Experiment #1

When we moved to this house I was super psyched that I had double ovens. Then I realized that they were not self cleaning : (  I'm not going to admit how long it has been since I cleaned my ovens last, the pictures are going to give that away.

With a bun in the oven (pun intended, yes it's true) and my ovens in dire need of cleaning, I needed to find a way to safe way to clean them. My first option, leaving for a day and getting Brad to clean them with Easy Off didn't go over well . Really, that wasn't fair to subject him or the dogs to that any way. Option two was to look on Pinterest for a solution. I was able to find this pin http://pinterest.com/pin/36380709459475145/ that claimed to be "the best oven cleaner". Worth a shot I guess.

BEFORE:

The pin claims that all you need to do is sprinkle some baking soda in the oven, pour some vinegar on it, wait 20 minutes and then wipe. WELL . . . I tried that. "Wipe" is definitely an understatement. It took considerable elbow grease and a good scrubby pad to get results. Even then I had to repeat the process, and this was just for the bottom of the oven. Here's the thing, you can't just sprinkle baking soda on a vertical surface like the walls and my door. So they were still in rough shape. I turned to google and found several other "recipes" for green oven cleaners. I decided to try one that was very similar. Mix 5 tbsp baking soda, 3 drops dish soap & 4 tbsp vinegar to form a paste. I then applied this to the walls and door and let it sit for 20 minutes. With a bit more elbow grease I was happy with how the walls and door looked.

AFTER:



VERDICT:

While not perfect, my oven looks a lot better than before I started my experiment. It took a lot of elbow grease but my health and the health of my family was worth it.

As a happy side note: My nails were super white and clean by the time I was done!