Oven Brite > Reviews (2)

When I clean my oven I invariably use Oven Pride purely because it’s effective. Sadly, it isn’t particularly cheap and it’s rare for me to find it for less than £4. Bearing this in mind when I saw a similar style of product in Aldi called Oven Brite for £2.49, I decided to give it a go.

The Product

For those unfamiliar with the Oven Pride cleaning system, what these products do is give you a plastic bag to clean your racks with and you use the remaining product to clean the inside of your oven.

So inside the cardboard box I received a lurid fuscia pink bottle of cleaning fluid, a pair of very thin latex gloves, a large clear plastic bag with Ziploc style fastening for cleaning the racks and a white sponge.

To use you place half the contents of the pink bottle inside the clear plastic bag and place the racks inside before sealing the bag. You then use the sponge to apply the other half of the bottle on the inside of your oven before heading off to leave it work. Oven Brite – who also make the Hob Brite product – recommend you leave it on overnight if possible but for a minimum of 4 hours except in the case of vitreous enamel surfaces which should only have the product on for a maximum of 2 hours. Once the time is up you wipe the residue away using the sponge provided, using plenty of hot water.

You can also purchase an Oven Brite spray cleaner but I haven't tried this - only the kit with the bag.

My Thoughts

I did pay less than I would pay for Oven Pride and I must admit the cheaper price does show a little in the product packaging. The 500ml bottle containing the cleaning fluid looks as if it has been made from slightly inferior plastic and although it comes with a child lock on the lid I had absolutely no problems opening it – which I mention because I tend to find the cheaper the product the easier these locks are to open.

This is a highly corrosive cleaning product so I was a bit disappointed at the lack of efficacy of the child lock therefore I would advise if you have small children in the house you store this well out of reach of them – that bright pink bottle may be tempting to them unfortunately.

You are advised to cover your arms fully when using this product in addition to using the gloves provided. I have to say I found the gloves to be pretty useless – they are those cheap, stretchy “one size fits all” style which were uncomfortable to wear and also rather thin. I would recommend you wear thicker rubber gloves when using this product and it’s worth reminding the consumer the gloves provided are made from latex so if you have a latex allergy avoid them at all costs.

The plastic bag provided for the oven racks is made from thick clear plastic but the fastener isn’t very good and I struggled to seal it properly once I had placed the fluid and the racks inside. This became particularly apparent when I had sealed it at first and realised there was still rather too much air inside. I opened the bag again and found the bag rather difficult to seal again so my advice is once you have placed the cleaning solution and the racks in the bag ensure as much air as possible is out before you seal the bag.

The remainder of the solution, which is a pearlescent white liquid and is rather runny, is used for cleaning inside the oven and I used the sponge provided to apply it, leaving a thick coat on all surfaces. Because the solution is so runny you have to be careful when applying it to the oven door otherwise there’s every possibility it will run down onto your kitchen floor, which is annoying even if you have taken the sensible precaution of placing old newspaper underneath.

That is the first half of your oven cleaning chore over – and it is, without a doubt, the easiest part. I had some errands to run so I went out and left everything to work, and returned 4 hours later to the hard part which is rinsing the product (and the dirt!) away.

The instructions with Oven Brite suggest you use the sponge provided, along with hot soapy water to “wipe the residue away” but I got better results with non-stick scourer pads – especially on the racks. The solution does remove a huge amount of grease and grime and I have to say I was impressed with that but it’s messy to rinse and you have to be careful all the time to ensure none of the solution – even when it’s being rinsed away – comes into contact with your skin. I found once I had rinsed the majority of the solution away it was easier to finish the job using kitchen roll which also enabled me to buff the surfaces up a little too.

I have to say I was impressed at how easily the grime came off the oven and this was probably most obvious whilst rinsing the racks. By the time 4 hours had passed the liquid in the bag had turned a most unappealing dark shade of brown and whatever grime was left on the racks came off easily with a non-stick pan scourer and a modicum of elbow grease.

Conclusion

Overall I was rather impressed with Oven Brite and certainly it performs just as well as Oven Pride I find at giving you a clean oven.

Where it loses points in in the packaging and the bag which does have a bit of an unreliable fastener and you really must ensure you keep the bag standing upright with the seal at the top at all times to avoid any leakages. I also think it’s quite a messy product to rinse off the surfaces inside your oven – certainly I found it took a lot longer to clear away than Oven Pride when I have used it – or even just Mr Muscle.

You also can’t use this product if you want your oven cleaned in a hurry – you need to allow a minimum of 5 hours for this to be applied, to allow it to work and to rinse it off – so if you don’t have that time to spare you should look elsewhere.

For £2.49 however I think this is a bargain although if I could find Oven Pride on offer, I’d probably buy that in preference – but only just!