Two weeks ago I wrote a post on How To Clean Your Ceramic Stovetop, and wow…it went crazy viral! It is now one of my top viewed posts EVER! I posted it on Hometalk, and somehow, the conversation veered towards getting that space in between the two glass panels on your stove door clean. I thought, hmmm….I need to figure this out…this is a matter of great importance! Well, it kind of is, since I have been hanging a tea towel on my stove to hide the gunk that I can’t reach in there. So, I figured it out, and now…I am going to shame myself by showing you the hideousness that is the inside of my stove, but it will be clean by the end of this post, so you may now refer to me as Donna Reed. This is a tutorial on how to clean an oven door in between the glass.
I started by opening the door to my stove…here comes the shame part. It was just gross, like no excuses gross. This is the part that I could reach all along, but chose not to. I started with my normal go to…baking soda and a damp scrubbie sponge. I scrubbed and scrubbed.
This time, baking soda alone just wasn’t going to cut it. I was going to try to add vinegar to the baking soda, but I had just used the last of it for a marinade. So, I grabbed the next best thing…Greased Lightening. That crazy stuff will cut through anything! So I scrubbed and scrubbed again, and got it all nice and clean.
Now for the fun part. This is the part when you go, “What the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks is that?” That my friends is a torx screw. It looks like a star, and most people do not own the tool to unscrew it.
I bought a set that looks a lot like a Swiss Army Knife for $5 at Lowe’s. It has every size imaginable. Now. let’s get cleaning. Yay…fun, not really.
Unscrew the two torx screws at the top of the inside of your door. Have a chair or something handy to rest the door on…once they spring apart, the front feels kind of loose. Now you can get to the gunk on the inside…lucky you!
Now, it’s super easy. Take a vacuum hose and clean out the inside first. There were lots of crumbs in mine. Now take your favorite window cleaner and clean the glass. You may need to use your scrubber to loosen up some of the particles, but for the most part, this stuff is not cooked on like the gunk on the inside of your oven. Now, screw it back together, cause you are all finished! Pretty easy, right? I wish I had tried this sooner!
I took this photo with the door wide open, me standing over it so you can see how clear the rug below is. It’s not so easy to get a shot of the oven door without tons of glare, so I thought this would work well.
So, are you ready to tackle yours? Now I need to clean the inside…booo hooo :(
Need a little more help in the cleaning and organizing department?
Check out my other cleaning and organizing posts by clicking here!
To learn how to clean your silver, check out this fabulous post by Shannon at Fox Hollow Cottage!
Looking for more cleaning tips and tricks? Come check out my Spring Cleaning Clipboard on Hometalk!
Well, aren’t you the smartest. Now, I will have to have hubby take mine apart so I can clean it. Great more work to do.
awesome! thanks.
You have answered an age old question for me. I have always wondered how to clean in between the glass in my oven. Thankyou……..kind of……because now I will have to clean my oven ! lol
THANK YOU!! I could not click on this post fast enough. The people we bought this house from had dogs and there is DOG HAIR in between the oven doors…gross!! I’m so doing this tomorrow. I’m so excited. Thanks!
Miranda
Shut the front door!!!! This is something that has always bugged me and now I can fix it!!!! Pinning this so I won’t forget and so that many others can see it. Also linking to my FB page!! Can you tell I’m excited?
I did not know it could be cleaned! Thanks for sharing.
So glad to know this!!! I have needed to do this forever, but was afraid I would mess up the stove. Yours still works, right? lol
Thanks for the info!
Brenda
This post is perfect timing. I scrubbed my glass doors with a mix of baking soda and soap forever on Sunday but they are not as clean as I’d like them to be! You answered my question as to why. I can’t wait to do this tonight. :) Megan
I love your blog. Thanks for posting all the things you do. I thought you might like to know a trick my dad taught me years ago, for cleaning inside the oven and the door much easier.
If you open the oven door to the first click, you can easily remove it from the face of the oven. Simply open it and grasp both sides firmly and lift. It may slightly catch, but it will slide right off the hinges and you can clean it easily and reach the inside of the oven easier as well. To replace the door simply realign the slot over the hinges and gently push down. You will feel like a genius and your back won’t hurt from straining to reach the back corner of the oven from the side of the door. I have not met an oven this does not work on, but I am sure there is one somewhere. It really is as easy as opening the door and lifting it off the hinges. It even works in my vintage trailers.
I’m so glad you added your comment to this great post, because the oven doors do, in fact, come off. I remove mine all the time to clean them when I am cleaning my ovens. I clean them over the sink and it’s very convenient this way. Thanks for posting your comment.
Thanks very much for this advice. I followed your instructions and just removed my door (Maytag oven.) It slid off very easily, just like you said. Now I can clean the door over the sink. While the door’s off, I’m going to reach inside the oven and wipe it down. Easier to reach, and easier on the back. Great advice!
I love it… Desperately need to do the inside of my door. thank you :( Now I don’t have an excuse to not do it.
I love it. Thank you so much! but now that means I do not have an excuse, I will need to get in there and clean! :) Catrina
Jessica,
Did you post this on Hometalk? I am putting together a clipboard of fall cleaning tips and I want to include this!
You have the best ideas!
karianne
Jessica…you have made my day…I have been obsessing over the over door looking so bad and thinking that how can I get that door clean from the inside…You are wonder woman!!!!….
You know I love to clean and I must admit cleaning that glass never crossed my mind. I can’t wait for Friday!!! Thanks sis :-)
This is fantastic–I had no idea how to do this. I pinned this immediately!
This is a frigin miracle. Unvelievable!!! Great job!! ~ Julie
Some oven doors will have to be removed before removing the inside panel. I found this out a few years ago when I took the door apart on my Kitchen Aid. It was not as easy a job as the door in our last house. It’s too bad that the vents can’t be located on the sides of these doors so that crumbs and liquids don’t get between the door panels. How much you wanna bet it was a guy who designed them? LOL
And you thought my Halloween House Tour was scary! This is the stuff of nightmares!
Can I just pretend I never read that and blissfully go about my everyday life ignoring my dirty stove?
Kelly
Great tips Jessica!! I need to clean my oven soon – just the right time for your post! Heather Setting for Four
So glad you figured it out and shared with all of us out here in blogland. I have been needing to clean mine forever and just have never stopped to take the time to see what could be done about it. Thanks to you, I now know and so I am going to be doing this soon especially since the baking season it upon us.
WHOA! Never knew you could do that! HAHA — SO THAT TELLS YOU HOW BAD MY STOVE/OVEN IS! Thanks for sharing this and being so “transparent”…sorry, couldn’t resist :)
I will have to remember this – I went back to read how you clean your stove top. That green scrubby doesn’t scratch?? I use a razor blade to scrape up the crap and it works great – then a polish made for the top….I will have to try it your way next time
Nice! I had to learn this about 3 Thanksgiving’s ago, when my MIL cooked a turkey in my oven and somehow got a big giant blob of turkey fat in between the doors. By the time I figured out how to get at it, the fat had putrefied and then solidified… I almost puked trying to clean it.
Wonderful!!!!!! I’ve hidden this problem with the tea towel for years & now I have this simple solution. Thank you so much.
45 YEARS OF HOUSEKEEPING AND NEVER KNEW!! Thanks Jessica!!
I have a mess between the glass on my Maytag stove. I read this and went to the kitchen all excited because I thought the answer to my mess was solved. Mine doesn’t have this kind of screw :( There are lots of screws around all the door. Can I take all of these out and clean between the glass?
Thank you….
I have a mess between the glass on my Maytag stove. I read this and went to the kitchen all excited because I thought the answer to my mess was solved. Mine doesn’t have this kind of screw :( There are lots of screws around all the door. Can I take all of these out and clean between the glass?
Thank you….
FYI I have Maytag, and it has 9 phillips screws on the door. That’s good, because phillips screws are easier than the other ones. Years ago we paid a repairman to take apart the door and clean it. I watched him and it appeared simple, just like Jessica describes above. Now that I’ve read this blog, I’m going to do it myself. I just now removed the door following Jalet’s advice above. It slid off and was very easy, like she said. Now I’m removing the screws. I think it will be as simple as watching the repairman. I have to remember to keep track of where each screw goes when I’m putting the door back together. Good luck to you.
Dear Anonymous,
I also have a Maytag oven and just happened to have removed the door to clean between the glass earlier this week. However, our ovens have several pieces of glass inside and you need to take careful note of how it comes apart. I almost didn’t get mine back together again because I thought it would be a simple fix. NOT!! I am happy to say that I finally
did get it back together (with only one leftover screw!) and am now enjoying a sparkling clean oven door!!
Genius ….Thank You :)
wow!! awesome!!! ill tell my mom about it!! mine doesnt have a window…now, got any ideas how to clean between two stationary glass doors? they re the balcony doors of my apartment unit, along with 2 sliding glass doors and a sliding screen. even the crevice wand on a vacuum hose doesn t fit between there to clean up dirt and leaves….any ideas, anyone???
Jessica,
I had no idea you could take the door apart! You are a genius! Now if you will just tell me how to get motivated to clean the whole darn thing!
I was just wondering how the heck I could clean the oven window…now I know!
I would LOVE for you to link this up at my Ginger Jamboree Link Party!!
Thank you! I’ve always wondered how to clean that area! :) Now, since I am in nesting mode big time, I will go tackle that project. But first I have to go buy that funky screw driver :)
Wow! Now I have no excuse! Thanks for this great tutorial. I think you may find it goes viral as well (especially since I just saw it featured on Lil Luna).
Genius! I have been wanting to do this forever, but didn’t know how! I love you and I don’t even know you!!
Wow thank you so much for this great tip Jessica; as I have needed to do this for so long!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
2012 Artists Series
Thank you,thankyou, thankyou! I have the same oven and it drives me crazy every time I walk past it or even use it! I have one streak right down the middle and Now thanks to a wonderful person like you…I can fix it! Shari
Why didn’t anyone tell me this before? Ha! Many thanks!
OMG! I have been trying to figure this out for 6 years! Thank you so much!
I can’t believe I just asked my husband if he had a torx screw remover—He DID!! So here we went and took apart the two doors…and yes, by all means, Hold onto that bottom door because it will drop quick! But now I have clean oven doors inside and out and even read your blog about cleaning the ceramic top prior to reading about cleaning the door…So now my stove is spic and span top and bottom ( I cleaned the oven last week) This is def. going in my Pintrest in “Good to know” Thank you. Keep sharing
Random Helpful tip that is considerably less toxic than using Greased Lightning for the next time you don’t have vinegar. Use Hydrogen Peroxide and Baking soda to form a goopy paste. Wipe the paste over the entire inside of your oven, everywhere that needs to be cleaned. Let it sit. it works best if you allow it to dry completely. This seems to work best if coated with a medium thickness and allowed to sit for at least a half hour. Then scrub to your little hearts content. Elbow grease and its gone. You may need a second application for the really nasty stuff. I like this solution because both ingredients are cheap, easy on your hands and don’t leave anything toxic for those of us with kids and pets. If you missed some, or didn’t wipe it all the way off, when you heat the stove it doesn’t smell horribly. Also another side note. This mix will also take the nasty off your cookie pans, and the bottoms of pots and pans. <3
omg don’t do this if you have a Fridgidaire oven, unless you have another human being present to assist. I had to remove a buch of scews, the over door fell off, glass almost broke and the handle of the oven fell off. It’s sitting in pieces until my husband get’s home and in the mean while I’ve got to keep 2 monkey toddlers away from it…oh, and Thanksgiving is tomorrow. LOL
:)
Wow! The gunk between the glass on my oven has always been an eyesore for me! Thanks so much for this tutorial! You rock!
Leslie
I found you on pinterest and was so excited that somebody had discovered how to clean my uncleanable oven door! It’s a bummer when you have the whole kitchen gleaming (which doesn’t happen very often) but you still have ugly drips reminding you that you still have something to clean…but can’t! LOL—THANK YOU!!
HOLY COW!!! So glad I saw this on your side bar! I just cleaned my stove the other day and was ticked that I couldn’t get in between the glass. The inside was all bright and shiney… The glass door looks like someone threw up in it. HA HA HA! Now I know what to do! YAY!!!!! Thanks, Jess!
I saw this on the sidebar too and it’s exactly what I needed! My oven door is disgusting and I’ve been wondering how to clean it. Now I just need to get motivated…
Thanks for the tip!
Thank you for this post. I can not wait until I can see through and not get grossed out. Your site is AWESOME!
First remove the door from the range. Cleaning it as described, is likely to sping the door hinges, that is a safety hazard for gas ovens.
This is most likely a dumb question, but here goes: What is “Greased Lightening”???
This is most likely a dumb question, but here goes: What is “Greased Lightening”?
I have did this two or three times. A plain old phillips screwdriver will also work in these screws.
Best advice I’ve received in years! @Jalet: I’ve already removed the door; it did slide right off. My Maytag has 9 phillips screws; I’m starting on them now. Maytag’s vents and double glass door always look dirty. Too many openings, vents, and seals in the wrong places. Steam and grease get inside but you can’t clean. The self-clean cycle works in the oven itself, but outside where everyone can see, it looks dirtier on the door, vents, and seals after self-cleaning. Definately a non-cook must’ve designed this!
Best advice I’ve received in years!! I’ve already removed the door; @Jalet thanks, this does work. My Maytag door has 9 phillips screws & I’m working on them now. The Maytag door always looks dirty. The entire unit has too many openings, vents, & seals in the wrong places. Steam, grease, & gunk get in but you can’t get in to wipe clean. Even after self-cleaning, the outside-where everyone can see-is visibly gunky dirty around the door, seals, & vents. Definately a non-cook must’ve designed it.
Thanks!!!!!!!I never thought it was possible to do this
I’m so excited!! Finally a way to get that crud out of the oven door and I don’t even want to tell how many stoves I have owned!! Needless to say, I’m no spring chicken and it only took almost 50 years for me to find this out!! LOL!! Thanks!!!
I found the original post on how to clean the glass and I could not believe I did not know how!!! I didn’t realize there was goop inside the door until I cleaned the oven side…Thank you so much!!!
This is great but one other thing – what’s “Greased Lightening” and where can you find it? Sounds like something that I would love to have on hand! Please add this to one of your posts as I am really curious. Thanks for all the great info!
Greased Lightening is a degreasing product…they sell it at most grocery stores, and I love it. It basically breaks up hard to clean grease and makes it easy to wipe away…hope this is helpful!
Well, be very careful however you clean your oven door glass…my door shattered into thousands of shards right into my lap and all over me (I was sitting in the floor while cleaning the glass). Just out of the clear blue. It does not break like tempered glass pieces either. When I went to look for replacement glass (two days before Thanksgiving), I found that Maytag no longer makes black replacement glass for my model. I also found that oven glass shattering is not that rare – found several reports online. Next project: new almond glass door being changed to black with high temp spray paint and primer. Keep your fingers crossed for me (and a prayer too, please).
Thanks for linking back to this in today’s post! I have struggled to figure out how to clean the inside of the oven door since we bought our house this summer. How does that space get so gross????
OMG … I hate to omit it, but my stove is in desperate need of cleaning and I also never knew how to clean in between the glass. I guess I never really tried :) But, I am so glad you posted about this. I think I’ll give it a whirl this weekend!
Most ovens you can also remove to oven door from the stove this makes a world easier for cleaning your oven also. Simply open oven door and pull out.
I always look at the oven and think I really need to find a way to clean that. Thank you so much for figuring it out :-)
I am a follower of Hometalk.com and I cant live without that wonderful site. Again thanks for the post love it. :-)
Psst… come do mine ;)
Oh my, my husband and I were contemplating this past weekend on this exact problem.
THANK YOU!!!!! I want to get my house ready to sell and I need to do this!! Thank you for posting this!
Took me an hour start to finish, but it’s done. It was easy, and I can’t believe how clean it came out. Mine actually had three panels of glass. I had to unscrew a glass panel in between the two outer panels, but the work was well worth it. It’s like brand new. You have no idea how it bothered me that I couldn’t get that clean. Thank you oh wise one!!!
Genius!!! I just did mine and my oven handle is attached with the screws too so it made it a little harder to put back together but It looks amazing!!!
I just saw this post and just did mine to. It has been bugging me for a long time, just didn’t know how to clean it. When I took my two screws out my handle fell off too, I thought I was screwed when I shut the oven door part all the way since I didn’t have a way to open it, but it was easy to open. This worked awesome will definately be using it again!!!
Thank you! I just finished and those annoying streaks are now gone. Hardest part was putting the door back on because of the springs on the hinges. A quick trip to YouTube and a couple of nails later and we got it back on!
Wow. Thanks. I can’t even see inside the oven anymore because of that.
I have GOT to do this. Thanks for telling me how. laurie
WOW!!! who knew?!?!? Thank you so much for the tutorial… I spilled turkey drippings in between mine during my first Thanksgiving in my house (embarrassed to say 14.5 years ago!! Whoops!) …yes, you can spill stuff in between those two layers of glass if you are trying to save your too heavy turkey from falling, while trying not to burn yourself!!!! I can’t wait to try this…for years I have been saying to my husband “there has got to be a way to open that up” and he would always say “nope, they don’t even sell a tool for that”– Well guess what he is going to be doing!!?? : )
Do you have the ability to see into my house? Just kidding. Just cleaned my oven two days ago and noticed those spots between the glass with wondering…Saw this on Facebook. Those spots will soon be gone. Thank you!
I HAVE CLEANED HOUSES FOR 32 YEARS AND YES THE SMUDGE BETWEEN THE DOORS HAS REALLY BOTERED ME.
MY #1 CLEANING TOOL IS THE MR CLEAN SPONGES. THEY ARE JUST REMARKABLE FOR MOST ANYTHING. I THINK YOU MIGHT SPEND A LITTLE LESS SCRUBBING TIME IF YOU HAD ONE OF THESE. THEY DO WEAR OUT QUICKLY. BUT ARE STILL WORTH IT. HOPE YOU LIKE IT! I LOV E NEW SUGESTIONS. THANK YOU SO MUCH.
I suggest doing a search on Google before disassembling doors. If your oven is in warranty, this is usually covered (door disassembly). If you DIY, you void the warranty. Not all oven doors are the same, so while this one was a breeze, there are others that aren’t. You won’t know until it’s too late, though. Maybe it’d be better to do the first time via service call and watch to see if it’s something you can reasonably do. I’m not sure if I dare take ous apart or not after reading some less successful attempts folks have made.
I have been wondering if I could clean the inside of the oven window, thanks so much for the 411. I am doing this now.
Traci