniest amount of effort. You literally just wipe it away. One might even say it comes off… easy."

This kit includes a tub of cleaning paste and a Scrub Mommy scrubber that you can dip in water, scoop on some paste, and get to work refreshing your oven. The cleaning compound is safe to use on the outside and inside of your oven, as well as on your countertops and backsplash. Our contributor Ashley Abramson likes that it doesn't have a "chemical" smell and wrote that "the paste totally restored my oven." Ashley was also "pleasantly shocked that the paste easily scrubbed away some burned-on food residue that had been on the bottom of my oven for months."

If you prefer oven-cleaning products that don't have any harsh smells, try this handmade oven-cleaning scrub set we found on Etsy. Its key ingredient is baking soda, but it has some backup ingredients that make it much more powerful than any homemade scrubs you could whip up at home. It also includes a metal scour brush that helps you cut through the toughest grime. Our contributor L. Daniela Alvarez was impressed by how well this cleaned her oven, but she also had a lot of great things to say about its aroma. "Surprisingly, my favorite thing about this product is the scent — powered by peppermint, lemon, and eucalyptus essential oils," she wrote. "Unlike most cleaners, it truly smelled like an uplifting spa scrub that belonged on my skin instead of my oven."

Although these dishwasher tablets aren't sold as oven cleaners, they do a tremendous job and are especially handy for stubborn baked-on grease spots. All you have to do is dip a tablet in water and use it as a scrubbing brush. It works on your oven's glass window and on its metal surfaces, and our contributor Ashley Poskin found that it did a great job. "I 100 percent recommend using this method to clean your oven," she wrote. "These tablets are tiny secret weapons."

The easiest way to get your oven clean is to prevent it from getting too dirty in the first place, and that is exactly what these oven liners let you do. Each liner is made of teflon and is oven-safe for up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit, so you can just set one on the bottom of your oven and it will catch any and all spills. (That means no more melted and hardened cheese blobs getting stuck to your oven.) These are easy to clean in the sink, and when they get worn down over time you can just replace them. You can also cut them out to fit around your burners and use them to keep your stovetop clean, too. For our contributor Tiffany Edwards, using oven liners has been a game-changer. "I highly recommend this little piece of Spill-Whatever-You-Want magic, which extends the time between oven cleans and helps me maintain my sanity," she wrote.

In addition to keeping your oven looking its best, keeping the area around your oven clean is also important. This inexpensive silicone strip fills in the gap between your oven and your counters so you'll never drop food down there again. The cover is a universal fit and works whether there is only a tiny gap to protect or if there's a larger one. "A two-pack of these silicone gap covers comes in at just $11, making this a kitchen cleaning find you can’t afford to pass up," wrote our commerce editor Sarah Vazquez. "Made from food-grade silicone for enhanced heat resistance, these gap covers are the kitchen cleaning accessory you never knew you needed."