Preparing Your Oven for the Holiday Season in 2024

Clean the Oven

Start by giving your oven a thorough clean. Eliminating any accumulated grease and dirt not only enhances its performance but also prevents any unpleasant smells or tastes from ruining your food.

When your oven has a self-cleaning option, it’s fairly simple to thoroughly clean the inside of your oven. Self-cleaning ovens work by heating up to a super hot temperature and burning off all spills, drips and splatters into bits into fine ash that you can simply wipe out of the oven after the cycle finishes and the oven cools.

Although using the self-clean cycle is relatively easy, there are some important preparations that you’ll need to make before starting the self-clean mode in the oven. Here’s a list of precautions to take before starting the cleaning mode:

• Follow the directions in the owner’s manual to prepare your oven for starting the self-clean cycle. Oven models differ and the directions for preparing the oven that you have may require some unique steps not covered in the general directions and precautions provided below. You may need to remove oven racks to prevent their discoloration in some oven models.
• Wipe out heavy spills. High oven temperature will burn off any food residue remaining after you wipe out heavy spills. Leaving a pool of grease in the bottom of your oven will create a small, controlled burn that will go out within minutes due to lack of oxygen inside the oven because the oven door is locked shut. Still, you’ll want to avoid the flames by wiping out heavy residue — especially greasy spills. Excessive grease in the bottom of the oven can trip a fuse or high-temperature limit switch in the oven.
• Ventilate your home. Open windows to dissipate the smoke that will come out the oven vent during the self-clean cycle. If you don’t wipe out heavy spills, the excessive smoke coming from the oven vent can trigger smoke alarms in your home.
• Protect your pets. Ventilating your home goes a long way in helping protect pets. Birds are especially sensitive to smoke. Other pets can also be bothered by smoke even though you have all the windows open. For best protection of your pets, move them outside or to another location before running the oven’s self-clean cycle.
• Because the clean feature will automatically lock the oven door and keep it locked until the oven has cooled, you’ll want to make sure to remove baking dishes or containers before you start the cleaning process. Once the clean cycle starts, heating elements raise oven temperature to over 750 degrees Fahrenheit, so anything left inside the oven will likely get damaged or break.

Caution: If you discover that you left items inside the oven after starting the self-clean option, you won’t be able to remove them until the oven cools down. The oven door stays locked to limit oxygen supply to the oven cavity during the cleaning process. If you were to open the door when the oven is above 750 degrees while residue is being burned off, the abundant supply of oxygen in the air entering the oven would immediately cause a fire to flare up. Don’t try to force the door open to retrieve items accidentally left inside the oven. Cancel the self-clean feature and open the oven door once the oven cools.

If you don’t have a self-cleaning oven, you can get the job done the old fashioned way -- with oven cleaner and elbow grease. Although not as easy and effective as a self-clean mode, this procedure will get the job done.

Clean the Oven Racks

Check the oven’s use and care guide for directions on cleaning oven racks. For some oven models, you can leave the racks inside the oven as you run the self-clean cycle. This will thoroughly clean the racks but may discolor them during that process.

If your owner’s manual warns against leaving the racks inside the oven during the self-clean cycle or you have a manual cleaning oven, follow these steps to clean the oven racks:

1. Let the oven cool completely before removing and cleaning the racks.
2. Remove the oven racks and place them in a large sink or bathtub, fill with water and allow to soak.
3. Use a scratch resistant scouring pad to scrape away residue and burnt food bits.
4. Rinse the oven racks and dry with a towel.
5. Reinstall the racks in the oven.

Clean the Oven Door

Cleaning the oven door will put the finishing touch on the task of getting your oven ready holiday cooking. Clean the door according to the guidelines in your owner’s manual. If you have a stainless steel oven, use stainless steel cleaner to clean the outside metal portions of the door. Otherwise, you can typically use mild soap and water to clean the interior and exterior of the door. Don’t let liquid drip down through the door vents or you’ll likely stain the inner door glass panes that are impossible to access without disassembling the entire oven door.

If you already see stains on the inner door glass that you want to remove, you can follow the procedure in this video to clean off the stains.

If this process looks too complicated for you to complete on your own, schedule a service call to have a Sears Home Services Technician clean the oven door for you.

Get Your Oven Professionally Checked and Maintained

For a comprehensive oven check-up and maintenance, schedule Oven Clean & Maintain Service through Sears Home Services. Our professionals can spot potential issues like faulty heating elements or gas leaks, and perform necessary repairs to ensure your oven is safe and ready for your holiday cooking spree.

Don't procrastinate! Schedule your oven maintenance now to beat the holiday rush. By planning ahead, you can rest easy knowing that your oven will be in top shape when you need it most.