How To Clean Oven Glass, From The Inside To The Outside

Everyone loves an oven till it is time to clean it — that's when you'll notice the drippings of fat that your golden roasted turkey left behind, the strands of burnt cheese from the frozen pizza stuck to the bottom, and the splatters of batter that mark the oven door thanks to that moist sponge cake you baked. The remnants of burnt food, grease, and grime that build up can make an oven ridiculously hard to clean, especially the glass door, which often bears the brunt of all the hot splashes.

Like any heavy-duty kitchen appliance, an oven must be regularly cleaned for it to do its job properly — and that means it's time to roll up your sleeves, put some gloves on, and get scrubbing. But while you'd usually use abrasive sponges and a cocktail of cleaning solutions to scrub the inside of the oven, the glass door requires a different treatment. For one, you'll need a far more gentle scrub because grease and grime or not, the oven door is made of glass! Another thing to note is that the inside and the outside of the oven door won't have the same kinds of food build-up, which is why there are two very different ways to clean them.

Between the inside and the outside of an oven door, it's the former that's going to be more grueling to clean. The best way to get rid of all the grease, grime, and food build-up is to bring out some baking soda. This is because the food stuck inside an oven is essentially acid, which can be neutralized by a paste of baking soda mixed with water and dish soap. The soap mixed with the alkaline and the abrasiveness of the soda can break down all that stubborn grease, leaving you with a gleaming glass oven door.

Ideally, you should spread the paste on the inside of your glass oven door and let it rest for about 15 minutes. You can then scrub the paste using a gentle sponge and wipe it all off with a microfibre cloth or even paper towels afterward. In case you notice remnants of the paste still coating the glass, you can make a solution of distilled white vinegar and water using a 1:4 ratio, dip a clean cloth into the liquid, and wipe the glass door with it.

If baking soda isn't your thing, you could also use degreasing cleaner and a microfibre cloth to clean the inside of the glass oven door. Alternatively, if you're using soda and still find the grease to be too persistent for a sponge, you can always use a scraper to scrub the muck off — though you'll have to be very gentle with it to not scrape the glass.

Considering the fact that all the cooking happens inside the oven, the outside of the oven door isn't going to require much in the way of cleaning. All that you'll really need is a microfibre cloth to wipe off any dust on the door when the oven is not on. For more thorough cleaning, you can make a solution of equal parts vinegar and water, and then spray it onto the outside of the glass oven door. You can then give the door a gentle scrub with a non-abrasive or a non-scratch sponge before you wipe it down with a dry microfibre cloth.

While cleaning the outside of a glass oven door is easy, there is another area that is often overlooked: the gap between the outside glass and the inside glass of the oven door. This space can also collect a lot of dirt and grime, but the best way to clean this area is to take the oven door off its hinges by following the instructions in the oven manual. You can then wrap a cloth over a long and thin cleaning wand to scrub the gap — or use a special brush that is designed to clean hard-to-reach places. The only thing to keep in mind is that if your oven is still under warranty, removing the oven door yourself may invalidate it, so check before you dive in. Otherwise, you can usually call the manufacturer or your local appliance store and pay for a professional deep cleaning.