gas stove saga

I invited my cousin and her husband over for dinner. Thankfully, they seem to like whatever I cook.
I made two vegetable dishes I retrieved from the "weight watchers power food" cook-book and a Indian rice dish. For dessert, I put together the ingredients for baked apples. As I pressed the electronic panel to turn the oven on the panel broke loose and dropped inside the top part of the stove.
I thought to myself, "oh shit!" Now what?"
 I tried reached into the "window" to pull it up thinking to myself, "did this just unhinge from me pressing maybe too hard? or is it broken and now, stuck in the recess?"
I pulled the stove out away from the wall to see if there was a way I could get in. I unplugged the electrical outlet and slowly pulled the stove out of it's cove.
Oh gross.
There must have been two pounds of old bird seed, orange peel, bits of rotten garlic and dust bunnies stuck on the sides, under and behind the stove. Not to mention sticky grease and splattered old spaghetti sauce.
It was nasty!
I vacuumed and washed the floor, stove and walls of all the disgusting debris.
And of course, the pigeon had to investigate.
He is extremely curious. Whatever I was doing it became very interesting to him.
He was" the foreman" sitting on the counter monitoring my work.
 I carefully unscrewed the back panel and saw that the grimy electronic bracket had indeed broken off in all four attachments. The face plate covering the electronics had fused to it despite gentle my efforts of trying to carefully  peel it off. I ended up removing bits of the aesthetic paint causing the face plate to have a mottled look to it.
 I spent more time cleaning the exposed inside and coils. This was seven years of debris even though, I really thought,  I kept my stove clean. I couldn't help wonder that all of this built up crud could eventually be a fire hazard.
I order the electronic panel replacement online. I received it the next day. It was remarkably easy to install even though I had to unscrew and refit the back cover numerous times.
It worked!
Ah! I have to pat myself on the back for being "Ms. Fix-it".
 I probably saved heaps of money by fixing it myself. Not only that, it gave me the chance to clean out the subtle mess that could possibly end up posing a hazard.
And yes, we did eventually have the baked apples!