How to steam clean my ge profile oven

Begin by reading the owner's manual. Many consumers are nervous about using the self-cleaning feature because of the extreme heat, but being informed will boost your confidence.

Clean according to your cooking habits. Frequent spillovers and splatters are best handled with frequent cleaning. Pick a time to clean when you'll be at home but out of the kitchen for a few hours -- to prevent breathing any fumes.

Here's some basic advice for using a pyrolyticself-cleaning oven:

• Remove all pans and foil from inside the oven before you clean. Usually, you'll need to remove the racks and wash them separately. Metal racks will discolor and be harder to slide if you leave them in. Enamel-covered racks can be cleaned along with the rest of the oven.
• Clean up as much baked-on food or grease as you can easily remove. You can scrape it off with a non-scratch spatula.
• Lock the oven door. You may need to fasten it with a lever or it may lock automatically. This prevents anyone from opening it during the cleaning cycle and being blasted by the heat.
• Time the cleaning using the controls provided. The time you choose depends on how dirty the oven is. Two hours is usually plenty for light cleaning. Three or four hours might be needed for a dirty oven.
• Let the oven cool after the cleaning cycle. The oven will turn off automatically when the cleaning cycle is over, but you won't be able to open it until it cools down to regular baking temperatures.
• Wipe away ash residue with damp cloth. You can use your vacuum cleaner if the residue is loose [source: GE Free-Standing].

To use the steam-cleaning cycle, pour water into the bottom of the cool oven -- the owner's manual will tell you exactly how much. Shut the door and press the "clean" button. The cycle should take less than an hour. Don't open the oven door during the cleaning process. When the cycle is finished, let the oven cool down. Then loosen dirt using a scrub brush or nylon scouring pad. Soak up any remaining water with a sponge or cloth and leave the door open to air-dry the oven.

If you have a continuous cleaning oven, wipe up residue at least weekly. You can help the cleaning along by turning the oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit (246 degrees Celsius) for an hour or so while it's empty. It's a good idea to put foil on the bottom of a continuous cleaning oven to prevent large spills from sticking [source: Field].

In the old days, manual cleaning was the only option when buying a new oven. Getting down on your kitchen floor and scrubbing the inside of your oven using harsh oven cleaners was the only way to get it clean. In the 1960s, self cleaning range models were introduced by General Electric. Many consumers love the self cleaning feature, but as time has passed, consumers have demanded alternatives. Steam clean oven models were born to meet the need for a less harsh, faster, and more energy-efficient oven cleaning option. 

(Before we continue: if you want more info to help you choose a new kitchen range, check out our range buying guide!)

Before you purchase a steam clean oven, you should understand how steam cleaning differs from self cleaning.

A self cleaning cycle typically runs two to three hours. During the cycle, the range will be locked and will heat to an extremely high temperature inside - 900 degrees or more! This cycle essentially cleans the range by burning all of the stains and caked-on debris away with the help of an enamel coating on the interior. At the end of the cycle, you'll simply need to clean out the ash from the interior and then touch-up clean any remaining stains.

Self cleaning ovens have some drawbacks, including:

• High energy consumption

• Long cycle length (usually 3 hours)

• Unpleasant odors from incinerated foods

In addition, the oven will be emanating heat into your kitchen during the cycle. Not ideal if you need to run a cleaning cycle on a hot summer day!

Steam cleaning offers a gentler alternative. To operate a steam clean oven model, you simply put about one cup of water into a reservoir in the oven designed for steam cleaning. Once you select the steam clean oven cycle, the oven will run for about 30 minutes or so and use a moderate temperature (about 250 degrees) along with the water in the reservoir to steam away caked-on food stains. The cycle is shorter, uses less energy and heat, and doesn't produce the noxious odors of self cleaning. 

So, what are the drawbacks of steam cleaning? Steam cleaning does not have the power of traditional self cleaning and therefore can't penetrate heavily caked-on food the way self cleaning can. For this reason, it is important to steam clean more regularly than you would run a self-clean cycle and generally keep up on the interior maintenance of your oven. For example, you should run it as soon after a spill as possible. Some consumers have also noticed that steam clean works well for debris on the bottom of the oven, but is not as effective for debris on the sides or in corners. 

Pro Tip: If you want the best of both worlds, choose an oven that offers both self cleaning and steam cleaning like the LG LREL6325F.

LG LREL6325F - $1,099

We hope you enjoyed this discussion of steam clean oven pros and cons. This feature can be found on many mid- to high-end stoves from a variety of brands. Let us know what kind of range you end up purchasing and which cleaning technology you prefer. We’d love to hear from you!

Editor's Note: This blog was originally written in January of 2018 and has been completely revamped and updated for accuracy as of the publication date noted above.

Topics: Ranges

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