How To Clean Your Glass Oven Door Naturally Using Items You Already Have At Home

Cleaning your oven door can be strangely difficult. After all, it's just glass, right? In some ways, yes, but you don't want to treat it like any old window pane. Because they can have tints, you don't want to use regular glass cleaner, as the ingredients can damage the finish. Beyond that, because oven doors often have built-up layers of grease and burnt food on them. If you know you can't just use an all-purpose cleaner to get it truly clean, you may be tempted to use a very harsh, abrasive cleaner or tool. This can damage the glass, and not to mention that most commercially available oven cleaners contain toxic ingredients and a terribly pungent smell. 

Luckily, there are some easy homemade cleaning solutions that can compete with many of the best oven cleaners out there, and you probably have both staples on hand! In one method, you'll just need a couple of lemons and a baking dish. In another, baking soda and dish soap will come to your rescue. We'll explain how to make the most out of these basic ingredients and get your oven door sparkling clean. 

There are many ways you can use lemons to clean your home because these fruits pack a ton of cleaning power. The acidity of lemons makes them good at loosening debris, which tackles the actual grime of oven door cleaning, and lemon juice is known to have antibacterial properties. Plus, they smell wonderful! To harness their cleaning power on your oven door, you just need to cut a couple of lemons in half and toss them in the oven with some water in a baking dish. By allowing the lemons and water plenty of time to steam up the oven, grease and grime will loosen from the sides of your oven door, making it easy to wipe away any stubborn stains.

Here's how to try this method: In a baking dish with tall sides, add several inches of water, then put the lemon halves in, cut-side down. Some methods call for lemon slices, but since you'll be baking them, you don't want them to dry up or brown, and the halves will stand up to heat a bit better. Then put the baking dish in your preheated oven for 20 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. When the time is up, allow the baking dish and the oven to cool down before proceeding. Once cooled, wipe down the door with a damp microfiber cloth, and you should immediately see a layer of grime come up. If that's still not enough and there are more stubborn grease stains, take a fresh lemon half and fine salt and scrub away until the stain comes up. Finally, polish everything with a fresh microfiber cloth. 

On the other end of the acid spectrum from lemons, you have baking soda, another favorite ingredient in DIY cleaning solutions. Baking soda is a lightly alkaline powder that has some incredible cleaning properties. Most oil and grease stains are acidic, and baking soda can chemically neutralize them when applied directly. The loose powder form also makes baking soda slightly abrasive, so it can physically remove grime and debris buildup, but it's fine and gentle enough that it won't scratch the glass. When combined with dish soap, which is formulated to hold onto food grease particles, to form a thick paste, you have an amazing, non-toxic oven door cleaner. 

Simply take ¼ cup of baking soda, and add a few drops of dish soap, then mix together to make a paste. If it's too crumbly, add a little more dish soap. Then, using a sponge or cloth, apply the paste to the oven door — be generous here, as you can't really go overboard. Allow the paste to sit for several hours minimum, but overnight preferred.  Finally, use a wet cloth to wipe away the paste and any other stains. If baking soda has dried out and fallen to the bottom of the oven, just use a brush and dustpan to get it out.