I did it that way and it worked perfectly. After reading several threads about this on gardenweb, I decided to use hot water and powdered dishwasher detergent. I didn't feel comfortable using ammonia, and I had the detergent on hand, so decided to try that way first. I put a large plastic container in my tub, filled the container with hot water, sprinkled a lot of Cascade into the hot water, stirred it around, and placed the racks into it. Immediately, black gunk started separating from the racks and floating in the water (first picture below was taken only a few seconds after placing the racks in). I left the racks in there for a few hours, and then rotated them and repeated the process with more fresh water and detergent (because they were too long to fit completely). When done, I took them outside and hosed them off. There were just a few spots that I lightly scrubbed to get all the gunk off, but no hard scrubbing. It worked great and was very easy. The second picture is the final result. I guess I could have placed the racks into the tub directly, but I just wasn't sure if it would scratch.

Why call a technician. If I can do it you can too. Open the oven door, take out 2 screws on the inside top and 2 on the inside bottom. Pull the oven door off the hinges with your hands on each side and pull evenly. Be sure to hold the parts of the door together and flat. Lay the door flat and open the end to pull out a glass piece, the one with all the little dots encircling the see through area. Remember that the rough side goes to the inside. Wash both pieces of glass with comet or similar. Wash any other grease or mess with an SOS pad and finish everything off with Windex. Put the glass back in and be sure the see through part is in so you can see into the oven without a band of black showing because you might have turned it half a turn. Now screw the big 2 screws back and be sure the glass isn't between the holes or you will crack your glass. They screw into the handle. You did clean the handle didn't you? Now pull the door hinges down from the stove and slide a big 3" nail or larger in the back of the hinge sideways to force the hinge to stay pointing out. Now lift the stove door up and slide the bottom onto the hinge evenly or it will bind up. Don't force it. Now the other 2 little screws with washers go back in the holes you took them out of. They attach the door to the hinge. During all of this process never touch any glass with your fingers, only the edges. Close the door and give yourself a pat on the back.

The discussion reminds me again how personal these choices are. I remember a wonderful phrase from a book (by Booth Tarkington, I think) which went something like this: a mild unpleasantness for one young man may seem the sheer brink of hell to another. That's applicable here as you can see from the posts above. For some of us, a self-cleaning oven is on the list of stove "must-haves." A stove won't even be considered without it. For others, like me, it was on my list of "wanna-haves" rather than "must-haves." (IOW, I miss having a self-cleaning oven but think I can live without it). Others, such as Nunya, are completely indifferent to self-cleaning; seemingly, he wouldn't use it if he had it. I say all of this because opinions here at GW can sometimes sound like dogma -- because I think X, you should, too, and your contrary thoughts are mere subjective preferences. It has to be said that subjective preferences are important. They are none-the-less valuable for being subjective. Your own preference absolutely must be part of the process of choosing a stove. Just because I find manual oven cleaning is "not too bad" does not mean you should find it that way, too. So, hopefully, the range of opinions is taken as helping you sort out our preferences rather than as telling you what to so. There is only way to get better informed than this exchange of opinions and that is by actually cleaning an oven in a stove you are considering. But, even if you live someplace where dealer showrooms have operating stoves you can test out, do you think they'll be demonstrating that aspect anytime soon? ;>) When I bought my NXR, I really had no idea how easy or how onerous "myself-cleaning" would be. That's one of the reasons I bought it from Costco. If "myself-cleaning" turned out to a royal PITA, I could simply return the stove for a full refund and get the self-cleaning induction range that I otherwise would have purchased. So, when you go shopping, it may be helpful to be up-front with the vendors about your uncertainty on this issue and to have a back-up candidate.

To clean an oven: Warm the oven to 65C. Turn it off, then spray the interior with a heavy duty kitchen cleaning liquid. Leave for 15 minutes, and wipe over with damp cloths. OR While the oven is still warm after use and turned off, wipe over a paste of bicarbonate of soda and water. Leave overnight, then wipe clean with a stiff brush or scourer and very hot water. OR Wash with straight herbal vinegar. Pour extra vinegar over burned-on areas, shut the oven door and leave for 2 hours. Then wipe off and rinse with a cloth dipped frequently in warm water. For extra-dirty areas, sprinkle some bicarbonate of soda onto the vinegar and leave overnight before cleaning off. GLASS OVEN DOORS: Wring out a cloth in warm water, dip in bicarbonate of soda and wipe over glass. Allow to dry, then buff with a soft cloth. STAINLESS STEEL OVEN-SHELVES: Dissolve 1/2 cup laundry detergent or automatic dish washing detergent in a laundry tub of hot water. Leave the shelves to soak a few hours or overnight. Or you can use a product similar to the one we have in Australia called Napisan. It's original purpose was for soaking babies' cloth nappies (diapers), and as a laundry detergent booster, but I use it for many purposes. It's absolutely brilliant for cleaning greasy things. Tops of kitchen cupboards, clothes, burnt-on grease on saucepans, the filth that builds up under the fridge etc. I have a white kitchen sink (a nightmare!), and I use Napisan to soak stains off that, and I've used it on really grimy windows and frames, too. Excellent product, and it doesn't smell. I usually use a small nylon sponge-cum-scrubber with it. Doesn't scratch, but reduces the amount of elbow-grease needed. Since I've been ill, I've been unable to do my own cleaning, and have had to get in professional cleaners, government-supplied, who are restricted by Health and Safety rules and regulations from using many products. My particular lady has begun using Napisan on a regular basis for many of her chores after seeing how effective it is. Here is a link that might be useful: Napisan