If you’ve got any stainless-steel appliances in your
kitchen, you’ll know that the name of the finish is something of a misnomer.
“Stainless” surfaces can definitely get stained and dirty.
Just ask Kristina Murray, who thought the new
stainless-steel appliances in her Cornwall, New York, house “looked really cool
nestled under mocha-stained cabinets and black granite countertops.” But when
her son began to put his hands and mouth on virtually everything in the kitchen
she and her husband started to see stainless in a different light. “We realized
it takes a lot of work to maintain its shiny finish,” she says.
To see how well some popular stainless-steel cleaners work,
we smeared peanut butter, jelly, ketchup, mustard, and tomato sauce on sheets
of different types of stainless steel, let the mess sit for at least 24 hours,
rinsed off any goo, and used each of the cleaners as directed.
All the products cleaned up all the stains except mustard,
which left permanent speckles on the metal sheets. Every cleaner also removed
fingerprints easily, though they didn’t stop new prints from appearing. The
Weiman spray seemed to be better than others at limiting streaking on a variety
of finishes.
The seven cleaners we tested work well, so choose based on
price and type. The Method, Pledge, and Weiman sheets are one-step cleaners;
with the other four you have to clean and then buff the surface.
The chart (click below) shows cost per use, based on the price of one
sheet or the amount of pump or cream cleaner it takes to do about 12 square
feet and one sheet of Bounty paper towel.
Essential information: Read "Best home appliances for the holidays" to find top kitchen gear for your home.
