Abstract: An oven occupancy warning apparatus for domestic cooking ovens which senses the presence of an object within the oven and provides a warning of such presence. Except for the subject apparatus, the oven is of conventional construction and thus has a heating chamber and a food rack supported in the chamber. The apparatus supports the rack for slight pivoting or rocking movement about a horizontal axis in response to the presence of an object resting on the rack, regardless of where on the rack the object is located. An alarm activator associated with the rack is activated when the rack pivots in response to the presence of an object thereon, and an alarm is activated by the alarm activator to alert a user of the oven that an object is in the oven. The apparatus is useful with both gas and electrically heated ovens and is especially useful to alert a user of an object in the oven before preheating the oven, an action frequently taken without opening the oven.