Stainless steel appliances?

[NetWareHead]

Having worked in a restaurant with stainless steel doors on large coolers, etc., don't underestimate the stupidity of people who will grab a very abrasive scouring pad & try to get stuck food off while rubbing against the grain. Noticeable. So, if you have SS appliances, make SURE you teach the tenants NOT to use abrasive cleaners and scouring pads, else it's not normal wear & tear type of damage.

Keeping clean: just need to have the right type of cleaner. I've posted this a couple times on the forum when people were discussing SS appliances: Orange-glow. They sell it at Dollar General types of stores, and I presume Wallyworld, etc. It's a furniture polish that cleans. It does a hell of a good job on granite counter tops & stainless steel appliances.

Interesting your use of orange glow. My girlfriend told me she cleans her SS fridge with straight baby oil in a rag. That's all you need to polish it with. And it comes out beautifully.

Doing some research, it seems that stainless steel is really not stainless after all and is prone to rust. You need to clean it with a cleaning compound that contains oil. The care is similar to the care of cast iron, just not with heating obviously. There needs to be some oil in whatever compound chosen which brings outs the steel's shine and helps form a protective layer against rust.

And clean/polish with a soft sponge and not with steel wool or brillo etc...

 

[Fenixgoon]

Interesting your use of orange glow. My girlfriend told me she cleans her SS fridge with straight baby oil in a rag. That's all you need to polish it with. And it comes out beautifully.

Doing some research, it seems that stainless steel is really not stainless after all and is prone to rust. You need to clean it with a cleaning compound that contains oil. The care is similar to the care of cast iron, just not with heating obviously. There needs to be some oil in whatever compound chosen which brings outs the steel's shine and helps form a protective layer against rust.

And clean/polish with a soft sponge and not with steel wool or brillo etc...

all depends on the type of stainless steel. 400-series steels are only mildly corrosion resistant (and probably what's used)...rocking some 347? gg, that shit better last a lifetime.

also, you NEVER want to use steel wool on a stainless steel item. the wool will damage the oxide film that makes stainless steel stainless, which allows the stainless steel to actually corrode. AND if you get wool particles embedded on the surface, now you've setup a galvanic couple and you'll get even more corrosion!

abrasive nylons should be ok for cleaning stainless steel, as they will not damage the oxide film. i use 3M nylon pads on my stainless steel cookware and they still look great.

 

[soulcougher73]

Had in house. Hated it. Much rather have black. They are nice in pictures, but get dirty easy

 

[bradley]

Any suggestions for removing sales stickers *with extremely resilient adhesive* from a stainless steel appliance? Would either PBW or Orange-glow work?

EDIT: I have a 98.5% pure container of d-limonene and will try giving the stickers an overnight soaking.

 

[Pulsar]

Alot of recent appliances are shipping with no smudge stainless finishes. True to their name, they stay mostly clean. They still smudge slightly but not like older stainless finishes that showed everything and were impossible to keep clean.

Do YOU have kids?

His statement stands.

Colored ceramic finishes that you'd normally find on appliances are near indestructable and don't all the stupid dust and dirt like stainless does.

It doesn't matter WHAT kind of finish you have on it. It's a reflective surface and every scratch, mark, bit of dirt, fingerprint and anything else will show.

 

[phucheneh]

Anyone who says stainless is easy to clean is clearly confusing 'degrease it' and 'make it look like new.' Plain hard coatings will look the same every time you wipe the crap off of them. Stainless looks like Michael J Fox went at it with a fork taped to an electric toothbrush.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

The stove you chose seems quite nice for a rental. I did want to make one observation though. Both the pro and anti stainless folks here seem to be fixated on looks. As a Chef, both at home and at work, utility trumps everything else. I frankly don't care if someone uses steel wool to clean my stainless appliances as long as they're clean. These days even cheap appliances can be bought with stainless panels. If you're primarily interested in looks, go with something cheaper.

 

[Sluggo]

Only thing I can think of is to specify on the lease what kinds of cleaning chemicals to use on the stove to guarantee no scratches. Through reading the stove's manual, manuals of other stainless stoves as well as some googling, stainless can be cleaned with a non abrasive cleaner like "Bar keepers friend", and a regular sponge. Its the people who use steel wool/scouring pads and ajax that ruin stainless.

Between that and your anal obsession with the cleaning the carpets your lease is going to be 20 pages long. Be sure to specify what shoes they can wear as they trod on your floors, how their fingernails should be trimmed to avoid scratching the light switch covers, and their diet to avoid excess wear on the toilets.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I'm in a rental right now. Last summer the owner and his wife decided to completely redo the kitchen - new cupboards, countertops, sink, tile, floor and all new stainless appliances.

The fridge has brushed stainless doors, while the remainder of the body is a crinkle finish black. This has been very easy to care for. I use a microfiber cloth and Windex or a similar all-surface cleaner and always wipe in the direction of the brushed finish. So far, no scratches. The crinkle finish on the top and the side of the fridge that sometimes gets splashed from the stove also clean up well.

The dishwasher has a similar brushed finish stainless front. Easily cleaned, no scratches to date.

The stove has a brushed stainless front and a glossy black top. I genuinely _hate_ the black top, as it shows every splash and spec of dust, and has to be kept immaculate or it looks like hell. Cleaning it isn't easy, as it smears easily and ends up taking a lot of work to get it smudge free. The worst thing, though, is that is shows every little surface scratch, unlike a stove with a white finish.

There's also a black microwave mounted over the stove, although its front is all plastic and glass. This suffers the same or worse from showing surface scratches.

All white appliances may not be as trendy, but they're much easier to care for and (I think) would stay looking newer longer. For a rental, unless it's very high end, I'd go white.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Not yet decided on that stove. But I do want convection oven and 5 burners for same reasons I want stainless, populace has a hardon for them. I think 5 burners on a 30 inch stove is retarded; you cant possibly use all 5 burners at once because the cooktop gets too crowded. its a feature with limited utility IMO. If this were my own kitchen, I would get something different.

Gotta say, if the finish of the kitchen appliances is a major selling point of this rental, then you've got much bigger problems. The five burner thing you have stuck in your head is just plain dumb. It's not going to make an ounce of difference.

How long have you been renting this place out? Have you had problems with it standing vacant for long periods? Doesn't seem to me like you really have your bearings yet.

 

[NetWareHead]

Anyone who says stainless is easy to clean is clearly confusing 'degrease it' and 'make it look like new.' Plain hard coatings will look the same every time you wipe the crap off of them. Stainless looks like Michael J Fox went at it with a fork taped to an electric toothbrush.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. SS will especially show if cleaned improperly. I don't think I can trust a tenant to clean the stove with the grain, with special non abrasive powder and then polish it with a specific SS cleaner.

I saw a SS dishwasher recently that survived a 3 year stay with a tenant and the tenant managed to rust it. The rust came off with a TON of elbow grease using a fine abrasive sponge; it hadn't penetrated deeply and was just fine surface rust. You can tell it is slightly scratched and it still looks decent when polished.

The stove I referenced in the OP has a SS cooktop and I feel the cooktop gets it the worst. That area will get the burned on food and subject to the most intensive scrubbing. I'm starting to think that if I get a stainless stove, maybe I should get it with a black cooktop such as something like this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/LG-Elect...5ST/202076696?N=c3psZ21jZ1z0v5l1#.Utx-t9Io5kg

Still stainless but not stainless where it matters IMO

 

[sdifox]

Any suggestions for removing sales stickers *with extremely resilient adhesive* from a stainless steel appliance? Would either PBW or Orange-glow work?

EDIT: I have a 98.5% pure container of d-limonene and will try giving the stickers an overnight soaking.

goo gone

http://www.amazon.com/Homax-1647-Goo...dp/B0038BGMN2/

 

[DrPizza]

Anyone who says stainless is easy to clean is clearly confusing 'degrease it' and 'make it look like new.' Plain hard coatings will look the same every time you wipe the crap off of them. Stainless looks like Michael J Fox went at it with a fork taped to an electric toothbrush.

Let me put it this way: When I clean the stainless steel stove, microwave, dishwasher, and double-door refrigerator, they all look like brand new. And, it's easy to do so. If there's a lot of dirt, which there never is since the kids have moved out of the house, then I use ammonia & water in a spray bottle first. Most of the time, a couple spritzes of orange glow, and rub with the grain, and it looks brand new. Maybe even slightly better than brand new, since brand new it has a layer of plastic covering it.

 

[NetWareHead]

Between that and your anal obsession with the cleaning the carpets your lease is going to be 20 pages long. Be sure to specify what shoes they can wear as they trod on your floors, how their fingernails should be trimmed to avoid scratching the light switch covers, and their diet to avoid excess wear on the toilets.

[sarcasm]
Thanks for those good ideas. I'll include those after I complete the chapter on acceptable body soap to use so not build excessive scale on the shower drain pipes. Oh and I'm installing a thermostat that no matter what temp the tenant sets it to, it still won't excessively over cool or over heat the house so as not to cause excessive wear on the HVAC system. Lessor landlords use a lockbox around the thermostat but something like this baby is ideal: http://www.amazon.com/Landlord-Therm...pr_product_top or this http://www.landlordstat.com/product/hc71sb-auto-setback/
[/sarcasm]

Alrite man thanks for the humor but I need answers and need this to stay on topic.

 

[NetWareHead]

Gotta say, if the finish of the kitchen appliances is a major selling point of this rental, then you've got much bigger problems. The five burner thing you have stuck in your head is just plain dumb. It's not going to make an ounce of difference.

How long have you been renting this place out? Have you had problems with it standing vacant for long periods? Doesn't seem to me like you really have your bearings yet.

Few years. Its been vacant for a month now as I renovated it. Last step is to purchase appliances and start looking for a new tenant.

Ehh its not really my opinion. Ive spoken to many salesmen in home depot, lowes, sears, best buy and the 5 burner 30 inch cooktops are the best sellers as well as SS ones. If that is what is the best selling, then arguably it would benefit me to install it in a new kitchen. I also sought several opinions from realtors as to what constitutes a luxury kitchen and pulls highest rents. That is my focus. I'm interested in capturing the most amount of interest when potential tenants walk into the kitchen. What i would install in a rental is not necessarily what I would install in my own kitchen.

 

[phucheneh]

Let me put it this way: When I clean the stainless steel stove, microwave, dishwasher, and double-door refrigerator, they all look like brand new. And, it's easy to do so. If there's a lot of dirt, which there never is since the kids have moved out of the house, then I use ammonia & water in a spray bottle first. Most of the time, a couple spritzes of orange glow, and rub with the grain, and it looks brand new. Maybe even slightly better than brand new, since brand new it has a layer of plastic covering it.

Part of it is gonna be whether the stainless part is actually functional.

A stainless top on a stove or counter is just not an appealing thing for a home IMO. They're good for commercial purposes, where 'clean' doesn't have to go with 'pretty'. After a little while, they do kinda stop getting worse; it's like a maximum saturation of scratches and swirl marks.

If you're talking about something with a vertical side that never gets abraided...well yeah, that's a little easier. Still other factors, though. Like lighting.

I have a gun that I was gonna polish and ended up going for 'brushed.' It looks great in some light. And like it was 'brushed' with gravel in other light.

 

[Kaido]

Had in house. Hated it. Much rather have black. They are nice in pictures, but get dirty easy

Ditto. Hate cleaning SS.

 

[Kaido]

Doing some research, it seems that stainless steel is really not stainless after all and is prone to rust.

This isn't obvious and I didn't get it until someone pointed it out to me, but...

StainLESS is not the same as StainFREE. So basically it just means it will rust less, not "not rust at all"

 

[phucheneh]

All stainless has ever meant was a steel alloy with a minimum amount of chromium. It's not all the same.

But IIRC the original name was 'inoxidizable,' which does readily imply 'does not rust.'