Despite the fact that stainless steel is very good at resisting rust and corrosion it isn’t 100% perfect at doing so.  Which means that you need to do your best to keep your stainless steel appliance lovely and clean to prevent any problems from occurring.  Cleaning stainless steel doesn’t have to be difficult but there are few rules that you ought to try and adhere to.

One thing that you need to understand is that many stainless steel appliances come with a lacquer varnish to help protect the metal underneath.  So make sure you know whether your stainless steel appliance comes with this lacquer finish or not because it can make a difference as to how you go about cleaning it.

With the lacquer varnish you need to be more careful because you want to avoid damaging it.  Your appliance will have come with instruction and should have included instruction on cleaning.  Generally what you need to avoid is any scourers or products with a rough scratchy surface.

When you want to start cleaning stainless steel you should begin with warm soapy water on a soft sponge or cloth.  If the stains are only mild the soapy water should be sufficient.  Then dry it down with a dry tea towel.

If you’re cleaning stainless steel which is very dirty then you will need something a bit more heavy duty than just soapy water.  A mild detergent can in these cases be enough to do the job.  Then dry it with a towel to prevent sport from appearing.

There are also stainless steel cleaners that you can buy that are specially made for this purpose.  Make sure that whatever product you buy doesn’t contain chlorine bleach because it’s very harsh and can even corrode the metal.  Be very careful about this because a lot of multi-purpose cleaners have bleach in it so you need read the packaging.

So basically if you’ve got food stains, finger prints or anything else for that matter on your stainless steel appliances you need to be careful about what you use.  Just because it’s called “stainless” doesn’t mean that it will never rust, corrode or become pitted.  You need to keep good care of it and only use mild chlorine-free products or products made for stainless steel.  And always rinse and dry after you have finished cleaning your appliances.