Introduction: Cleaning of Stainless Steel Appliances

cleaning stainless steel

If you in possession of a stainless steel home appliance, you certainly know that it’s hardly ever lives up to its name. It is stainless one time in a blue moon! I cannot seem to recollect a moment when mine or my wife’s finger print marks and water stains did not embellish the façade on worktops of my microwave, dishwasher, stove and kettle. What a blow to stainless steel!

To make the bad situation worse it is the powerful chemical cleaning detergents that pledge to restore our stainless steel appliances to their showroom famous shiny state. With the expensive price label of these products, and their harmful and toxicant nature, why own appliance made of stainless steel? Do we actually want our children to be in contact with the cosmetically delicate devises, enamelled with chemical cleaning products? Here is a ‘how to’ on how to clean and polish home stainless steel appliances without requiring special or harmful detergents for a smooth finish!

Step 1: Understanding the Direction of the Grain

cleaning-direction

Similar to wood, metal steel appliance also has a grain, the alternating regions of relatively indistinctive threaded striations that can be found on the worktop of your appliance. An entire sheet of steel will have absolutely identical direction grain. That said, an appliance will usually have other steel pieces attached, such as frame, handles and knobs. For other pieces direction grain may vary, so make sure you are informed about this.
Will your appliance be damaged in some way if you do follow and  clean in the direction of the grain? No, not at all. Nothing substantial will happen! Only that If you try clean it perpendicularly to the grain, it might produce bad result. But for finest appearance, for sure proceed with the grain.
This is an unwritten directive and applies to every stainless steel detergent you use on stainless steel device.

Step 2: Detergents and Tools Needed

cleaning-tool-needet

-2 microfibre cloth. I went with microfibre because it has virtually absolutely no residual lint or fibrous material.
– Dish soap. I used ‘’Fairy’’
– Protective gloves
–  ‘’Brasso metal polish wadding’’

Step 3: Prepping for Cleaning

preparing-for-cleaning

Pour a little bit of water into the bottle with washing up liquid. Make it to appear foamy. Get it ready to wet the microfibre cloth. Dish soap detergents are extremely flexible but ideal to fight stubborn grime off dishes and other home appliances even furniture. With this procedure we will wipe and clean the excess oils off the surface of the steel and we will prepare much better for next phase the polishing.

Step 4: Wet the cloth

wet-the-cloth

Pour tiny amount dishwashing solutions onto your cloth, make sure it is just enough to make your cloth damp.

Step 5: Cleaning the exterior

cleaning the exterior

Start with wiping the appliance in direction of the grain line on its surface. For really stubborn marks, fingerprints, you may need to go above it a numerous times and  you might want to wet the cloth with hot water. Always use protective gloves.

Step 6: Prepare Polishing Materials

prepare-polish-materials

Use already bought ‘’Brasso Metal Polish Wadding’’. You can buy this at many retail stores for £2.50.

Step 7: Prepping for Polishing

prepping for polishing the oven

Open the lid and take out a little bit of polishing material. Don’t forget to put the lid back on.

Step 7: Cleaning Oven Exterior

Cleaning oven exterior

Next is very valuable part. Use a *small* amount of Brasso polish wadding which will be sufficient. Go few times over the affected area and similar to cleaning, follow the grain of your appliance steel, and move in either direction.
Polishing the steel by following this procedure will provide finest benefits.

Step 8: Use Clean Microfibre Cloth for Polishing

use clean microfibre for polishing

Step 9: Polishing

polishing oven

When finally finished cleaning  and polishing the grimy area, dry any cleaning agents marks with a dry microfibre cloth. Go over few times for great result.

Step 10: Job Done

job done

Your stainless steel appliance is once again lively, stainless and shiny! Your micro fibre cloths, on the other hand, needs to be placed in the washing machine. Enjoy!