DIY is enough for upkeep and light soiling: a bicarb paste or a supermarket gel kit keeps a lightly used oven in good order. A professional clean earns its price on the parts DIY struggles to reach: grease between the panes of the door glass where the door design allows, carbon baked onto the fan cover, and racks that have gone grey. A single oven from London Oven Cleaners is £77 and takes about 90 minutes on site.
Four ways to clean an oven, compared
| Bicarb paste | Caustic gel kit | Pyrolytic cycle | Professional clean | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Money | A box of bicarb and some white vinegar | £4.10 to £4.15 online for a 500ml Oven Pride Complete kit at Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco (trolley.co.uk, 1 October 2026) | About 5 kWh of electricity a cycle (Which? average) | £77 for a single, £110 for a double |
| Your time | Paste left ideally 12 hours, then wiping out | The dwell time on the label, then rinsing and scrubbing | One to four hours with the door locked, then cooling | Letting us in, and looking at the lit oven at the end |
| Racks | Hot soapy water and a scrub | The bag in the kit | Taken out first and cleaned by hand | Taken out, soaked and cleaned separately |
| Chemical risk | Low | Corrosive: gloves and eye protection | Vapours: ventilate, keep children and pets away | Handled by our technicians |
| Best for | Light, recent soiling | Moderate grease you can reach | The cavity walls, every few months | Door glass, fan cover, racks, a first clean in years, a move-out |
The bicarb method for light soiling
Dr. Oetker's guide to cleaning with bicarbonate of soda gives the method: mix equal parts bicarb and water into a paste, spread it over the inside of the oven with the shelves out, leave it as long as possible (ideally 12 hours), then wipe it off with a sponge. A spray of white vinegar reacts with what is left and loosens stubborn spots. The shelves get a couple of hours in hot soapy water and a scrub with more paste. Wipe out every trace before the oven is next heated; Bosch's cleaning advice ends with a clean, damp cloth until no residue remains.
It works on fresh splashes and a thin film of grease. Fat that has been heated again and again on the fan cover or around the grill element turns hard and black, and a paste may not shift it.
Caustic kits work, so read the label
Supermarket gel kits clean by chemistry. McBride's 2017 safety data sheet for Oven Pride lists 10% to under 20% sodium hydroxide and the signal word "Danger", with hazard statements for severe skin burns, serious eye damage and corrosion of metals. It advises protective gloves and eye protection, and its uses to avoid are aluminium, zinc, copper and tin, and painted, non-stick or self-cleaning surfaces. Bosch adds a rule of its own: never use oven cleaner in a cavity that is still warm, because it can damage the enamel.
The numbers put the risk in proportion. A study of calls to the UK National Poisons Information Service counted 796 enquiries about oven cleaners between 2009 and 2015. Of the products involved, 96% contained sodium or potassium hydroxide. Most patients had only minor symptoms and about 4% had moderate or severe ones, but skin burns, mostly to the hands and arms, followed 44% of skin exposures, and 182 people had eaten food they thought had been contaminated with oven cleaner. Gloves on, a window open, and a thorough rinse before the oven cooks food again.
Where DIY runs out
- Between the door glass
- Grease gets between the panes of the oven door, where no cloth reaches. Getting at it means taking the door off and apart, and some doors are not built to come apart: Bosch says to check in the manual whether yours can be removed, to work on a cold oven, and to lay the glass on towels on a flat surface. It also rules out glass scrapers and glass cleaner.
- Carbon on the fan cover and roof
- Fat cooked past the grease stage is hard carbon. Shifting it takes a degreaser, time, and care not to scratch the enamel.
- Catalytic panels
- The self-cleaning panels in many ovens absorb grease while the oven is hot and break it down so it is easier to wipe away (Which?). Bosch and NEFF manuals say never to use oven cleaner on them, and Which? says not to use any cleaning products on them. Paste and gel both stay off.
The self-clean cycle, if your oven has one
A pyrolytic oven heats the empty cavity to around 500°C, according to Which?, and turns soiling to ash; Which?'s figures for 111 pyrolytic ovens average about 5 kWh per cycle. Bosch's manual for one pyrolytic model lists programmes of about 1 hour 15 minutes to 2 hours, using 2.5 to 4.7 kWh, and says a clean every two to three months is enough. The racks come out first and still need cleaning by hand, and Which? notes the heat can discolour the inside of the door glass. The pyrolytic vs professional guide compares the two in detail.
What the professional route costs
London Oven Cleaners price by the appliance: £77 for a single oven, £114 for a single wider than 60cm, £110 for a double and £143 for a 90cm range cooker, fixed on the phone before the visit. The full list is on the prices page. On the visit, racks, trays and side runners are soaked and cleaned separately while the cavity, fan cover and door glass are degreased by hand in the kitchen, and the door is split where its design allows. The oven is then reassembled and heated, and you look inside before we pack up; if a corner is not right, we put it right before we leave. The professional oven cleaning page has more on the visit.
When DIY is enough
If the oven is less than a year old, or the door glass is still clear and the racks still bright, a paste or a kit every so often will keep it that way, and a professional clean buys you little. Book one when the glass has gone brown between the panes, when the oven smokes at roasting heat, when the racks have gone dull and grey, or before a check-out inspection. The guide to how often to clean an oven sets out a rhythm.
DIY oven cleaning questions
Is bicarbonate of soda enough to clean an oven?
For light, recent soiling, yes. Brown glass between the panes, carbon on the fan cover and greyed racks are beyond it.
Can I use oven cleaner on a self-cleaning oven?
Keep it off the self-cleaning surfaces. The Oven Pride safety data sheet lists self-cleaning surfaces among its uses to avoid, and Bosch and NEFF manuals say never to use oven cleaner on catalytic or self-cleaning surfaces.
Is it safe to cook straight after using a caustic kit?
Only once every trace has been rinsed off the cavity and the racks. In the poisons study, 182 people had eaten food they believed had been contaminated with oven cleaner.
Will a professional clean make an old oven look new?
Grease and carbon come off. Chipped enamel, scorched catalytic panels and a worn door seal stay, because those are damage.