My Smeg Ovens
My smaller Smeg oven gets fairly regular use, and I have become quite comfortable with it by now. The only thing I wish is that I could broil with the door open, but it will not work that way so I do not have a choice.
With regular use, no matter how carefully, there is a build-up of oil and grunge on the top and bottom plates. Left and right are self-cleaning liners, so they are not a problem, but what gets on the top and bottom plates gets baked on really well, and cannot be wiped off with soap and water only.
My wife called the local Smeg distributor to enquire about the oven cleaner they recommend. The person who took the call had no idea what she was talking about. Next, my wife called up the sales-person who sold us all our Smeg equipment. She was quite helpful and suggested that as the equipment was still under warranty,we could get it cleaned by their service personnel. Sounded good.
So, my wife then calls the service department. Yes, of course they would be pleased to clean our oven, but we would have to bring it in to the shop where they would clean it. I nearly had a fit when I heard that. It’s a built-in oven and it took 2 strong men to lift it into position and hook up the wiring. Now they expect my wife and I to disconnect the wiring, take it down, and lug it in for cleaning? Talk about crap offers that are made for the sake of sounding good, with no real sincerity behind them - this definitely belongs in that category.
So, the oven was just getting more and more grungy. Looking at the local supermarkets for oven cleaner yielded nothing. Your typical family here apparently does not use an oven.
Finally, I was talking to my buddy about it and he mentioned that I could get it at the Villa Supermarket on Sukhumvit 33. Well, I had looked there before without success, but decided to try again since he was so sure. As yesterday was my weekly pub crawl day, I gave it a try on the way home. Yes, the supermarket is open 24 hours.
All the kitchen cleaners were on 1 shelf, and I could see BBQ cleaners, counter-top cleaners, sink cleaners, but no oven cleaner. On the verge of giving up, I gave a final try near where the detergents were, and on an upper shelf well above my head, saw “Easy-Off” heavy-duty oven cleaner. The blurb “America’s #1 oven cleaner” caught my eye, but frankly it was the only oven cleaner available so it could be #2 for all I care.
So now I have oven cleaner. This is pretty caustic stuff and my buddy emphasised that I should be sure to wear rubber gloves when using it. I should have bought them last night, but I was so delighted to get the cleaner my brain shut down and I did not think of it. That or the beer was doing its job. Well, I’ve waited so long a few more days won’t hurt.
I’ll update on how it goes when I use it.
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October 22nd, 2008 at 4:48 am
Hi there, I run a professional oven cleaning company in the UK and I would like to advise you to be a little careful when using the ‘Easy Off’ especially on the doors of the SMEG oven as if they are like the ones here in the UK the sides of the doors are painted. That is they are not enamel like the rest of the inside. This means if you get any cleaner on these painted strips the paint comes off and they become a very unslightly white. Also if there are any ’self cleaning’ bits inside the oven these can be affected by the cleaner too. I would really advise you take your friend’s advise and wear protective clothing such as gloves, eye wear and make sure that any pets are well away when you are cleaning and rinsing off the cleaner. My best recommendation would be for you to discard the cleaner and use a ‘microfibre’ cloth with some soapy washing up liquid solution. To get the really burnt on carbon on the inside glass of the door we would use a scraper but again you need to be careful with how you use it. If you have a desire to take the door apart I would say it isn’t advisable as they are very difficult to put back together! Hope this helps Graham in the UK.
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Hi Graham, delighted you took the time to provide some professional advice here. My big problem is the enamelled top (removable, above element) and bottom (fixed) panels, where oil and protein have been baked on until rock solid. I’ll make sure to keep the cleaner off the 2 self-cleaning liners and all painted surfaces.
For the door glass, the only problem is that as oil spatters, the fan blows it onto the door as you must have seen a million times. We wipe it off as soon as the door is cool enough, but the glass still looks smudgy over time. I’ll probably try some window or glass cleaner on a corner and see how it goes. Thankfully, no need to use a scraper thus far, though I will keep what you said in mind if the need arises. And thanks especially for the warning about taking the door apart - the manual shows how to do so for cleaning, but if there is no pressing need, no point complicating things.