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The best way to keep your oven clean is to practice prevention. Wipe up any spills as soon as possible after they occur. If the spills are allowed to dry they will become more difficult to clean. For minor spots, simply use a damp cloth or sponge and any basic store-bought cleaner made for kitchen appliances. Even if you are vigilant in keeping your oven clean and protecting against spillage, at some point you will need to deep clean your oven. How you deep clean your oven depends on the type of oven you have. A continuous cleaning oven is the easiest type. Since it is constantly cleaning itself, you will only need to give the inside of your oven a wipe down with a damp sponge and a little dishwashing liquid. Self-cleaning ovens are the next easiest type of oven to clean. Simply remove the oven racks, set your oven to the cleaning mode, then wait a few hours. After the cleaning cycle is complete, you will need to wipe up the residue inside the oven with a damp cloth or sponge. While your self-cleaning oven is doing its job, take time to scrub down your oven racks with a steel wool detergent pad. The exterior of your oven can be cleaned with a sponge. Use basic window cleaner to clean and shine any glass or chrome areas. If your oven is not a continuous or self-cleaning model, you are in for a little more work. Make sure you have rubber gloves (the longer, the better) to protect your skin from harsh cleanser. You will need to purchase a cleaner specially made for cleaning ovens. Be sure to ventilate the room well as these types of cleaners give off potentially harmful fumes. How long you leave the cleaner on the interior of your oven will depend on the directions on the can. Most oven cleaners will need to be left on for several hours or overnight, others explicitly state that it should not be left on for longer than 2 hours. When removing the cleaner, be prepared for a lot of scrubbing and rinsing. You will want to ensure that all the oven cleaner is removed from the oven before use. Perhaps you don’t want to use harsh cleansers on your oven. In this case, you will find that a simple mixture of white vinegar and baking soda can do the job. Lightly moisten the interior of your oven with water. Then, apply a thick layer of baking soda. Allow the baking soda to sit for about three hours. After three hours, spray the entire oven with white vinegar in a spray bottle. You will notice that when the vinegar hits the baking soda, fizzing occurs. This fizzing action helps remove stuck-on mess almost as easily as any commercial cleaner. Allow the vinegar and baking soda to sit for a few more hours. Then, simply remove with a damp sponge and some water. Finally, you can choose to have a professional appliance technician come to your home and clean your oven if you are not up to doing the job yourself. This might be a good idea after the family Thanksgiving and Christmas cookathon. However you decide to do it, by keeping your oven clean you can ensure that it stays in excellent working order for years to come!