Cleaning the oven is a job that can get out of hand quite quickly. Occasionally wiping your oven down will keep crumbs and debris out. But, over time, hard layers of grease build up and bake on.
Cleaning it can require hours of scrubbing and harsh chemicals. And, for many people, it means using chemicals or equipment you don’t already own.
Combined with the fact that most of us don’t want to get home from a long work week only to spend hours cleaning the stove – professional oven cleaning is an attractive solution.
Here, the average cost of oven cleaning is about £50-£200. Those costs can drop to as little as £15 if you pay for oven cleaning as part of a professional house cleaning. And, if you want to scrub a bad oven with a hood or extractor fan, prices can go up to over £200.
Most of these costs are labour and most cleaners won’t bother to charge for supplies.
Topics
Why Should I Have My Oven Cleaned Professionally?
Professionally cleaning an oven means having a team come in to deep clean your oven and possibly your whole stove and ventilator. That can mean removing layers of grease and grime that you couldn’t easily get to yourself. You get:
- A deeper clean than most household chemicals allow for
- A faster job – most cleaners will take 1-2 hours on the job
- Professionals who understand how to remove grime without damaging the enamel
- Your cleaner can take the stove apart if necessary
- The cleaner has the tools necessary to clean fine cracks, deep layers of grease, and ventilator filters
Eventually, the biggest reason to have your oven cleaned professionally is that it saves you time and effort. If you have a lot of time on your hands, you probably wouldn’t even think about having your oven cleaned professionally.
On the other hand, your oven might be in very bad condition. Paying for a professional cleaning allows you to reset it to like-new condition, giving you the opportunity to keep up with cleaning.
Oven Cleaning Costs*
Oven cleaning costs vary depending on the type of stove, how dirty it is, and how much you’re paying your cleaner per hour.
| Oven | Cost |
| Standard/Single | £50- £160 |
| Ceramic Hob | £30- £60 |
| Electric Hob | £20- £45 |
| Double | £65- £200 |
| AGA Range Cooker | £89- £195 |
| Extractor Hood | £30- £45 |
*Please keep in mind that these costs are based on quotes at the time of writing in May 2023. Actual costs are subject to change and may be different at the time of reading.
Those actual costs will change depending on what else you’re paying for. For example, some cleaning companies have a minimum rate to visit or a “first hour” fee. Others will charge a flat rate for showing up to clean your oven.
- Cleaning an oven with significant grease and grime buildup – 1-2 hours – £50- £160
- Oven, hob, and extractor fan/ventilator hood – 2-5 hours – £180- £260
- Cleaning oven as part of deep clean for home – £20- £40
- Standard oven and stove – 20 minutes – £50- £100
Oven Cleaning Pricing Factors
The largest factor in the cost of cleaning an oven is the time required. That’s because you’re mostly only paying for time.
However, factors like where you live, what kind of services you want, the accessibility of the oven, and the type of oven will all play a role in total costs.
Location
Location is normally the most important price factor in predicting the total cost of cleaning an oven professionally. For example, you can typically expect costs to hover around £60 in most of the country.
However, if you live in London, Wales, or the east of England, it’s likely to be closer to £100. That’s because the cost of living is higher and therefore cleaners need to charge more to make ends meet.
However, you can figure out what local hourly rates are by asking for quotes before committing to having someone come out to clean your oven. Asking for 3 or more quotes from different companies will give you the opportunity to see what average local rates are so you can better understand what you should be paying.
On average, the more urban your area, the more you’ll pay for oven cleaning. On the other hand, if you live in a very rural area, you might find that you have to pay travel costs as well – which might reduce the difference.
Amount of Work
If you have a cleaner come out to clean your oven every 3-6 months, it’s not very much work to keep up with.
On the other hand, if it’s been years, it could be a significant amount of work to clean the oven. That also holds true depending on how long it takes to clean your particular oven.
However, the largest cost factor here is usually whether or not you’re having other work done. For example, most cleaners will charge a visiting rate of X for the first hour + an hourly rate for the duration for the cleaning.
This means that if you only pay for cleaning the oven, you’ll pay the maximum rate. However, that’s not always the case. You might also get a flat rate just for cleaning the oven.
Why do rates work like this? Most cleaners need to know that travelling to your home is worth their while. They also have to cover the cost of cleaning and supplies. Therefore your rate may look something like:
- First Hour – £60
- Following hours – £30
In other cases, you might get a flat rate like “£200 for a full day of cleaning” and you pay that rate whether you utilise the day or not. And, in other cases, you might pay an hourly rate for the amount of time that person was in your home, which could be as little as £15.
What’s Involved in the Oven Cleaning
If you want to wipe down your oven and clean the top and sides, it’s going to be a relatively quick job, no matter how bad your oven is. However, a deep oven clean might also involve:
- Cleaning the interior of the oven
- Cleaning the door
- Soaking and scrubbing the removable parts of the oven
- Removing, cleaning, and refitting the thermostat and heat element
- Cleaning or replacing filters
- Removing rust and enamelling over pits
- Scrubbing ventilator hoods
- Removing grime from exhaust fans
- Replacing or cleaning exhaust filters
- Cleaning attached hobs
- Removing rust and grime from oven racks
- Removing the oven and cleaning the back
- Dismantling or removing the door to remove grease and grime built up in the hinges
- Taking off handles and knobs to scrub and soak them
Essentially, the more involved your cleaning goes, the more time it’s likely to take. Therefore, the more it will cost.
Sometimes that work can be quite involved. For example, if you hire a company that specialises in oven cleaning rather than general cleaning, they may even be able to remove glass plates and screens to clean grease out from under them to prevent discoloration and stains.
Oven Type
The standard single oven is the fastest and easiest to clean. If your oven is made of standard stainless steel, you’ll have the lowest costs. However, double ovens, AEG ovens, and integrated combi ovens all need cleaning too.
You’ll normally find that costs vary quite a bit between them, with the AEG and double ovens requiring the most time. That’s because these ovens are the largest.
In addition, enamelled steel and ceramic ovens will take more time to clean. That’s because you have to be more careful of the enamel or ceramic so you don’t damage it.
For example, you can’t normally take steel wool or a wire brush to your ceramic oven without scratching it. That means your cleaner has to use slower and gentler products, spend more time scrubbing with gentler cleaning agents, and generally take more time on the full job.
However, you can normally expect about 1-2 hours for a combi oven, 1-3 hours for a single oven, 1-4 hours for a double oven, and 1-4 hours for a side or AEG oven.
On the other hand, factors like oven placement can complicate the time needed to finish the job. If your oven is very high or very low, it might require extra work to access. And, if you actually have to take your oven out of the wall to clean, it can add a lot of time to the total job.
Where Can I Find Oven Cleaning Services?
In most cases, you’ll be able to choose from either generic cleaning services or find a few cleaners specialising in ovens. In either case, you’ll have to search locally, using either a directory or a search engine.
However, the easiest way to find oven cleaning services is to request quotes in your area. Use the form at the top of the page to have local oven cleaning services send you their rates.
Here, you should compare what you get for the quote. For example, are cleaning supplies listed as part of the rate? Is there a flat fee for the visit? Does it include extras like cleaning the exhaust or the hob?
Benefits Of Having Oven Cleaned By A Professional
There are plenty of reasons to have your oven professionally cleaned. However, it might not be a right fit for you.
Saving Time
Cleaning an oven takes time. In fact, if you account for the fact that most household products require you to clean the oven, soak it in chemicals, clean it again, soak it again, and then clean it again – you’re looking at 2-4 or more hours to clean an oven yourself.
If you’re busy and work during the week, that can take up a considerable amount of your free time.
A professional cleaner is very likely to take several hours. However, they can do so without you actively investing time in the cleaning. And, the rate you pay them might be less than you earn per hour – which means you’ll benefit from having them do the tasks you don’t want to do.
In addition, a professional cleaner may be able to do the same job you’d take 2+ hours to do in an hour or less. That can save you the time of having the hassle and being unable to use your oven as well.
Professional Equipment
You don’t need professional equipment to clean an oven. However, it can certainly help.
For example, your cleaner may have cleaning agents and tools that aren’t available to the public. They might also have specialty cleaning tools that do a better job with grease removal, such as steamers. This will save time while improving how clean your oven is.
For example, if you want an eco-friendly or chemical-free oven clean – for example if you have a ceramic oven – you probably want access to professional cleaning tools. And, if you don’t have oven cleaning supplies, you might find that you spend £20 or more just on cleaning supplies.
Most oven cleaners cost £5-£14 per bottle – before you get to scotch brite, steel wool pads, sponges, kitchen roll, wipes, or gloves. So, if you don’t already have supplies to hand, the cost of a cleaner could be less than you think.
Ensuring a Good Clean
A professional cleaner has the tools, expertise, and experience to do the job well. In addition, if you have mobility issues or are ill, you might simply be unable to properly clean your oven.
A professional oven cleaner will restore your oven to an as-like new condition as-is possible, which is difficult to replicate on your own, even if you’re in good condition for it.
Professional Expertise
Most homeowners have no idea which chemical cleaners are the best fit for their stoves. They also don’t know which scrubbing tools they can use without damaging the enamel.
And, most don’t really know the best way to remove burnt on food versus layers of grease or rust. The professional cleaner does.
Even if they’re a general cleaner rather than one specialising in stoves, the cleaner does this for a living, meaning they have experienced the best way to clean every type of material. This means they’ll make the right choices to get your stove as clean as possible, without damaging the stove.
That expertise can be important, especially if you’re dealing with rust, an antique stove, or have an enamelled steel stove.
Increased Oven Safety and Efficiency
Deep cleaning your oven means removing layers of built-up grease and grime, removing burnt food, and removing any debris blocking the vents.
That increases the safety of the stove by reducing fire hazards. It also increases the efficiency of the stove by ensuring that your stove heats properly and evenly, without burnt food to limit heat distribution.
That’s especially true if your fans and vents are blocked – so cleaning the oven could greatly improve the oven’s performance and heat distribution.
What’s Involved In Oven Cleaning?
Cleaning an oven can vary quite a bit depending on what’s being done and how bad the oven is. In most cases, you can expect that the timeline will mostly change depending on how dirty your oven is:
- Removing grates, racks, and hobs and soaking them – 20 minutes
- Scrubbing grates, racks, and hobs – 20 minutes
- Disassembling exhaust fans and filters and cleaning them – 30+ minutes
- Cleaning hob – 10-20 minutes
- Cleaning and treating oven with steam or chemicals – 20-30 minutes
- Scrubbing oven after soak – 15-30 minutes
- Cleaning glass doors – 10-20 minutes
- Cleaning behind heating element – 15-20 minutes
- Disassembling drawers, knobs, etc. and cleaning them – 20+ minutes
Some of these tasks might not be important depending on what kind of oven you have. In addition, you could opt to use steam cleaning rather than chemical cleaning, which could involve more active time scrubbing the stove.
DIY vs Hiring A Pro
You’ll always have to choose between hiring a professional cleaner or doing the job yourself. However, in most cases, it depends on what kind of time you have, your mobility, and how bad the oven is.
For example, if you have a cleaner over regularly you might as well see if they also clean ovens. On the other hand, if your oven is in very bad condition, paying a cleaner can help you get it back under control – so you can keep up with it yourself.
Additionally, it’s not always worthwhile to do cleaning work yourself. If you’re busy, spend a lot of time at work, and value your time more than you’re paying someone to clean the oven for you, it’s a good trade-off.
Professional cleaners can get an oven cleaner than you can. They can also do so more efficiently and while risking less damage to the oven.
However, if you have plenty of time on your hands and a tight budget, there’s no reason to opt for a professional clean – unless you want to be absolutely certain that there’s no chemical or other dangerous residue in an oven.
Otherwise, it should entirely be about how much you value having time and a clean oven versus the cost of having the oven professionally cleaned.
What’s Next?
The best way to have your oven professionally cleaned is to look around, find professional cleaners and compare them. For that reason, it’s always a good idea to compare 3 or more quotes, so you know what local rates look like.
You can then look at what’s included in the quote (e.g., do they guarantee the job for x amount of money or is it an hourly rate), what their expertise is, additional fees like travel costs and total work included. From there, you should be able to easily make a decision.
If you’re ready to find a professional oven cleaner, use the form at the top of the page to request quotes from professionals in your area.