Some manufacturers recommend to leave the racks out of the oven when cleaning - you'll have to check your owner's manual. Davor's manual says to leave them out before cleaning while my GE oven says to leave them in. Maybe it's because my Dacor has nifty full glide racks so maybe they're made differently.

I use the self clean feature on my ovens about once a year. It's not messy at all. It does use a good bit of electricity because the ovens get really hot. Depending on how dirty they are you might also get an odor. But I just open the window and little and it dissipates. My ovens can be set to a 1 to 3 hour clean cycle but I've never had to go the full 3 hours. Usually 90 minutes is enough.

Just a quick warning - if you have a Kitchen oven there has been a steady stream of problems concerning the self clean feature on certain models. The heat causes the fuse to blow. It's a well documented issue and KitchenAid seems to be ignoring it. So if you have one please check out the KT Appliance Forum for the following post. I couldn't get it to link here so here it is:

Kitchenaid ovens - problems when cleaning.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the self-cleaning oven! I have several suggestions, though.

DO NOT LEAVE THE RACKS IN THE OVEN! The high heat of the cleaning process will take the shine off the racks. You'll be able to use them, but they will be hard to slide in and out of the oven.

Clean up (or roughly scrape up) any major spills, such as the spillover from baking fruit pies or large grease spills. The process will clean the messes, but it will take longer and make more smoke than you might like.

If you have a silicone liner on the bottom of the oven, MAKE SURE THAT YOU REMOVE IT before cleaning! The high heat of the cleaning process will melt the silicone liner and etch the silicone all over the oven. (I discovered this when a well-meaning house-sitter decided to run the self-cleaning oven and didn't realize that I had a silicone liner in the bottom of the oven. The oven (which had been black) looked like it had been sandblasted to a grey-white finish).

Lastly, I never leave the house when self-cleaning the oven. Even though the ovens are insulated, the adjoining cabinets can get warm....just a precaution......

For me it is well worth using.
I had a friend who had a beautiful home but her oven was terrible. And it had the self cleaning feature.
They put their house up for sale and I finally told her I thought the oven needed to be cleaned before showing the house.
She said she would but she didn't....told the buyer it would be clean when they handed over the keys. He was very upset.
(We live in a small community.)
I can set the timer to as little as two hours and usually run the cleaning feature when it is really cold here.
I leave the racks in because I hate cleaning them....they do lose their shine and are a little harder to pull out but I can live with it.

I have only used the self-cleaning feature on my oven once in the 5 years I have lived here. My oven does not get that dirty and the cleaning feature put out a lot of heat and uses a lot of electricity. When I get a gas stove, I would rather clean it myself.

I used mine for the first time last month. I posted here that it worked just fine, but the smell was really horrendous. The manual does say that there is a smell the first time you use it, but this smell and its lingering effect was really over the top--I'm not sure why. I was gagging and coughing for days, and I couldn't open windows because it was freezing (ie -15 degrees) out that entire week. I won't use it again unless I can open all the house windows!!

Thanks, I think I'll just do it the old fashion way, its not that bad at all. I just hate cleaning those racks!

JoAnn, check your manual to see if it's okay to use oven cleaner. There was a warning not to with the Jenn-Aire we had in OT. If you decided to use the self-clean do it before our weather gets warm. I need to do mine, too. If you leave the racks in they get a dull color and like Carol said, are hard to pull out. I did read a tip in the paper that it will clean your burner drip pans really well (if you have those) but you'd need a rack to put them on, I guess.

I love self-cleaning anything!!

I boil in our oven so yes, it gets cleaned -- self-cleaned -- probably four or five times a year. I usually do it after I put up the "Kitchen Is Closed" sign after dinner. lol (near bedtime) I leave the range hood exhaust on during the cleaning cycle.

I keep only one oven rack in the oven all the time. The rest go in only when needed, then get wiped and go back to storage.

Remove the rack(s) before self-cleaning cycle if you want them to slide easily and look shiny-bright.

I love the self cleaning feature on mine and I bake a lot of pies, but don't have a lot of spill overs as I put them on a jelly roll pan. I clean mine probably twice a year. I would just clean them when I think they need it. I don't let them get terrible because the fumes can be bad unless you turn on the exhaust fan and open windows. I do leave my racks in as I don't like to spend time cleaning them, would rather be doing other things :)

Sue

What a timely thread, as yesterday I spent much of the day in 15-20 minute spurts cleaning stove and oven....except the racks. It was sooooo bad, but now it is ready for the self-cleaning part, minus the racks. I seem to remember that you can put them in a plastic bag with amonia over night, and they clean easily. Ideas?? Thanks.

Nanny (x-military wife who used to do this every couple of years and very much out of practice!))

I use my self-cleaning feature every couple of months--it's SO worth it. And yes, I always leave the racks in--it doesn't make that much difference to them, and I like knowing that they're super clean.

Not only that, but I also toss in: the racks and disks from the range (mine are gray and a real pain to get clean), and occasionally a piece or two of cast iron that I want to strip and reseason. The self-cleaning oven does a great job of cleaning all those things. My flame-spreaders and racks for the top of the range always look brand new afterwards.

As someone else said, I never set the oven for more than 60-90 minutes when self-cleaning. It doesn't take that long to do a good job. If you do it often enough (as I said, every few months), the smell is barely noticeable.

I would NEVER buy an oven without the self-clean feature (which, of course, is different from 'continuous clean'--won't have that).

I love the self-cleaning feature!
Mine has a warning - not to use oven cleaner on the self-cleaning oven, because it has a special finish for the self-cleaner.

I don't do the racks in the oven, because I did that many years ago, with my first SC oven, and one of them warped.

If you do clean your racks in the oven and they don't slide as well afterward, just put a little oil (not olive oil) on your finger and wipe it along the edge of the racks. It will slide real slick after the oil.

To clean the racks: put them into a large black plastic and an open cup of straight ammonia. Tie up the bag and leave overnight. You racks will come out very clean. I do this by laying the racks in the bag on the garage floor, and carefully setting down the cup of ammonia then careful tying up the bag, so to not spill the ammonia. Won't hurt anything, but makes more of a mess.

I'd never get a non-self cleaning oven ever again.

i don't like the self-cleaning feature on my Caloric gas oven/range. It snmells up the whole house, and once caused a minor kitchen fire. thank goodness I was there to put it out.

I will never own an oven that isn't a self clean. The amount of time it takes is longer than using Easy Off. But (BIG BUT here, when you consider with self clean, you push a button and wait (mine is 2 or 3 hours depending on how dirty it is), then you let it cool off. The the best part: WIPE clean. Not scrub clean. It's amazing. No elbow grease. Use the self clean. You won't be sorry.

I've only used it once on this new oven. The smell was minimal and it was really dirty because some butter had spilled in it from popovers. I thought it would smell more. Unfortunately, we're one of the ones that had the fuse blow- the oven and all the lights didn't work until the repairman came with a new fuse, about 2 weeks. Samsung oven. He advised me to pull the stove out from the wall next time, and do the shortest clean cycle so it won't overheat. I got the part number and Woody watched him repair it so if it happens again, we can order the part and fix it ourselves without the $75 service call. Grrr!

However, I love the self-cleaning feature and don't understand why someone would not use it. And really, how much electricity can it use in an hour or two? A dollar, two dollars worth? No big deal, IMO.

Would you folks who wouldn't be without a SC oven perhaps reconsider if your power bill were to go up substantially - say, quadruple?

ole joyful

I have the self- cleaning oven and I'm glad to see this thread.

I use the self-clean, because it is too hard on my bad back to do the bending that is otherwise needed. I did one time push a pecan pie in too far and it tipped and spilled a lot of the filling. I wiped that up with a wet dish cloth and baked the pie. Then ran the s-c, and wiped up the smidgen of "dust" that was left, and it looked like new again.

I do leave the racks in, for the same reason as I mentioned. They are getting hard to slide in now, so I'm glad to read about the bag/ammonia treatment. I used to do that with grill racks, but hadn't thought about oven racks.

Azzalea, I have a large size, very old cast iron frying pan that needs to be reseasoned. Do you leave the pan right side up, down, or does it matter?

The expense of running the s-c oven, however much that might be is well worth it to me, granted that I don't have to do it often.

Sue

I agree, I love my self cleaning oven and will never give that feature up...but will never, ever have another continuous cleaning oven. You dare not use anything on them, and when they are first dirtied they can be a real hassle. I had one and thought it would be great, wow was I wrong!

OJ, the cost to run a self-cleaning oven is probably no more than the cost of a can of solvent-based oven cleaner, which would also go up if the price of electricity went, too.

Sue, I just put the cast iron in right side up. The high heat incinerates all the old seasoning off it. If you're leary about using the self-cleaning over for that, you can do the same thing with your covered grill. Just put the pan in turn it up high, shut the lid and check every half hour or so, to check on the progress.

Self Cleaning ovens are better insulated than those that don't have the feature. So they are more efficient to run day to day. I usually clean my oven in the winter on a cold evening, so I enjoy the heat it generates.

I found that amazon.com has Easy-Off for about $6.00 a can. It is worth it for me to use the self cleaning feature a couple of times a year.

I looked it up online- a consumer group estimates it costs $2.50 an hour to run the self-clean cycle. Since most people can get by with a 2 hour cycle, that's $5. And if you run it right after using the oven and it's still hot, you'll save some $$$. Next time I do it, I'll try it for just an hour. I don't want to blow that fuse again.

Sounds worth it to me!

Azzalea, I'm not leery about using the oven, just wanted to do it right. Thanks.

Sue

For those of you who have trouble with the racks not gliding smoothly after the cleaning cycle, just take a paper towel dipped in cooking oil and lubricate the grooves the racks ride on. I've heard Pam works, too, but have not tried it.

Well worth it! Its a great thing to do a a chilly rainy day. I self cleaned mine today (no rain but it needed it) and then put one of those silicone oven liners on the bottom under the heating element. It should make any spills easy to wipe away! It does have to be removed before self cleaning. I just tried the tip mentioned about oiling the edges of the oven racks. It made a HUGE difference!! I don't mind that the racks aren't shiny due to being left in the oven during the clean cycle (the book warns you about that). Its way better than washing them when you don't have to. Besides no one sees the racks but me! To season a cast iron pan, t should be put in the oven upside down so any excess oil can drip out. The book I read on cast iron cooking said to wash in soap and water to remove the seasoning. Use just water and a soft scrub brush for cleaning, but not re-seasoning.

Lisa--you're absolutely right about seasoning. What I was talking about was REMOVING the old seasoning before you reseason. You can't season a pan during the self-clean cycle.

What a timely post! I'm in the process of getting a new range and found one that I really liked, except that it's a manual clean. No thanks. I've had self cleaning ovens for a long time now and wouldn't go back to a non-self cleaning oven if you gave it to me.

I do a lot of oven cooking and it's great to just set up the cleaning feature and do other things and once it's done, wipe out the ash and done.