Cleaning the oven is a faff. There’s no denying it. You have to get specialist cleaning products and it takes time and loads of elbow grease. Aren’t there better things we could be doing?
Luckily, oven cleaning has changed quite a bit in the past few years. Now many ovens come with ‘easy clean’ and even ‘self clean’ functions. For now, we’ll focus on easy clean – how it can help and how it works.
Manual cleaning has a lot of drawbacks. It can be really tough to get rid of grease… or those delightful bits of crusted cheese from your last toastie. That means a lot of scrubbing for you. No thanks. So time and effort are obvious disadvantages.
The other big one is the smell. Giving your oven a big clean usually involves a specialist oven cleaner. Often, they’ll leave a pretty powerful chemical pong. Not ideal in a room that’s supposed to be full of tasty smells.
Plus, it’s a real palaver if you get oven cleaner on the heating element. Because of the strength of the chemicals, it can damage your oven. That means it’s less effective and could even mean repairs or a new oven. Yikes.
Fortunately, tech comes to the rescue. An easy clean oven should remove the need for those powerful oven cleaners. And it’s way less work.
What types of easy clean ovens are there?
There are a few different ways ovens can be easy clean:
1. Enamel
This is pretty common for a lot of modern ovens. The inside of the oven is lined with enamel, which is smooth and slippery. A bit like a non-stick pan, it’s harder for anything to stick. And that makes it easier to wipe away too.
2. Steam cleaning
This type of oven usually has a specific ‘easy clean’ function on its control panel.
You place a little water in the base of the oven (typically about 250ml) and set the steam clean cycle going. The oven heats the water inside enough so that it steams up.
That gentle heat and moisture loosen up any clinging bits of dirt. That way, it’s easier to get your oven squeaky clean with a sponge afterwards. All this takes about 30 minutes and doesn’t use any harsh chemicals. But that does mean you’re still in for some scrubbing afterwards.
3. Catalytic oven liners
These oven liners absorb any food splatters and grease. Rather than getting food absorbing into the walls of your oven, it’s protected by the liners. Then, through the normal cooking process (although high temperatures over 200 degrees are better), the residue heats up and slowly burns away.
When your oven cools down, all you’re doing is wiping away the ash with a damp cloth or sponge. Much easier than scrubbing away at dried on oil or burnt bits.
The downside is that those liners do need replacing over time. Unless, you get eternal catalytic liners. Hotpoint have a range of ovens, including the Hotpoint Class 6 SI6 874 SC IX Electric Oven where the liners never need to be replaced. And they’re exclusive to Currys!
4. Pyrolytic ovens
These take easy cleaning to the next level – incinerating any mess so it can just be wiped away. But pyrolytic ovens do this more effectively, so need more heat and time to do it. That doesn’t mean they use loads of energy though. In fact, every cycle costs less than £1 – saving you money on cleaning chemicals.
Take the Hotpoint Class 4 Electric Oven SI4 854 P IX and AEG BPS356020M Electric Oven. Their cleaning functions take about 500 degrees for several hours. During that time, the oven is locked shut to keep you safe. But once you’re done, the grease and fat are completely eliminated. You’ve saved yourself a load of effort and some money too!
If you’re looking to ditch the hassle of traditional oven cleaning, there are lots of options. Check out the full range of easy clean ovens to see if any suit you?
