Your Guide to Pristine Stainless Steel Appliances

Keeping your Chicago home sparkling clean can feel like a full-time job on top of your actual job. Between work, life, and the city’s hustle, finding the time for a proper deep cleaning help can be a real challenge. But some tasks, like maintaining those sleek stainless steel appliances, don’t have to be a mystery. With the right know-how, you can keep your kitchen looking showroom-ready.

Stainless steel is a kitchen classic for a reason—it’s durable, modern, and timeless. But let’s be honest: it’s also a magnet for fingerprints, smudges, and mysterious stains. If you’re tired of seeing every smudge and wondering how to get that perfect shine back, you’re in the right place. This guide will walk you through simple, effective ways to clean, maintain, and protect your stainless steel, so it always looks its best.

Understanding Your Stainless Steel

First, a little science (don’t worry, it’s painless!). Stainless steel has a thin, invisible protective layer made of chromium oxide. This layer is what makes it “stainless,” but it can be damaged by using the wrong cleaners or tools. The key to longevity is gentle, correct care. Overcomplicating it or using harsh chemicals increases the risk of ruining that protective finish.

The Four Enemies of Stainless Steel

If not maintained properly, you’ll likely encounter four common issues:

• Fingerprints & Smudges: The most common annoyance.
• Rust Spots: Small spots where the protective layer is compromised.
• Scratches: Often from abrasive tools or even fridge magnets.
• Water Stains & Hard Water Marks: Common near sinks and dishwashers.

The Right Way to Clean: Soap, Water, and the Perfect Technique

For everyday cleaning, keep it incredibly simple. Your best friend is a basic mixture of dish soap and water.

Your Go-To Cleaning Solution

• Add about half a teaspoon of dish soap to a spray bottle.
• Fill the rest with warm water and shake gently.
• Dish soap is a surfactant, meaning it lifts dirt and grease to the surface, making it easy to wipe away without streaks.

The Professional Wiping Technique

Spray your solution onto the appliance from top to bottom. Let it sit for a moment, but don’t let it dry. Here’s the pro tip: fold a soft, flat-weave microfiber cloth into quarters. Starting at a top corner, wipe in a gentle “S” pattern, working with the grain of the steel. This method covers the entire surface without missing spots, prevents streaking, and is surprisingly low-effort. For a final check, view the surface at an angle under light to spot any missed streaks.

Tackling Tough Problems: Water Stains & Rust

Banishing Water Marks

For regular water spots, swap half the water in your spray bottle with white vinegar. For heavier, crusty mineral deposits (common on dishwashers), try this:

• Soak a paper towel in straight white vinegar.
• Apply it directly to the stained area and let it sit for 5-10 minutes. The vinegar breaks down the minerals.
• Remove the towel, then spray and wipe the area with your soapy water solution as normal.

Dealing with Rust Stains

For small rust spots, make a gentle paste of baking soda and water. Using your finger, rub it on the spot in a tiny, gentle circular motion. Rinse and wipe clean, then follow with your soapy water spray. For more stubborn rust, a product like Bar Keepers Friend (use the liquid version or keep a powder paste wet) can be effective. Always be gentle to avoid further damage.

The Secret to a Showroom Shine: Mineral Oil

Want that “just installed” glow? Use a tiny amount of food-grade mineral oil. Put a nickel-sized drop on a paper towel and rub it evenly over the surface, following the grain. Buff off any excess. This gives a beautiful, consistent finish that helps repel fingerprints. It’s the perfect finishing touch after a professional home cleaning or your own routine.

Prevention is Key: Protect Your Investment

The tools you use matter more than you think. Avoid these scratch-causers at all costs:

• Avoid: Scrubby sponges, steel wool, abrasive brushes, and even standard terry-style microfiber cloths (they can trap debris).
• Use: Soft, flat-weave microfiber cloths designed for glass and stainless steel. They can’t hold onto grit, so they clean without scratching.

Also, be mindful of fridge magnets! They are a common source of fine scratches. If scratches do appear, stainless steel repair kits are available online.

When to Call in the Pros

Life gets busy. Sometimes, you just need a fresh start for your entire home. If maintaining every surface feels overwhelming, that’s where a trusted Chicago cleaning company can make all the difference. Getting a fast cleaning services can reset your space, giving you a clean slate to maintain. Whether you need a one-time deep cleaning help or regular apartment cleaning, it’s okay to get someone to clean my apartment.

Looking for reliable cleaning services in Chicago? A professional team can handle the heavy lifting, from kitchens to bathrooms, so you can enjoy your spotless home without the weekend labor. It’s the easiest way to get your space cleaned.

Stainless steel is gorgeous and it’s not going anywhere, especially in kitchens. Yet, we still run into the same issues we had when stainless steel first came out. The fingerprints, the smudges, the mystery stains, and even the issue of rust. So, in this video, we’re going to talk about how to clean and maintain your stainless steel appliances the right way, and some things you can do for preventative maintenance. That way, your stainless steel appliances can always look shiny and brand new and clean and fresh and gorgeous. Now, if you’re new here, my name is Melissa Maker. I’m an accidental cleaning expert, which means I hate cleaning, but I like helping you find the most easy and effective ways to get the job done right the first time. So, give this video a thumbs up for stainless steel appliances because nobody but nobody wants an avocado green fridge. And just a quick reminder, if you haven’t done so already, to subscribe to the Clean MySpace channel. And I just wanted to let you know that this video is brought to you by our sister company, Makers Clean, where we sell our premium microfiber cleaning tools and so much more. The good news is taking care of stainless steel is really easy. And the more you complicate it, the more you increase your risk of ruining it. Stainless steel has an invisible protective shield made from chromium oxide. That’s probably more nerdy than we need to get. But what you need to know is that you can ruin that layer, that invisible protective layer, by using the wrong products or tools. So, we’re just going to talk about how to do the right thing. And then, if you have any issues, we’re going to talk about corrective measures. There are four key problems you will see with your stainless steel if not maintained correctly. The first, fingerprints, second, rust, third, scratches, and fourth, water stains. When choosing products to use to clean your stainless steel, I want you to keep it simple. So, of course, I’ve got my super basic dish soap right here because that’s what I use to clean my stainless. I put about half teaspoon of dish soap in a spray bottle. I fill the rest with water, give it a little shake, and that is what I use to clean my stainless. Reason being, dish soap is a surfactant. It’s going to lift dirt to the surface and make it easy to clean. If you’re using an appropriate cleaning tool, like a flatweave microfiber cloth, this one’s by Makers Clean, you’re not going to see any streaks, so that’s a bonus as well. All right, we definitely marked up the front of the fridge just to really punctuate the point. And what I’m going to start with is just spraying from the top to the bottom this panel with my soapy water mixture. And I’ll give it a little bit of time to work, but not too much. Soap and water is pretty pretty effective at what it does. Now, I’ve got my cloth and I folded it into quarters, which is how the pros do it. And I’m going to use a technique called the S pattern. This is so that I cover the entirety of the panel without leaving streaks and without wasting energy. So, the way it works is I start at one corner, I sweep my way over to the next, and then I kind of create an S like so. And what I’m doing here is first of all, I’m working with the grain of the stainless steel, which is always what you want to do to avoid streaking. Second, you’ll see I’m not missing a bead, right? I’m going corner to corner, edge to edge. And see, I’m not wasting any energy. I’m just doing my thing. I’m not working in aggressive circles, tiring my arm out. It’s really the laziest approach, and it gets you the best results. And if you want to make sure that it’s streak free, you can always just sort of stand at an angle like what I’m doing here. The light will hit differently and I can assess for anything that’s missed. But again, because I’m using the right technique and the right tool, there are no streaks. If your stainless steel has water marks or you’re noticing that there’s more hard water staining on your stainless steel, those would look like invisible drip marks. You might want to swap out some vinegar for about half of your water solution. And that’s going to help deal with water marks on a regular basis. Now, if you have heavyduty water marks, what you might want to do is coat a paper towel in some vinegar and just apply it straight onto the surface. Let it sit there for a few minutes. That’s going to help break down some of that mineral buildup. And then you can use this product right here that we made with dish soap and water. spray it on and wipe it away with a flatweave microfiber cloth. I don’t have any water marks on my dishwasher, but I’m still going to demonstrate the technique for you because I care about you and I see you. So, I’ve got my white vinegar right here and I’m going to pour a little bit of it into a bowl. Just about that much. Maybe that’s tablespoon or two. And I’m going to saturate paper towel in the vinegar like so. Now, vinegar is great at breaking down mineral deposits, which is why we are doing it this way. And then you’re just going to apply it like this onto the finish. And if I play my cards right, it should stick lovely. So, let’s say I had a watermark under there. I’m just going to let it sit for 5 10 minutes. It’ll do its thing. It’ll start to dry. And then when that’s done, I can remove the paper towel, which should remove all of that buildup. Then I’ll finish off by using the spray and wipe technique that I demonstrated on the fridge. And that should give the nice even finish. And of course, if I really want to step it up, I can finish this off by putting the oil on there and giving it that beautiful factory ready shine. And just before we move on, if you are interested in one of these beautiful flatweave cloths, these are available at makerscle.com. They are called their glass and electronics cloth. They come in a two pack and you can use the code YouTube10 to save 10% on your next purchase. I’ve got a link for you down below as well. Now, if you have rust stains on your fridge, little spots where that chromium oxide layer has come off, there are two ways that you can deal with that. First, you can use a little paste of baking soda and water. You can just gently use your finger in a very small circular motion to rub out that little spot. You want to be gentle. Then you can rinse it. Wipe it clean with a flatweave microfiber cloth. And then you want to finish up by spraying product on and allowing it to sit for a minute and then wiping it down. If you notice that the rust stains are heavier, you might want to level up to a product like Barkeeper’s Friend. The name of the game with Barkeeper’s Friend is to always keep the product wet. If you’re using the powdered version, you’ve got to make sure that you make a paste and you work quickly. Alternatively, you can look for the liquid version of this product and then you don’t have to sweat it as much. Now, to provide a nice consistent finish to your stainless steel, let’s say you want to give it a glow up, like a showroom floor glow up, what you can get is a little bottle of mineral oil. Now, this is a little trick that they actually use in manufacturing facilities and showrooms to get their stainless steel shining, and it just gives that beautiful consistent finish. What you want to do is get a little piece of paper towel and put about a nickel size or if you don’t live in North America, like half an okay sign size drop of mineral oil on the paper towel. And then you want to rub it into the surface evenly. All right. So, I’ve got my mineral oil here, and I’m just going to put kind of that nickel. Okay, it’s getting a little bigger, but you know what I’m saying. A dab about that big. And I’m going to rub it in to this panel of the fridge. Again, using that same S pattern to initially apply the product. And then then it’s okay to use the buffing motion cuz you’ve got to buff in the oil and you want to get rid of any excess. Now, initially you’ll see that it kind of looks like, hey, there’s a bit of a thick layer of oil here. But once we rub it all in, much like when you do this on a cutting board, you’ll see that you get a nice even finish. What’s important here is again that I’m working with the grain and that I didn’t use too much oil because if we use too much oil then we just have to work that much harder to buff it out. This is kind of like polishing a car. And once it’s done you have this beautiful consistent finish that doesn’t leave any fingerprints or streaks behind. This is like the finishing touch. When you’re cleaning your stainless steel and you just want to make it look absolutely perfect, this is what you do. When you’re done this, you’ll notice that your fridge might look a little bit darker, but it has that beautiful glow. I can’t stress enough the importance of choosing the right tools to do this job. Because if you use something that’s abrasive or harsh, you are definitely going to scratch the stainless steel. Not only will you see scratches, but that can also lead to rust. So, I’m talking eraser sponges, even your regular double-sided sponge. That scrubby side can cause scratches. You want to avoid anything like steel wool, even scrub brushes. We’re even taking the extra precaution to not recommend using a terry style microfiber cloth. This is our general purpose microfiber cloth, because there could be a little piece of debris that’s stuck in here that could potentially scratch the surface. That’s the genius of using a flatweave microfiber cloth. These are flat, so they can’t cling on to anything. Therefore, they can’t leave any scratches, but they will leave you with a beautiful streak-free shine. Now, there’s another culprit that can scratch your stainless steel, particularly on your fridge, and that would be fridge magnets. So, we are victim to this. We have magnets on our fridge. We put artwork up there, and if you look close, you can see scratches. The best way to deal with this is to get a stainless steel scratch repair kit. Try saying that three times fast. Now, for me, I’m not so offended by these microscopic scratches that I’m running out to get one. But if your stainless steel has a scratch and it’s bothering you, by all means, you can buy these online. Simply follow the instructions and they will take care of the scratches. The other sort of damage you can see on your stainless steel would be those water stains. And you’re most likely going to see those on your dishwasher. If it’s right beside your sink, you’re constantly splashing water on the front of your dishwasher. Or if you have a fridge with a water dispenser and the water drips down, you might notice some water staining there as well. This is when you’ll want to use that vinegar paper towel soaking technique to really get rid of any of that buildup. Well, now you know how to take care of your stainless steel appliances. And remember, stay away from things like fridge magnets if you want your appliances to be dram. And that brings me to this week’s comment question, which is, what is the one appliance in your kitchen that gives you the most trouble? Oven, dishwasher, fridge, freezer, I want to know. Let it rip in the comments. Now, if you want cleaning product and tool recommendations tested by us, sent straight to your inbox, as well as some really awesome cleaning tips, make sure that you subscribe to our email newsletter. It’s called The Dirty Dish, and it’s just designed to make your life even a little bit easier. Also, if you love what we do here at Clean MySpace, and when I say we, it’s me and a very small team of dedicated people, you can become a member. Now, since we’re talking about stainless steel and appliances, you might also be interested in learning the real truth behind the lifespan of your appliances. And that video is available right over here. Thanks so much for watching and we’ll see you next