I purchased the stainless look, because the clean-up on real stainless is never ending. Real stainless show every fingerprint, and if you dent it, it is really noticible. My house cleaner hates her clients with real stainless, said you wouldnt clean my kitchen if I purchased them. There is a touch up paint on the market now for the fake stainless in case you scratch it. You could also check out brushed stainless, that doesnt show fingerpints. The fake stainless was designed to bring the consumer the stainless look for a cheaper price. I think it is preference among most.

I have the real stainless, and don't find it difficult at all to keep clean. I use a cleaner (Simple Green) with a mineral oil base. Fingerprints wipe right off and don't show much once you have mineral oil on. I find I wipe down all appliances with the cleaner about once a week, the fridge maybe a little more often because my kids sometimes get sticky stuff on the handles and door--but I'd be cleaning that off anyway, stainless or not. I also like knowing that the appliances are clean--my old bisque appliances could get filthy and you'd never know it without really looking. It could get pretty gross before I'd even notice. HTH. I don't have experience with the stainless look appliances, so I can't compare.

I have the stainless look Samsung French Door fridge and a stainless look Frigidaire oven. I have real stainless KA dishwasher and GE microwave. (All those brands - I know! We've replaced our appliances one by one as they've died.) I have to clean the micro and dishwasher daily with Weiman cleaner. I don't mind cleaning, but if I don't do it, it's yucky and you see fingerprints and whatever else. (I have two boys and a husband who are messy.)

My fridge and oven only need to be wiped down with water and dish soap. They always look nice, and I love them. I would replace the micro or dishwasher with the 'imitation' stainless anyday. Unless you come in looking to see if they are stainless or not, I really don't think you can tell. I love mine. We've had the fridge since 9/07. My latest purchase is a Dacor cooktop - stainless. I'm a little nervous about it, but it has some sort of surface - bead blasting?- that is supposed to make it easy to clean. Not installed yet, so we'll see.

Good luck!

I have all SS appliances and they're very easy to keep clean...well maybe not the DW. I admit that I kind of wish now that I had gotten a paneled DW.

Once you clean a SS appliance with something like Pledge (in brown can), Weiman, or other, fingerprints aren't nearly as much a problem as I kept hearing about. Even with the refrigerator the only place I get fingerprints is on the handles and it's just a quick wipe with a dish cloth and they're gone.

I do every week or two wipe them all down with Pledge again...but in-between I just use that dish cloth if needed.

The DW, OTOH, gets water drips...oh well...at least it's below eye level! If I ever need a new one I'm considering a panel-ready one.

As to dents...I've bumped the refrigerator w/a chair and no dent...so hopefully my appliances are dent resistant!

I have a tween & teen who are constantly prowling for snacks in the refrigerator so our refrigerator is the best target for fingerprints...and we don't have problems w/them.

I have no experience w/the look-alike SS finishes, so I cannot comment on them. I recommend checking the Appliances Forum for more information.

We have had a Brushed Aluminum or stainless look refrigerator for about 3 weeks now. Very pleased so far, it seems to stay cleaner than I expected and is easier to clean than the SS MW. Very important: the manual says "do not use stainless cleaner." So far, I have only used dish soap and water. No magnets, so you will need a message board elsewhere.

I have found my stainless appliances very easy to keep clean. One HUGE advantage to stainless over fake stainless is that stainless won't rust if it gets a scratch. If the fake stainless scratches, there is nothing but cheap carbon steel underneath that can now leave a rusty looking scratch. On the plus side...you can hang refrigerator maganets on the fake stainless ones.

I walked through the refrigerator area of the sales floor smudging my hands on all the units to see which which were better before I made a commitment. I'm sure the sales people were delighted, LOL. My stainless Bosch fridge and dishwasher are very easy to keep clean with the occasional (less than once a week) microfiber & not water wipe-down followed by Pledge. The handle gets smudgy faster but that's no big deal.

I think the fake stainless looks cheap. We bought a house where the double ovens were fake stainless. They look nowhere as nice as my real stainless appliances. Also, since the oven is not real stainless I can’t attach the base of my probe themometer to it. PITA

Totally agree with you Lori. I have a stainless steel fridge and absolutely hate the looks of it. I wouldn't buy another fake stainless steel appliance.