Pinterest Project Pass/Fail: DIY oven cleaner

My oven is NASTY.  And it's not a self-cleaning oven.  I know... I didn't know they even made non-self cleaning ovens.

Of course my oven wasn't always NASTY.  I adore my husband and I love that he cooks the entire Thanksgiving Dinner.  But... turkey juice burned onto every surface of the oven makes me not so fond of his cooking.  It's not his fault that the turkey exploded all over the oven, but still.  It's NASTY.

Lucky for me there is Pinterest, and this "sure-fire" cleaning technique that doesn't use "earth destroying chemicals."  Let's give it a go.

Here are the instructions:

First things first
Remove the racks. Using a spatula, scrape up as much of the debris as you can, and throw it away. Most of the big stuff should come up pretty easy. Tip: move the trash can closer to the oven...

THEN
Using about a cup of baking soda, more or less depending on the size of your oven, sprinkle it all over the floor of your oven. 

 THEN
This is where a squirt bottle comes in handy. Spray vinegar all over the baking soda. Use your fingers or a rubber spatula to spread the baking soda around so that it comes into contact with the vinegar and every dirty part of your oven floor. Let sit for 10-20 minutes. 
(alternative: Mix vinegar and baking soda in a bowl to form a paste, and then spread that over your oven floor. Make sure to pour the vinegar slowly because it fizzes up pretty high.)

 

 Get a scrubbing pad (I used one of those metal curly wiry ones...) and scrub in a CIRCULAR motion, rather than back and forth -- this will make your job go by so much more quickly. Grime should come off pretty easily...

When you can slide the pad gently all over the oven floor and no longer feel any rough patches, you are ready to clean up the excess baking soda/vinegar mixture.

Use a damp sponge and get it all out of there!

You will have to keep rinsing off the sponge...

 Verdict:

Um... epic fail.  And these pictures don't even do it justice.  Because the mess that was left has since burned onto the floor of the oven, making it even worse.

So I used traditional "earth-destroying chemicals."  Still no clean oven.  So maybe the pin isn't a fail... just my oven.