If the door glass on your oven is dirty, you won't be able to see inside whilst your food is cooking. Not only is this unsightly and unhygienic, but it also means you will need to repeatedly open your oven door to check on your food whilst it's cooking. This allows heat to escape and makes your oven work harder to stay hot, resulting in high energy bills, so you will need to clean the door glass to return your oven to its energy-efficient state. In this guide, we'll show you how to clean the glass in an oven door step by step.
As this guide includes information about separating the door glass from the oven door, you can also follow these steps to replace your oven door glass if your door glass is cracked or damaged in any way. The oven we're using for this guide is a Smeg oven with four layers of door glass. If your oven is a different make and model, the door may only have two or three layers of glass instead, but the process should generally be similar.
It's also worth noting this guide is for ovens with doors that open from the top with hinges at the bottom. If you have an oven door that opens sideways, check out our other oven door replacement guide instead.
What you will need
- Screwdriver
- Glass Scraper
- Detergent
- Oven Door Glass (if you're replacing the glass)
Finding your model number
If you're replacing your oven's door glass as well as cleaning it, you'll need to know your oven's model number to make sure your buy the correct glass for your particular appliance. This number will be displayed on a sticker or data plate, usually behind the oven doors (around the frame). The number may be a combination of letters and numbers and could also include other characters such as a dash (-) or a slash (/). If you're struggling to find the model number or it has rubbed off, take a look at our article for further help with this.
How to clean and replace oven door glass step by step
Let's dive in! To learn how to clean and replace oven door glass, either watch the video below or follow our step-by-step guide beneath.
Step 1: Removing the oven door
First things first, you'll need to separate the oven door from the oven. To do this, open the door and lift up the small latches on each of the hinges, making sure they're fully in the upright position.
Then you can simply lift the door out and carefully place it down on your kitchen top or workspace.
Step 2: Separate the inner and outer doors
To separate the inner and outer halves of the door, unscrew the four screws at the top of the door and the three screws at the bottom. The number of screws may differ depending on your particular type of oven and oven door.
On most oven doors, you will find one or two screws that hold each hinge in place. It's important that you don't accidentally remove these instead.
With the correct screws removed, you will now be able to separate the two halves of the door by simply lifting one half away from the other.
Step 3: Accessing the inner door glass
On the half of the door that has the hinges still connected (the inner half), you will need to remove the eight screws on the frame that surrounds the glass.
Lift the outer frame away from the glass, then also remove the door seal from around the door glass.
You'll now have access to the door glass. There will be two sheets of glass held together by a metal frame, which may also be in two parts. Unhook the metal frame at the corners to open the frame, then place the frame aside with the door glass removed entirely.
You should now have the two sheets of inner door glass ready to be cleaned.
Step 4: Clean the door glass
Start the cleaning process by scraping away any burnt-on dirt and filth on the glass sheets with a glass scraper.
You can then scrub the two sheets of door glass clean in the sink with a sponge and some regular household detergent.
Step 5: Cleaning the outer glass
When cleaning the outer pieces of glass, there's no need to separate them. Just give them a quick wash in the sink with a sponge and detergent too.
Step 6: Putting the inner door glass back together
Now you can start putting the inner door glass back together. First, position the two sheets of glass together and lock the frame back around them.
Then place the door glass and the seal back between the door frame and screw the frame back together again.
Step 7: Putting the door back together
Next, you can put the two halves of the door back together. To do this, slot them back together and secure them by returning the screws you removed earlier.
Step 8: Put the door back on the oven
Now you can finish by putting the door back on the oven. First, slot the oven door hinges into the oven to put the oven door in place.
Then pull the hinge latches back down into the closed position to secure the door in place.
And that's all there is to cleaning and replacing the glass in your oven door! Now that's done, why not also learn how to thoroughly clean the rest of your oven too? Our oven cleaning guide will help you get your appliance spotless once more so it can keep performing at its best.
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