First of all, what is a self cleaning oven? A self cleaning oven is an oven which essentially cleans itself (to a certain degree), by using a pyrolytic interior coating and extreme heat to burn off any leftover food that may have spilled or sprayed in the oven, without having to use any chemical cleaners.

Although the self cleaning oven does the majority of the cleaning during the 3-5 hour process, you still need to do a little cleaning before and after you start the self cleaning mode yourself. You should start by removing the racks from the oven first and wash them in a sink using a scraper or brush to remove stuck-on food. Then, wipe down the inside of your oven with a hot damp cloth to try to remove any large spills. DO NOT use any rough scouring pads or oven cleaners on the inside of the oven because they may damage the  special pyrolytic coating.

There are a few things you should always remember when you are putting your oven on “self-clean mode”. You should always open a window do to the smell of the fumes that may come when burning off old food. If you happen to have a pet bird, you should remove it from the area because the fumes, which are not harmful to people, may be harmful to birds. And never try to open the oven door during the cleaning process or you risk the possibility of being burned (during the cleaning process the temperature can be as high as 900 Fahrenheit).