All stainless steel appliances such as a Fridge, Kitchen Chimney or Dishwashers etc are very expensive buys. Once you have bought a costly piece for life, your periodic job is to maintain them well. While the inside of such appliances are cleaned via in-built cleaning mechanisms or specific methods, the outer panels needs regular cleaning and shining.
Here are some easy ways to clean your stainless steel (SS) fridge or dishwasher front panel etc.
Things you need to clean Stainless Steel
You don’t need any costly shining agents or material to clean stainless steel appliances but just go with one or more of the following.
- Microfiber cloth
- Fine paper towels of facial quality
- Window glass pane cleaners like Windex or Colin
- Baby wet wipes (You won’t believe it!)
- Vinegar
How to go about cleaning?
Well, depending on the clean state of your appliance you have to decide what to do?
1. Periodic dusting & shining
If your appliance doesn’t have any real dirt but only a few finger prints then all that you have to do is to dust it once with the microfiber cloth and shine it firmly with the paper towels.
Important Note: If your appliance’ steel if of glossy or matt finish, you have to work in circular motion while shining it. If it’s of directional grain (brushed) type, you will have to work along the direction of the grain.
2. Non-greasy dirt cleaning and shining
If your appliance has minimal non-greasy dirt, then the best way to clean is to first wipe the surface with the microfiber cloth dipped in warm water (wringed). Once the water is semi dry you can shine it with a dry microfiber cloth. It won’t be recommended to use paper towels here because one has to wipe out the water before it dries and forms dotted smudges.
3. Greasy dirt on steel appliances
For greasy dirt, you may use a light window cleaner such as Windex or Colin. Spray it on and wipe off with a microfiber cloth. After it’s completely dried, you can work with the soft paper towels to shine it further.
Please note, wet baby wipes can be very effective on cleaning grease and dirt on stainless steel appliances. It can do wonders on your SS chimneys and faucets.
4. Cleaning lime deposits on stainless steel
Hard water can invariably cause stainless steel faucets and sinks getting lime deposits (white patches). It’s important to remove these on a periodical basis because a thicker layer of lime deposit can be very difficult to clean.
The method here is to wipe such SS surfaces a soft cotton cloth dipped in vinegar and leave it like that for a couple of minutes. You can then wipe it off with warm water and cloth and further shine it with a microfiber cloth. This has to be done on a periodic basis (say every two weeks).
Additional Tips
Never ever use abrasive cleaning pads such as Scotch Brite or rough clothes to clean your expensive appliance. Also, avoid using harsh detergents, rubbing agents, powders and any other unknown cleaning agents or brands.
