How To Clean Stainless Steel Appliances Natural & Green Way
by Bibi on Monday, January 23rd, 2012 | 17 Comments
My Shiny Kitchen
I love the look of new and shiny Stainless Steel Appliances……
….that showroom shine is like a magnet…..gourmet kitchens…..stainless steel appliances….shiny pots and pans are to me like diamonds to other women….
So it’s not surprise that few years ago when hubby built me a new kitchen Stainless Steel Appliances had to be part of it…
….little did I know….
….that stainless steel and boys don’t mix well.
Between my two boys and my sister’s two boys I was forever wiping my appliances with special wipes and sprays recommended to me (for additional charge) by the good folks at Home Depot.
I was chasing that high…..that showroom shine high….
…it didn’t come….no matter what I used….. my once gorgeous and spotless stainless steel appliances lost that NEW shine.
No matter what I tried….there were streaks….water marks….film….
Last few weeks life got really busy and I neglected my appliances…..then yesterday a beam of light shined (it really did) upon my fridge door and honestly…..I was grossed out from what I saw….
Just to let you know….it didn’t look that bad to a naked eye…..honestly….
I decided to give up the expensive chemical cleaners and stainless steel polishers and I decided to go the GREEN & NATURAL way this time around.
Good old Google had few ideas….ways…..suggestions to get that Stainless Steel Appliance Showroom Shine….
I tried few variations with different results…..after couple hours I narrowed it down to TWO Natural & Green ways to clean stainless steel appliances.
Clean Fridge Before Being Buffed To Shine With Mineral Oil
#1 OLIVE OIL & VINEGAR
Put few drops of olive oil onto soft cotton cloth and in circular motions rub all over stainless steel appliances.
Then pour pure white vinegar onto another soft cotton cloth and polish with the grain until stainless steel appliances are shiny.
#2 BAKING SODA, LEMON JUICE & VINEGAR
In a small bowl make a paste from baking soda and lemon juice. Using soft cloth rub it all over stainless steel appliances. Wipe it off with clean and dry soft cloth.
Polish with vinegar as in previous way.
Both of these ways to clean stainless steel were natural and green….both of them worked very well….however….the #2 method worked better for removing older water stains.
Dishwasher Before Being Clean Natural & Green Way
Clean Dishwasher With Mineral Oil Shine
After all my stainless steel appliances were clean and shiny I took it one step further and I decided to give them additional sparkle with little bit of Mineral Oil on a soft cloth.
I checked my fridge this morning and I think the little layer of mineral oil is keeping finger prints away…..for now.
Do you have another tested and true….natural & green way to clean stainless steel appliances?
Stay tuned for me tackling my glass top stove the natural & green way.
One more thing….I appreciate your time to read this post and I hope you will come back, but I also love COMMENTS like everyone else so go ahead and let me know how am I doing. I would love to hear from you.
If you like this article, please share it with others by using the little handy share buttons below.
Link to this page
Digg
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Twitter
Thanks for sharing this! I loathe my SS because of all the prints and water marks. Off to try this right now. Happy Monday! ☺
Hope it works for you as well as it worked for me.
That’s why I’ve always been afraid to buy stainless. I have heard horror stories! But your cleaning method doesn’t sound too terrible so maybe….
Liz @ A Nut in a Nutshell recently posted..Remember All the Hullabaloo?
Some of my friends were warning me to stay away from SS appliances, but I gave into the shine,lol.
Those are great cleaning methods and utilizes a lot of ingrediants already in the home.
Hope it lasts a bit longer for you =)
Jamie recently posted..Downtown LA at Night!
It’s been few days and no fingerprints….I am very impressed.
BiBi— thanks so much for sharing this! We are trying to use only green products in our home, but sometimes it is hard to find good replacements. I will for sure try these out!
THANK YOU!
Alexis Grace recently posted..NoH Series: The LBD (The Basics)
You’re welcome, Alexis. This was the first time for me as I am trying to go more green and I was impressed with the results.
[...] posted here: Clean Stainless Steel Appliances Green Way | Daily Organized Chaos This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged and-shiny, consider-getting, last-less, [...]
My new appliances are all SS too. I totally love them. I use the spray cleaner/wax the lady at the appliance store gave me. It keeps things looking clean and shining for about a week and a half. Worth every penny!
Rosemary
Rosemary recently posted..Retail Therapy
I am not having luck with any SS cleaning products, but this natural stuff seems to be working great.
Thanks for tip#1 — I used to do just the olive oil part which ended up attracting a lot of dust. Now I know I have to follow that with vinegar!
Eternal*Voyageur (Venusian*Glow) recently posted..Can Breast Tissue Migrate To The Sternum?
The vinegar seemed to get some of the greasy film off and give it the shine.
Yikes!! Stainless is really nice, but certainly a pain to clean!
Alexandria recently posted..Silver Lining Parenting
Thank you for the cool cleaning ideas!
Debbie recently posted..Zenka Nails: A Hidden Gem in Manhattan Beach
Thanks for this! I, too, have this problem with my stainless steel. We have really hard water and the drip tray gets all gross as well. Looking forward to trying your solutions on them!
Amity recently posted..This is going to piss off the margarine eaters.
Thank you so much for sharing this. We just bought our first home, and it has stainless steel appliances, which I love the look of, but after living in this home for a week, I wasn’t sure how to clean them. Last night we had our first REAL family dinner, with a homecooked meal and sitting around the table in our new home, and after dinner, I was cleaning the kitchen and the kitchen cleaning spray that was left from our previous home just left smears on the stainless steel. I hit it with some windex, but I don’t like using commercial cleaning products on a daily basis due to allergies, small pets, and just trying to eliminate chemicals and chemical residue from our lives. SO, do you have any DAILY cleaning tips for the stainless steel? My kids are all pre-teen and teens so we are (for the most part) past the grimy fingers point in life, but I do like to keep a neat and tidy home. Any tips for granite countertops?