A lot of effort goes into pulling off a successful Thanksgiving feast. Having your recipes planned out is important, but you should also follow some basic range maintenance tips if you want to avoid a potential disaster that prevents you from cooking.
Thanksgiving Range Maintenance Tips
For your range to work correctly, it needs to be clean. Grease and food particles build up over time causing parts to malfunction and eventually fail. These simple range maintenance tips should help guide you through the process of cleaning and testing your range before Thanksgiving.
Clean Oven Interior
You may be tempted to use your oven’s self-clean feature for this step, but beware. Running this cycle can cause parts to break, and self-cleaning temperatures of nearly 1,000° F create toxic carbon monoxide fumes. Instead, make a natural oven cleaner with these common ingredients:
- Baking soda
- Warm water
- Vinegar
- Spray bottle
- Non-abrasive cleaning pad
Form a paste with warm water and baking soda, cover the oven interior, and let it sit overnight. Scrape off the paste the next day, spray all interior surfaces with vinegar, wipe down, and you’re set!
Clean Stove Top
Range tops come in many varieties, but our stove maintenance tips have you covered no matter what kind you own:
- Electric Range Top: Make paste of warm water and baking soda, coat element coils (but not the electrical connections), let sit for 20 minutes, then wipe down with a wet rag.
- Gas Range Top: Remove grates and burner caps, wash in soapy water and scrub with a non-abrasive pad. Use surface cleaner around burners and knobs, but don’t use too much liquid or get igniters wet. Replace grates and caps when completely dry.
- Glass Cooktop: Spray with vinegar and wipe with paper towel. Use a razor to carefully remove any stuck-on particles.
Clean Range Controls
You have to be careful when cleaning your range’s knobs or control panel. Make sure to use the correct method:
- Knobs: Do not attempt to remove knobs. Use water and mild soap or light-duty cleaner with a non-abrasive pad (not too much liquid).
- Control Panel: Clean with mild dishwashing liquid or glass cleaner, dry with soft rag.
These range maintenance tips should have your unit looking and performing great. Test your oven and stovetop before the big day, and if yours isn’t working, enter to win a free electric range now, courtesy of Just-in Time Appliance Repair.
