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The busy holiday cooking season is upon us - are your appliances ready to work overtime? 

In this Angie's List report, find out how to prevent appliance repair from topping your holiday wish list.

A nationwide Angie's List poll reports more than 40 percent of respondents will host holiday dinners this year, putting their ovens, refrigerators and garbage disposals to the test.

Angie's List owner Angie Hicks says, "When it comes to appliances, homeowners oftentimes take them for granted. We don’t take proper care of them and then we end up disappointed when they don’t work right. We overstuff our freezers so proper airflow can’t get through or we overload our dishwasher so it doesn’t even have a prayer of being able to get the dishes clean.”

Eleven percent said they've had an appliance die in the midst of preparing a special meal.

“People that haven’t tried their ovens for a month, two months, three months, or six months. The day before Thanksgiving they want to cook a turkey and their oven doesn’t work so we get emergency calls all the time,” Rick Cantleberry, a service repairman, said.

Home appliances are expensive, and you want to ensure the company you hire is reputable and has the skills required to complete the fix in a timely and efficient manner.

"A basic service call on an appliance is going to cost anywhere from $60 to $100. Keep in mind that does not include parts and labor. That will be added onto the bill but a lot of times you're going to get a credit back for that service call fee. Sometimes people think 'wow, do I want to spend that kind of money,' but when compared to the amount of money it would take to replace that appliance - it can be money well spent," Angie's List owner Angie Hicks said.

Here's what you should not do before the holidays: run your oven's self-cleaning cycle. Self-cleaning cycles cause the oven to run at extremely high temperatures, which could cause them to fail.   Another way to keep your oven clean, wipe it down after each use with soap and water.