I use a product called WOW and find it does a good job of keeping everything clean. I love the SS and find it so wonderful to live with.

... one more reason I've enjoyed my paneled appliances since '86

I do have a stainless hood, and for that I use Sheila Shine.
Works great, , and it smells good :) ...American made too!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sheila Shine

This post was edited by ctycdm on Fri, Feb 14, 14 at 10:04

I hated mine too until I stopped using cleaning products on them. I tried so many different ones all left them streaky or greasy... Now I just use a damp microfiber cloth to wipe them clean and another to dry. Look great for weeks with lots of teenage boys in the house.

I had exactly the same experience as xc-- when I stopped trying to keep them polished they became easy care. I'll admit that once a week I fill my sink with a few inches of water and add a little pine sol to it then wipe everything down at once with a microfiber cloth. I dry with a second microfiber cloth (bought in bulk at SAMs Club). This makes them super shiny and plain water does great In between the weekly pine sol treatment. When I was trying to keep them polished they couldn't be wiped at all without again polishing.

Same here, no special cleaning product, just a damp microfiber cloth, it only takes seconds to remove marks.

If you've been using an oily cleanser, it may take a while until all the residue is gone.

well i'm going to try this trick. I definitely have a love/hate relationship with my stainless appliances! Love them enough where I ordered all ss in my new kitchen.....hate cleaning them daily. it's like when I finish cleaning them I don't want anyone to touch a thing in my kitchen! That's no way to live!!

Beside the ease of damp microfiber cloth cleaning the best thing is you can spot clean.

What's the alternative? Enamel--love the stuff. Just so expensive, or completely unavailable. I guess that's no alternative. Bisque is, for me, the best.

I don't think Bar Keeper's Friend is oily, is it? It's the only thing I've found that doesn't leave streaks. The problem is that they figerprnt so easily. As much as I value things being clean, I really don't want to have to clean them every day. I'll try just using a damp cloth. Thanks for the tip!

The refrigerator is the only problem appliance for me. I ordered silvery-grey microfiber cloths from amazon, and one is always looped unobtrusively on the refrige handle. I've mostly trained my family to open the door with the cloth. My college-age DS hasn't learned, but the cloth is right there so I can wipe up several times daily without getting resentful.

Pledge in the brown and yellow can will put a barrier between your fingerprint oils and the steel. Then all you need to do is swipe with that microfiber cloth occasionally.

I trust you, lwo, so I am going to try that tip. My kitchen could be a crime scene with all the fingerprints on the fridge!

I've worked in restaurants almost all my life.
The very last thing in the world I'd want in my kitchen would be that messy stainless.

Interestingly enough, soda (club soda to some) water cleans stainless beautifully. Club soda is not a miracle stain remover. It works on red wine and stainless steel. Every other stain, particularly with oil or grease in it, it's water and can set the stain permanently. For some reason, this doesn't apply to fingerprints on stainless!

Love my old white, low-tech Craig's List crap. A little Windex and the world is a brighter place.

I use pledge too. It cleans up and gives a coating that eliminates prints unless really dirty hands. Just use it as you would on furniture.

I use a cleaner called Thor I bought at the appliance store. Expensive, but it's going on two years and there's still a lot left. I suspect it's a bit like LWO's Pledge, putting a bit of a barrier between the SS and fingerprints. If you use the appliance handles, it's not that bad.

My stove is enamel and if I could get another one in a better color (pale yellow) that I could afford, I'd do it.

Cleaning appliances once a day reminds me of dusting/vac floors once a day. Never gonna happen.

Edited to add: To answer your question, no, I don't hate my SS appliances. I do not care for black or white or paneled.

This post was edited by linelle on Fri, Feb 14, 14 at 10:19

No, I have had SS in use for about 3 months now and haven't found streaks and fingerprints to be an issue. But, there are only 2 adults in this household. And, a little streaking probably wouldn't really be noticed by me.

The appliances need the same amount of cleaning that the previous ones did. Every evening when I hand wash my pots I swipe down the stove, and fridge/DW handle areas.

Wow, cleaning them once a day sounds like a dream. It's more like once every 15 minutes for me. Then I just get really tired of it and go lke 3 weeks without touching them. There is always a stripe of fingerprints about 3' off the floor on all of the appliances (right at 2-year-old height). Not to mention the other drips, smudges, etc. from the adults. We also have a glass top table (which we're getting rid of) that I clean at least thrice each day.

I don't like that I got to pay extra for the privilege of all the extra cleaning. I would have been happy with black appliances; my DH insisted on SS. He doesn't ask for much, so I went along with him - but he doesn't notice the streaks and fingerprints, so I'm the one who gets stuck with the chore.

I'm not crazy about the ss, but getting ss provided us with the most in terms of options...my first choice was some type of bisque/off white, and not many appliances come in that finish. So - we got ss, and because I like the appliances, it's easier for me to overlook the finish. The fridge does have fingerprints and smears, but I clean it when I can so at least it's *clean* and then don't worry that it doesn't appear perfect. We live in our house, after all, which means it's going to look lived in.

I hated the fingerprints on my stainless fridge and dishwasher so much (and I did use Pledge) that I got them with cabinet panels this time around.

Rest assured the stainless steel trend is quickly passing.

Thank you eve72. We all need to be reminded of the fickleness of trendiness.

I don't think stainless is trendy, I think its a nice neutral color between white and black (kind of like the grey pants I'm wearing right now).

i was totally against ss but when we went to buy our new french door fridge, it was $500 cheaper to buy the ss! the white wasn't on sale anywhere but the ss was on sale everywhere. i thought i would hate all the marks on it but it doesn't bother me enough to clean it much,lol! we have already dented it though. can we call that "patina"?
i have to say that it looks really pretty and fancy when clean and for anyone selling their home, it is still very popular with potential buyers!

I love my SS. I just use the stainless wipes from Pledge followed by Mr. Clean magic eraser. I wipe it down once a week, but the fingerprints don't bother me. I have twin one year olds so I figure fingerprints are a fact of life!

I bought a random SS cleaner from HD. My housekeeper uses it once every couple weeks but I probably wouldn't notice if she didn't. Y'all must have young kids with greasy fingers.

We use Pledge also and it works great. The only issue is that someone put a magnet on the door and slid it a bit so there are some tiny little scratches I'd love to find a way to remove.

My kitchen was built in 1998. I have had stainless in it from day 1, except the fridge which was white and I used it because it was new. I finally switched it out to stainless about 4 years ago.
I don't think I ever clean my appliances beyond my weekly cleaning. I never notice fingerprints anywhere. The fridge and DW are Frigidaire, the double ovens are Jenn-Air and the cooktop and hood are Thermador. Maybe I just don't care or notice or I lucked out with the finish? I do wipe down the DW handle as it looks smudged pretty quickly but that is it.

Annette

My fridge and DW are the kind of SS that magnets stick to. Yay! Some may call it a lower quality SS, but not to me it isn't. Magnets and not as much fingerprints. Double yay!!

I do find that my magnets leave a shadow behind but they go away when I use Thor and a microfiber cloth. The only damage is scratches on the handles from diamonds on my ring that always turn to the inside.

firsthouse - Did you order WOW or were you able to find it in the store.

Here is a link that might be useful: WOW

{{!gwi}}

Sheila Shine! Wow, thanks for the suggestion in this thread. I just got it today from Amazon and used it tonight. It looks great. Sometimes it looks great until it dries but this looks great and streak free even after it dried. I sprayed it on and then used a microfiber cloth to wipe it down. I didn't have to really go at it like some of the products I have used. It was easy and so far it's doing great. Most of the time I can't even get it to look great no matter what I do but I'm very happy with this so far. Thanks again for the suggestion.

gr8day - Does it have an oily finish like some of the SS cleaners?

Did you get the aerosole or the liquid?

This post was edited by msrose on Wed, Feb 19, 14 at 20:27

I taught DH that the handle is there for a purpose, so I seldom have to clean my SS appliances (although Miele doesn't show prints)
MY DB visits and he never learned about handles - finger prints everywhere - well, he doesn't visit often

@msrose,Yes, I got the spray, it is a lightweight spray and it doesn't feel oily and not at all once it is dry. It's not thick like some of the sprays are. So far I'm in awe of it but this is the second day and so far so good! I have tried so many others that like you were saying, they are oily and I would have to rub and rub to get it to do anything and then it was streaky, or else it looked good but then would dry streaked. I hope it will work well for you too. I am sure you can find it in the store for less. I got it on Amazon and by the time I paid for shipping it was $10.95 or somewhere in that neighborhood for the smaller can but I knew I would never remember to get it when I was out and about so I just paid it "this time"...

a2gemini, I gave up on training DH. I think he must have been a rebellious teenager, there is some hangover from that going on, lol. But he is so cute, I can't get mad at him : 0

This post was edited by gr8day on Thu, Feb 20, 14 at 9:59

I love our stainless appliances. I learned about Weiman's Stainless Steel wipes and spray on Gardenweb. I normally use homemade, all-natural cleaning products. But the Weiman's spray and wipes work so well on stainless I can't resist buying them. They are available at our grocery store.

gr8day - Thanks! I'm going to give it a try.

I don't hate my stainless appliances the same way you do b/c I got the smudge proof kind. However, I do HATE that it seems like my only choice for a reasonably priced appliance is stainless steel......I would've preferred white to tell you the truth, but I wanted white like an old O'Keefe's stove and all the ones that I saw were very plastic looking.