Stainless Steel Care

By far the most popular appliance surface is stainless steel. Sure, it's very attractive, but man it's a pain in the butt to keep clean. Finger prints, food smudges, and sticky condensation on stove hoods are magnets to destroy a nice surface appearance.

Along with residential cleaning, I also did tons of remodels and new construction cleans. Every contractor and owner would set out the little bottle the manufacturer would include to polish the appliances. Don't bother using it. It's overpriced and doesn't do a good job. Instead, first wipe all spots and smudges off the steel surface with a damp rag or scrubby sponge. If you have a stove hood, you'll probably need to hit it with some degreaser. The more serious chefs should be sure to deep clean it at least once a month. Also remember to wash the stove hood screen (most stoves have one). You can just toss it in your dishwasher and let it do the work.

Once it is clean and dry you can polish the stainless steel with either Pledge (or something like it- Endust), or mineral oil. You can also get some pretty good stainless steel spray polishers from stores like Home Depot, but Pledge does just as good a job, and it's more accessible. Spray it on, wipe it off. It is non-streaky, quick, easy, and leaves a nice shine (and lemon-like scent, oo!). Same thing with the mineral oil- I've never used it, but I've seen it used and it leaves a nice finish.