Thirty-two questions our London customers actually ask about professional oven cleaning, answered plainly: what it costs, how the dip-tank method works, what happens on the day, AGAs and pyrolytic ovens, and where tenants stand on deposits.
Prices and what's included
How much does a professional oven clean cost?
We charge fixed prices for oven cleaning across London: £77 for a single oven, £110 for a double, £114 for a 90cm range cooker and £143 for a two-oven AGA. The price is agreed when you call 020 8077 5225 and it does not change on the day. For comparison, UK trade directories put a typical single oven clean at £50–100, with London at the top end. Our full price list covers every appliance we clean.
What does the price include?
The price of a professional oven clean includes everything inside the appliance: racks, trays, side runners, the fan guard where it unscrews, the roof and floor of the cavity, and the door, including between the glass where the design allows it to be split. The outside gets degreased and polished too. There is no extra charge for racks or heavy soiling; the price quoted on the phone is the whole job.
Is a professional oven clean worth it?
A professional oven clean is worth it if your oven has gone past the point where supermarket kits cope: carbon on the glass, grease behind the fan, racks you have given up on. A single oven costs £77 and takes about 90 minutes, against an afternoon of scrubbing with caustic gel. The recurring verdict on Mumsnet threads matches what customers tell us: the first professional clean resets the oven, and a weekly wipe keeps it there.
Do you charge a call-out fee?
No. There is no call-out fee for any address inside the North and South Circular roads, which is where most of our work happens. The fixed price for the appliance is the full cost of the visit. If you are outside that boundary, ask when you book; the areas we cover page lists where we go regularly.
Why do oven cleaning quotes vary so much?
Oven cleaning quotes vary because firms price differently: some quote low then add charges on the day for heavy soiling, racks or the door glass, while others price by the hour so the bill depends on how bad the oven is. Directories such as Checkatrade put the typical UK range at £50–100 for a single oven. We quote one fixed price on the phone, sight unseen, and heavy soiling is included, so the number does not move.
Can I add a hob, extractor or microwave to the booking?
Yes. A hob, extractor or microwave can be added to any oven clean, and one visit is the cheapest way to do them because the technician is already set up. Alongside the oven, a hob is £23–28 depending on type, an extractor is £28 and a microwave is £22. Most customers add the hob at least; a clean oven under a greasy hob looks odd within a week. Mention extras when you book so enough time is allowed.
Method, products and safety
How do professional oven cleaners actually clean an oven?
Professional oven cleaning is mostly a removal job. We strip the oven down: racks, trays, side runners, the fan guard, and the door where the design lets it split. The removable parts go into a heated dip tank in the van to soak while the cavity and door glass are degreased by hand indoors with non-caustic products. Everything is rinsed, dried and rebuilt, then the oven is heat-tested before we leave. A single oven takes about 90 minutes.
What is a dip tank and why does it matter?
A dip tank is a heated tank of cleaning solution carried in the van. Oven racks, trays, pan supports and other removable parts soak in it while the technician works on the cavity indoors, so baked-on carbon lifts off without an hour of scrubbing at your sink. It matters for two reasons: the parts come back properly clean rather than scraped, and the strong chemistry stays outside in the van instead of in your kitchen.
Is oven cleaner toxic?
Most supermarket oven cleaners are caustic: the active ingredient is usually sodium hydroxide, which burns skin, damages eyes and irritates airways if you breathe the mist, which is why the instructions demand gloves and open windows. Poison-control guidance lists blistering, eye ulceration and chest pain among the effects of exposure. That chemistry is why we keep caustic products out of the kitchen entirely; anything caustic stays in the sealed dip tank in the van.
What products do you use inside the oven?
Inside your kitchen we only use non-caustic degreasers, applied by hand to the cavity, door glass and seals. They are designed for food-preparation areas, so there is no residue that needs burning off and no fumes while we work. The heavy chemistry lives in the dip tank in the van, where racks and trays soak. This split is the whole point of the method: strong cleaning where it is contained, gentle cleaning where you cook.
Will there be a smell after the oven clean?
No. Because the cavity is cleaned by hand with non-caustic products, there is nothing to off-gas when the oven heats up. The technician runs the oven as a heat test before leaving, which dries the cavity and proves there is no smoke or smell, and you sign the job off with the oven running. You can cook the same evening.
No airing out. No chemical haze.
Can a dirty oven catch fire?
Yes. The London Fire Brigade's cooking safety advice is blunt about it: clean the oven, hob, cooker hood, extractor fan and grill regularly, because accumulated fat and grease can ignite, and around 60% of home fires start in the kitchen. A smoking oven is usually grease burning off the roof or element rather than anything wrong with the appliance, and it is the warning sign we are called about most often after Christmas and after house moves.
Do you take the oven door apart?
Where the design allows it, yes. Most modern oven doors lift off their hinges and split so the technician can clean the grease that creeps between the panes of glass, which is the brown shadow no amount of wiping from the outside will shift. Some doors are sealed units that are not built to open; on those we clean every surface that can be reached and say so rather than force a fitting.
Will professional cleaning damage the enamel or door seals?
A professional clean done with non-caustic products and hand pressure will not damage sound enamel or rubber door seals; the products are chosen precisely because they do not attack surfaces the way caustic gels can. What a deep clean cannot do is put back enamel that has already blistered or a seal that has already perished. If we find damage like that, we point it out before starting rather than clean over it.
Booking and on the day
How long does an oven clean take?
A single oven clean takes about 90 minutes from knock to heat test. A double usually runs a little over two hours, and adding a hob or extractor puts roughly half an hour on top. Range cookers and AGAs are the long jobs; allow a morning. The variable is carbon, not size: an oven cleaned yearly goes quicker than one recovering from a decade of roast dinners.
Do I need to do anything before the technician arrives?
Very little. Before the visit, have the oven cool and empty, take out anything stored in the grill drawer, and leave enough floor space to lay protective sheets in front of the appliance. Do not pre-clean it; we have seen every state an oven can be in and the price does not change. The one exception is an AGA, which stores heat and needs switching off the night before so it is safe to work on.
Do you need to use my water or electricity?
Barely. The dip tank and the water it heats are in the van, so the soaking happens outside. Indoors the technician may rinse cloths at your sink, and the heat test at the end runs the oven itself, so the appliance needs a working power supply. If the electrics or the gas are off, tell us when you book; we can clean a dead oven but we cannot heat-test it.
Will oven cleaning make a mess in my kitchen?
No. Protective sheets go down before the oven is opened, the dirtiest work happens in the dip tank out in the van, and the cavity is cleaned with products that do not drip or foam across the floor. The technician takes the waste away. You should be left with a dry floor, a clean oven and nothing to wipe up afterwards; if a job did leave a mark, we would want to know about it.
How soon can I cook after an oven clean?
You can cook the same day, usually as soon as the technician leaves. Non-caustic products leave no residue that needs burning off, so there is no waiting period and no first-use smell. Every clean ends with a heat test: the oven is run up to temperature and you see it working before signing off. Sunday roast after a Sunday morning clean is normal.
Do I have to stay in while the oven is cleaned?
You need to let the technician in and be there at the end for the heat test, because we like the oven signed off while it is running. In between, plenty of customers do the school run, work upstairs or walk the dog. Our technicians are insured and DBS-checked, which is exactly the reassurance people are asking for when they ask this question on the phone.
Do you clean ovens at weekends?
Yes. We clean ovens seven days a week, Sundays included, at the same fixed prices. Weekend slots suit tenants working around a check-out date and anyone who cannot take a weekday morning off, so they book up first; if you need a specific Saturday, call a week or so ahead. The job itself is identical whichever day it lands.
What about parking for the van?
Parking matters more than people expect, because the dip tank is in the van and the technician walks parts to and from it throughout the job, so the van needs to be close to your door. In most of London that is fine; if you live in a controlled parking zone, sorting a visitor permit or telling us about the nearest bays when you book saves time on the day. We ask about parking on every booking call.
AGAs, ranges and other appliances
Can you clean an AGA?
Yes. A two-oven AGA is £143 and it is a different job from a normal oven: an AGA stores heat in its castings, so it has to be switched off the night before, with the lids up, to be cool enough to work on safely by morning. Caustic products should never touch AGA vitreous enamel, which suits our method, since everything indoors is cleaned by hand with non-caustic products. Cleaning is separate from an engineer's service; we do the grime, not the burner.
Do you clean range cookers?
Yes, range cookers are a regular job and a 90cm range is £114 as a fixed price. Ranges take longer than singles because there are two or three cavities, more racks for the dip tank, and usually a griddle plate, but the method is the same: parts soak in the van, cavities are hand-cleaned, and the whole thing is heat-tested at the end. Wider ranges get priced on the phone before we come.
Does a self-cleaning pyrolytic oven still need a professional clean?
Sometimes, yes. A pyrolytic cycle heats the cavity to around 500°C and turns soiling to ash, which works well on the cavity walls, but Which? notes the racks and shelf supports usually still need cleaning by hand and the heat can discolour the inner door glass over time. We are mostly called to pyrolytic ovens for the parts the cycle misses: racks, runners, between the door glass, and cavities where the cycle was never actually run.
Is it worth having a microwave cleaned professionally?
On its own, probably not; a microwave added to an oven clean is £22 and takes minutes at the end of the visit, which is when it makes sense. The technician degreases the cavity, the door and seals, the turntable and the vents, and built-in combination microwaves above an oven collect more grease than people expect. Tenants moving out add it most often, because check-out clerks open every appliance.
What does a hob clean include?
A hob clean is £23–28 with an oven clean, depending on the type. On a gas hob the pan supports, burner caps and crowns come off and go into the dip tank while the base plate is degreased and polished. Ceramic and induction hobs are a different job: burnt-on rings are lifted with a blade held flat and a hob-safe polish, not scoured, so the glass keeps its finish.
Can you clean the extractor fan and its filters?
Yes, an extractor or cooker hood clean is £28 alongside the oven. Metal grease filters come out and go through the dip tank, the casing and visible fan parts are degreased, and the underside gets the same hand clean as the oven. One honest limit: carbon filters in recirculating hoods cannot be washed, as Bosch's own guidance says, so if yours are saturated the answer is replacement, and we will tell you rather than pretend.
Landlords and end of tenancy
Can my landlord charge me for a dirty oven?
If the oven is dirtier at check-out than the check-in report shows, yes, your landlord can claim reasonable cleaning costs from the deposit, and the Tenancy Deposit Scheme calls cleaning the most common cause of deposit disputes. The comparison is always against the state at move-in, evidenced by the inventory, so a landlord cannot demand showroom condition if you inherited a crusty oven. Our guide to end of tenancy oven cleaning and deposits covers the evidence side in detail.
Is a dirty oven fair wear and tear?
No. Fair wear and tear covers gradual deterioration from normal use: worn hinges, faded enamel, a scratch on the door. Dirt is treated separately, and the deposit schemes are explicit that cleanliness is not subject to fair wear and tear; an oven can be old and worn, but it should go back as clean as the check-in report describes. Grease is always the tenant's to remove, however long the tenancy.
Does end of tenancy cleaning include the oven?
Usually the oven is listed on an end of tenancy cleaning quote, but read the line carefully: on many quotes it means a wipe-over, with a proper deep clean sold as an extra, and the ovens we open after a full-house clean often show it. A dip-tank oven clean is a different depth of job from a spray-and-wipe. Since the Tenant Fees Act 2019 no landlord can force you to buy professional cleaning; the oven just has to be as clean as you found it.
When should I book an oven clean before moving out?
Book the oven clean for after your last proper cook, ideally the day before check-out or the morning of it, so nothing gets baked on between the clean and the inspection. Keep the receipt; a dated invoice for a professional oven clean is useful evidence if the deposit is queried. We work seven days a week, so a Sunday check-out is not a problem. Leave the oven empty and cool for us, then hand back the keys.