Okay, I admit it: we were completely insane. We bought two stainless steel appliances in our recent kitchen remodel, a dishwasher and an exhaust hood over the cooktop. I knew they'd get heavy use, and consequently reveal every fingerprint, but I wanted them anyway. They were so sleek and sexy, so stylish. Except when they, um, got covered with fingerprints.
I'd tried everything to clean them: window cleaner, all purpose cleaner, glass and surface cleaner. Everything left streaks. In desperation, I bought a package of specialized cleaning wipes for stainless steel appliances. They smelled exactly like a hair salon when someone's getting a permanent. They added a nice sheen to the steel, mostly because they appeared to be saturated with light-grade machine oil, but the smell lingered for days. I tossed the whole container in the trash.
But the oil led to a clue: maybe my handy bottle of Murphy Oil Soap "Clean & Shine" Multi-use Wood Cleaner would do the trick. This spray cleaner has a little bit of oil to moisturize wood finishes, but I figured it might shine up my stainless like those odious wipes, but smell a lot better. It worked like a charm.
Method: Spray, wipe with a damp sponge, and wipe dry with a clean towel in the direction of the "grain" of the stainless steel. The cleaner cuts the greasy fingerprints, while the orange oil coats the steel with a thin film, giving it a glossy luster.
