Cleaning 101: How to Clean Stainless Steel Appliances

This is a great DIY method for how to clean stainless steel appliances like the refrigerator, stove, microwave, or dishwasher. Uses simple cleaners to knock out smudges and prevent fingerprints!

Let's go on and put it out there: while beautiful, stainless steel is kind of a pain in the rear to keep clean.

If you have any kind of stainless steel appliance in your home, you understand. As soon as you touch it, there will be smudges and handprints. While I secretly kind of love those little handprints, they just have to go sometimes.

Luckily, there's a really easy way to not only clean stainless steel but to keep it smudge-free!

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How to Clean Stainless Steel Appliances

There are two incredibly simple supplies I use for streak-free stainless steel appliances…

My trusty microfiber cleaning cloths and glass cleaner (i.e. Windex). That's it!

Simply spray your appliance down with the glass cleaner and buff in a circular motion. It might take a couple of times to really get the streaks and smudges out of your stainless steel appliance – repeat as needed until clean.

I do this once a week (on Journey to Clean fridge/pantry day, which just happens to be today!). It takes a grand total of 2 minutes and makes your fridge look so sparkly and shiny.

How to Keep a Stainless Steel Appliance Streak-Free

There's also a fun little trick I like to do once a month (during Journey to Clean kitchen week, on the refrigerator deep clean day) that keeps your fridge smudge-resistant and conditioned.

For this, you need olive oil (yes, olive oil that you cook with!) and a microfiber cloth.

It's kind of hard to see in the picture above, but your stainless steel appliance has a “grain” to it. Look closely at your appliance – you can see that it either runs vertically or horizontally. Looking at my fridge, you can sort of see that horizontal graining above.

Put a small amount of olive oil (maybe a teaspoon) on a microfiber cloth. Following the grain of your stainless steel, gently rub the olive oil onto your appliance.

After you do this one time, it might look a little cloudy and streaky – that means you'll need to gently buff off excess oil. Use the clean side of your cloth to apply really light pressure to the stainless steel in a circular motion until you can't see the streaks in the stainless steel.

This method conditions your stainless steel and helps ward off those extra smudges from little fingers.

See? So pretty and shiny! With those two simple tasks, your fridge can look like new. Integrate this cleaning into your weekly routine for super easy fridge maintenance.

Catch up on the rest of the Cleaning 101 series with the links below!

How to Clean a Microwave

How to Clean Cast Iron

How to Clean a Top Loader Washing Machine

How to Clean Stainless Steel Appliances (you're here!)

How to Clean a Dishwasher

How to Deep Clean a Dryer

How to Clean Upholstered Furniture

How to Clean an Oven

How to Clean a Mattress

How to Clean Grout