How to Care for Your Stainless Steel Appliance

If you’ve decided to choose stainless steel appliances for your kitchen, you may have noticed they require a bit of extra care than your standard white appliances. Stainless steel shows fingerprints, smudges, and minor scratches more than other types of appliances. This means you’ll need to change up your cleaning routine for these new appliances. See below for some stainless steel appliance care.

Daily Clean

Wipe down your appliance using a damp microfiber cloth every other day to remove daily dust and smudges. Wipe it along the grain of the stainless steel to prevent scratching. Start at one end and wipe it all the way across evenly. Continue until the entire appliance is clean.

Deep Clean

For a deeper cleaning and to bring back the shine to your appliance, you can use a commercial stainless steel cleaner. Spray the microfiber cloth with the stainless steel cleaner, and wipe it along the grain of your stainless steel. The cleaner will clean and shine your appliance to look like new again. Give your appliance a deeper clean at least a few times per month to prevent a buildup of dust and debris from causing minor scratches.

You can also use at-home solutions to clean and shine your appliances, some of which you may already have in your pantry. Natural ingredients such as olive oil or cream of tartar can be used. Simply apply them to a microfiber cloth and gently rub along the grain of your appliance.

Water Spot Removal

Water spots can be a big problem with dishwashers and any appliance that may be located near your sink. Water, especially if you have hard water or water with a lot of calcium in it, can leave spots that may be hard to remove. Use the recipe below to clean up water spots.

1/2 cup baking soda
1/4 cup vinegar
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. olive oil
Combine the ingredients above to create a paste. Then use a microfiber cloth and add just a dab of the paste, rubbing it into your stainless steel appliance, working it gently into the grain. Use another microfiber cloth to wipe the paste off. This method should clear up the water spots, but if you still notice one or two, add another dab of paste on those spots.

Minor Scratch Repair

Minor scratches can be repaired using some sandpaper and a little bit of work. You will need:

Fine-grit sandpaper
Coarse-grit sandpaper
Microfiber cloth
Olive oil
Once you have gathered these materials, follow the instructions below:

1. Begin with the coarse-grit sandpaper and rub it gently along the grain of the appliance until you can no longer feel the scratch.
2. Take the fine-grit sandpaper and work it gently into the appliance, blending the other marks made with the sandpaper with the rest of the appliance.
3. When finished, wipe it down gently using a damp microfiber cloth to remove sanding dust.
4. Finally, take another microfiber cloth with a few drops of olive oil. Work it into the appliance to make it shine.
Minor scratches can happen for any number of reasons. Use the instructions above to get rid of these unsightly scratches.

Minor Dents/Dings Repair

Dents and dings can happen for all kinds of reasons, maybe you dropped something a little too closely to your appliance and it caused a dent. Whatever the reason, try to use a can of pressurized air and a hair dryer to remove the dent. First, spray the appliance with the can of air until it begins to freeze it. Then immediately turn on the hair dryer to add some heat. It should pull the dent right out.

Stainless steel appliances can show a lot of wear. Take the time to care for your appliance to keep it looking like new. Contact Art Adams Appliance Repair for other care tips for your stainless steel appliances and for all of your appliance repair needs.