The Best Oven Cleaner

Your guide to this review today is by Cleaning expert Adam Barker
Published on
February 15th, 2019

Expert BioExpert Bio

Adam has a passion for cleaning from his youth growing up in England, and he has carried it with him to the US. Adam’s formal training and certifications in cleaning include the Advanced System Cleaning specialist (For HVAC cleaning / ductwork), through NADCA (this is the highest certification that NADCA has), as well as several other certifications from the IICRC. Adam has either advised, consulted, or done research with dozens of cleaning and cleaning related business entities. Adam holds an undergraduate degree from Oxford, a Master’s degree from Oxford, and a Master’s degree from Harvard Business School.

The Cleaning Institute

Keeping your oven clean is an essential part of being a homeowner or having your own apartment, especially if, like so many people, you are fond of cooking at home, either because of financial reasons or just simply for the joy of cooking, which millions of Americans around the country take an immense amount of pleasure in.

Because we know how much people love their food, and love being able to prepare said food in the comfort of their own homes, it only makes sense that we would try and help you find the best possible oven cleaner that is currently available on the market. That means we put our trusty team of reviewers together and turned them loose to do some good, old-fashioned product testing and review for us.

When all was said and done, we were able to determine that Easy Off Professional Fume Free Oven Cleaner won our Top Pick, followed by Krud Kutter Concentrated Cleaner and Degreaser in the Honorable Mention category, and Puracy Streak Free Multi-Surface cleaner ended up walking away with our Green Pick at the end of the day.

So now that you know who won in what categories, you are probably curious as to how we came up with those results, correct? In our next segment, we will go into more detail about the exact criteria which we used to make these determinations and choose our ultimate finalists in each category.

Testing Categories

One of the things we are very passionate about around here is the idea that products reviews should be easy to read and understand and the criteria for evaluation should be simple to follow as well. To that end, we decided to break down our grading rubric into three primary components for our product reviewers to evaluate an oven cleaner on: power, application, and odor.

Each of these played a part in determining an oven cleaner’s overall review score, but we will go into more detail about each of these categories below so you can understand our thought process more fully.

Power: In terms of power, our main focus was on how concentrated the formula was and about how much of the overall bottle you need to use from each product during one standard cleaning session in order to satisfactorily clean your oven. If the formula was not concentrated, or if it claimed to be but still required a large amount in order to get the oven clean to a reasonable standard, then we lowered the product’s score in this category.

For those who may be concerned about this type of thing, we will also note that, in factoring our final scores out for each product, we weighed this category with slightly more value than the other two criteria points. The reason for this is, simply put, the more of a product you had to use in one sitting to clean, the more money you would have to spend.

This notion did not sit particularly well with us, as it is indicative of a poorly designed product, and as such, we were able to make note of this if it occurred and adjust the scores accordingly.

Application: Where application is concerned, we were mainly focused on two major factors. The first was concerned with how easy the product was to use – were the directions easy to read and understand? Was the bottle designed in a way where it was easy to spray the oven cleaner on to a sponge or rag? Also, we put the overall packaging of the product under this particular category as well.

If the product was difficult to apply or use, for any reason, or if the packaging arrived to us in a damaged or defective state, we made note of it in our review and lowered the product score for this category in an appropriate fashion.

Odor: Cleaning is not generally a pleasant process for anyone, and it is made even more unpleasant when the product one is using to clean has an unpleasant or noxious odor on top of anything else. That is why, for our last category of criteria to grade on, we specifically focused on the aroma of the oven cleaner, if there was one to make note of.

If the product had an aggravating smell during our testing trials, we made a notation about it and factored that in to the product’s score for this category as was needed.

Top Pick

Easy Off Fume
Free Professional Oven
Cleaner

Easy Off is an old standby that millions of people have been using for decades, and once you use it yourself, it is not hard to see why homeowners have been using it to clean their ovens as well.

Price Check

Most notable upside: This product has a well-deserved reputation for being able to cut through some of the toughest stains possible – pizza, chicken wings sauce, and tomato sauce included. The highly concentrated formula that Easy Off uses ensures you get a pretty solid bang for your buck when you purchase this product, and that means it will last you for a good long while.

Biggest downsides: In order to achieve those amazing results, however, it seems that they put a significant amount of cleaning chemical in this formula, to the point where you need to use gloves when using it. It also leaves a residue behind on certain surface, so be advised that you might need to spend a few extra minutes scrubbing when you use this particular product.

Honorable Mention

Krud Kutter
Original Concentrated
Degreaser

Krud Kutter is a highly concentrated formula from a name brand that has been around, and rightfully trusted, for several decades now. On top of that, it is made from environmentally friendly products.

Price Check

Most notable upside: This product truly is as advertised in terms of being multi-surface, so it absolutely stands to reason that it is capable of functioning as an oven cleaner as well. The concentrated formula means you will get a lot out of a standard purchase of a 32 oz. bottle, so in terms of price versus quality, you are getting a very fair deal here.

Biggest downsides: Unfortunately, it seems that certain types of oil stains, particularly heavy greases, are beyond the scope of this particular product to remove, depending on the type of grease and the surface that it is stuck on when you are trying to clean it off. Also, there seemed to be some issues with the packaging as well, as it came somewhat damaged when it arrived to us.

Green Pick

Puracy
Natural
All Purpose Cleaner

Puracy prides itself on making products that are made from plants, hypoallergenic, non-chemical, and child & pet safe, which makes this a great choice for anyone who has allergies.

Price Check

Most notable upside: Puracy is pretty beloved due to the fact that it smells good, is capable of cleaning most type of surfaces, including and especially serving as an oven cleaner, and is not made using harsh chemical products. This is especially important for an oven cleaner, as you would not want to put harsh chemicals into a place where you regularly prepare food all of the time.

Biggest downsides: One of the biggest issues with this product seems to be that it leaves heavy streaks on certain types of surfaces, and in addition to that, our team was pretty split over whether this product had a good smell or not, so that is something that should be noted as well.

All Our Picks

Tips for Effective Oven Cleaning

In order to get the most out of your oven cleaner, simply follow the instructions on the back of it and apply it to your cleaning rag or sponge as necessary. If the instructions on the back tell you to dilute the substance before using it, then you should do so.

A Note About Safety and Storage

If you have pets or small children in the house, then you need to store these far away from them in a place where they cannot be easily accessed, such as a high shelf or a closet door with a high handle. In case of accidental ingestion, contact poison control right away.

The Best Oven Cleaner

Your guide to this review today is by Cleaning expert Adam Barker

The Cleaning Institute

Testing Categories

Easy Off Fume
Free Professional Oven
Cleaner

Krud Kutter
Original Concentrated
Degreaser

Puracy
Natural
All Purpose Cleaner

All Our Picks

Easy Off Fume
Free Professional Oven
Cleaner

Krud Kutter
Original Concentrated
Degreaser

Puracy
Natural
All Purpose Cleaner

Tips for Effective Oven Cleaning

A Note About Safety and Storage

Quick Links

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

The Best Oven Cleaner

Your guide to this review today is by Cleaning expert Adam Barker

The Cleaning Institute

Testing Categories

Easy Off Fume Free Professional Oven Cleaner

Krud Kutter Original Concentrated Degreaser

Puracy Natural All Purpose Cleaner

All Our Picks

Easy Off Fume Free Professional Oven Cleaner

Krud Kutter Original Concentrated Degreaser

Puracy Natural All Purpose Cleaner

Tips for Effective Oven Cleaning

A Note About Safety and Storage

Quick Links

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Easy Off Fume
Free Professional Oven
Cleaner

Krud Kutter
Original Concentrated
Degreaser

Puracy
Natural
All Purpose Cleaner

Easy Off Fume
Free Professional Oven
Cleaner

Krud Kutter
Original Concentrated
Degreaser

Puracy
Natural
All Purpose Cleaner