On a double oven, the top cavity is nearly always the dirtier one. It holds the grill, and grill fat spits at a fiercer heat than the main oven ever reaches, so it bakes on hard. That is why we start at the top.
Order of work on a double
- Both sets of racks, the grill pan and any runners come out. They all go in to soak together.
- The top door is first. It comes off where the hinges allow, and its glass comes apart if the design does.
- The top cavity: grill element, roof, sides, floor. This is usually the slowest hour of the job.
- The main oven door next, off its hinges if it is made to lift.
- The main cavity. On a fan oven the back panel unscrews, so the fan blade and the panel both get cleaned before it goes back.
- Glass on both doors, every face we can reach.
- Both seals, wiped and checked.
- Racks rinsed and back into the right cavity, doors refitted, fronts wiped.
Plan on about three hours. A top cavity that has not been touched for years can stretch that.
Before the day
Switch both cavities off an hour before we arrive. Clear a strip of floor in front of the oven about as wide as a door, because any door that lifts off lies there on a sheet. If there is a storage drawer underneath, empty it; the lower door often needs the room to lift off.
The £110 figure
A double is £110. Two singles would be £154, but the second cavity shares one journey and one set-up. You pay for the extra cleaning time, and that is all.
| What | From |
|---|---|
| Single oven | £77 |
| Double oven clean | £110 |
| Wide single oven | £114 |
| 90cm range cooker | £143 |
| Master range, 100cm | £167 |
| AGA (two ovens) | £143 |
| Glass or ceramic hob | £23 |
| Hob, gas | £28 |
| Cooker hood | £28 |
| Oven alongside an end of tenancy | £31 |
If only one cavity needs doing, it is booked as a single at £77. Adding a hob and the extractor to a double brings the three to £143. The full price list has the other combinations.
Enamel with a hard life
Pitted enamel, rust spots on the floor of the cavity and old scouring-pad scratches will all come up clean, and they will all still be there afterwards. Better to hear that at the start. We point them out when we first open the door.
Doubles round Egham
The interwar and post-war semis on Vicarage Road and Grange Road often have a built-in double at eye level, fitted in a tall housing. That height is easy to work at, and the doors usually lift off cleanly. Family houses on the Pooley Green side are similar, although many of those kitchens are newer than the houses because of the refits after 2014. In the bigger detached houses towards Englefield Green you are more likely to find a double beside a separate hob, and the hob can go in the same visit.
One cavity only? See single ovens.
Questions we get asked
Only the top oven is bad. Can I pay for that one?
Yes. One cavity is booked as a single, £77. Both cavities are £110, so the second one adds £33. If the main oven is anywhere near as bad, doing both in one visit is the better use of the money.
The fan in the main oven is thick with grease. Does it come out?
On most fan ovens the back panel is held by a few screws. We take it off and clean the fan blade and the panel, then refit it. If a screw is seized we leave it alone and clean round the fan, since a stripped thread is worse than a dirty panel.
How long will we be without an oven?
About three hours for both cavities. Start at nine and you can have it back by about midday. A Saturday slot costs the same as a weekday.
Our double and hob are both gas. What does that come to?
The double is £110 and a gas hob is £28, so £138 for the pair. Add the extractor and the three together are £143.