Stainless steel problem

Mel M
by Mel M
A quarter -sized discoloration has appeared on the door of my 4 year old refrigerator. It's not a stain..it looks more like the stainless steel finish has worn away in that one spot. Any ideas ?
  18 answers
  • Debbie Debbie on Oct 13, 2014
    Try rubbing ketchup or tomato paste on it??
    • Mel M Mel M on Oct 13, 2014
      @Debbie Thanks so much.....the ketchup worked great. My wife and I were truly amazed !
  • Denise Hardy Denise Hardy on Oct 13, 2014
    Hi Mel - Baby Oil is the best thing for stainless steel :)
  • Juan Diaz Juan Diaz on Oct 13, 2014
    If you want to maintain your stainless steel spotless, buy a spray for stainless steel that saids "oily base", do not use any type of stainless steel cleaner "water base". Most of todays kitchen equipments that saids Stainless Steel is a claded front, if you wants to know if it is 100% good stainless use a magnet, if it try to stay is not 100% stainless and it will show eventually signs of rust, specially if you cleaned with any water base cleaner. Home Depot sells a good Stainless Steel cleaner. Stainless Steel is qualify by numbers, 400 line contain to much steel and will show rust stains, 304 line is the daily use and most common one, 316 line is a specialy use for knife and kitchen wares, the 316LL is what is known as quirulgical stainless, the LL means low,low carbon and is pure, thats why it is used for quirurgical equipments and protesys. Hope this will help when buying stainless steel equipments.
  • Juan, I've never seen such a thorough explanation about stainless steel quality before - thank you!
  • Linda Scoville Linda Scoville on Oct 13, 2014
    @ Mel M I use an oil based cleaner by Sprayway. I love it! It cleans and there are no fingerprints
  • Mel M Mel M on Oct 13, 2014
    Thanks for the info. Meanwhile, I followed Debbie's suggestion to rub some ketchup on the discoloration and it worked great !
  • Mel M Mel M on Oct 13, 2014
    Thanks for your help
  • Christi Christi on Oct 13, 2014
    My refrigerator had what appeared to be water spots on the bottom area of it and I couldn't get them off with any stainless cleaner I used. I finally tried Bar Keepers Friend and voilĂ , no more spots! This is the only thing I have used for several months now to clean ALL my stainless and it all looks like new! I just take a damp sponge, dab it in some Bar Keepers Friend, very lightly with the grain rub a little (more like just lightly wipe), wipe it off with a clean damp sponge, and dry with a soft cloth. You don't even have to clean the entire surface each time, you can spot clean and not tell you've done it other than whatever you were removing is gone!
  • Matthew Gingerella Matthew Gingerella on Oct 13, 2014
    Hi @Mel M , I'm glad to hear that the ketchup worked to get rid of your original discoloration. Another discoloration and stain are just around the corner if you do not use modern Stainless Steel Protection to prevent it. Trash the SS cleaners and polishes - and get STAINLESS STEEL HEAVEN Micro-Coat (on Amazon). It provides similar Smudge and Fingerprint resistance that comes on the new High-End SS Appliances, but it's DIY and only needs to be applied 2-times a year. I have even helped fix a bunch of my friends stainless steel problems with it. No more worry - no more cleaning dilemma. I hope this info helps. Matthew
  • Mel M Mel M on Oct 13, 2014
    Thanks for the info
  • Mel M Mel M on Oct 13, 2014
    Thanks for the info Christi
  • Gail Gail on Oct 13, 2014
    Thanks for all the help my gdaughters place has all SS appliances, they are so hard to keep nice looking. I read to use olive oil to clean and it worked but within no time finger prints were so noticeable again. Seeing hers I said I will stick with appliances with the old the old coatings, no SS for me.
  • Juan Diaz Juan Diaz on Oct 14, 2014
    Gail, try Zep Professional Strength Stainless Steel cleaner from Home Depot, this one shines longer and will not live fingerprints and repels humidity and waters spills. I'm a fabricating Engineer and worked for 35 years for a Stainless Steel frabricator company. So if you have any other problem don't hesitate to ask me again.
    • Gail Gail on Oct 15, 2014
      @Juan Diaz Thanks Juan will get some and try it with her.
  • Patricia Patricia on Oct 14, 2014
    I'm reading this with great interest, since we just bought a stainless steel faced refrigerator that was a floor model. When it arrived, we were appalled to see how badly marked up it is. It looks like someone splashed oil onto it in many places, leaving large stains. I've tried one cleaner after another, but they don't even remove the fingerprints! What about if I just take a bottle of baby oil and wipe the whole thing with it? So much of the surface is marked that I'm not sure it makes sense to try to get all of the separate ones off..?
  • Denise Hardy Denise Hardy on Oct 14, 2014
    Patricia - I would definitely do that :)
  • Khris Mason Khris Mason on Oct 14, 2014
    The guy who delivered my stainless steel fridge told me to use WD-40. It works like a charm! I've had my fridge for 6 yrs and it still looks brand new!
  • I have also done battle against persistent marks on a SS fridge that was purchased as a floor model. Nothing has worked. I'm going to try every one of these suggestions - will report any success. Thanks, everyone!
  • Sally-Charles Evans Sally-Charles Evans on May 09, 2016
    I read an article about "skins" that can cover appliances...to change them and dress them up for selling a house. I have no idea how much they cost, but it would be worth looking into.