Funny I happened to see this today. Years ago I read ilovetn's method. Finally did it the other day, just vaguely remembered what to do, didn't measure the ammonia, probably used about 1 cup, used 2 kitchen trash bags that barely closed (didn't have large heavy duty ones) one inside the other for stability and left the racks outside overnight. Fantastic! Worked even better than the oven cleaner because for some reason (left on too long maybe?) some of the individual rails (? not sure what to call the 'spokes' of the racks) seemed damaged. I will soon do on my grill racks as well. I also like joyce's method - very simple since it's water only - however my old tub isn't wide enough to hold racks for my 36 inch oven.

I too have a self-cleaning oven feature that I've never used (on this current oven, that is), because I've got a parrot andf they really can be killed by things that don't affect other pets (like non-stick cookware coatings) - there's a very good reason canaries were used as mine safety checks prior to environmental samplers, birds are highly susceptible to gases that mammals don't detect. What I do is a hot soapy water dampened towel to soak off baked on gunk and then a green scrubby, or the Method bathroom scrub (well rinsed off before cooking in the oven again.) That said, I think the cat would be okay - I never had a problem using self-cleaning before getting the parrot, and I've always had cats and dogs. My 20 year old siamese has been through several oven cleaning cycles in her life, and she always just vacated the room until the smell dispersed.

Some people make their cooktop choice based on performance, not ease of cleaning. We did - we have one in the mid-range - gas burners with more BTUs than a normal household model, a bit less so than a true restaurant model. We're very happy with it. As others have said, cast iron grates can be wiped but really need no cleaning. The burner pans underneath can use attention from time to time, but the best way to keep those clean (on any stove) is to avoid boil-overs. While I haven't tried an induction range, I very much dislike the traditional electric ones. Heat control is too difficult, pan scorching and boil-overs are too common.

I refuse to use self clean cycles anymore. I've had two different brands explode on me during a self cleaning cycle (kitchen-aid and I think the other was maytag or something like that... KA replaced my door free of charge though, I've always had good customer service from KA) and I've heard that a number of people have the electronic board fry during those cycles, but that never happened to me. I just refuse to use a self cleaning cycle ever again! I'm trying to recall how many self cleaning ovens I've owned in my adult life... maybe 4 or 5? And I've had 2 explode? Not very good odds in my opinion. I usually just wipe my ovens out with a damp cloth periodically while the oven is still warm and I just don't let them get too dirty anymore. For a heavily soiled oven I'd just use the chemicals... I've heard a baking soda paste can work well though, never tried it myself.