Letter 4148

Removing scratches from stainless steel appliances 

++++++

For Frigidaire SS fridge doors:

For smudges, fingerprints, other discolorations and small patches of eczema-like stuff that looked like rust, I tried vinegar but it didn't do anything. Then I looked at the label and it was diluted to 5% acidity so that could be the problem. Next, I turned to a baking soda [link is to product info at Amazon] paste applied with an old washcloth. That solved 90-95% of the problems but had no effect on scratches. Getting all the particles off afterwards takes a while. (Using nice paper towels works too but they do leave some lint behind.) Then I wiped the door with filtered water. Finally, I used WD-40 [link is to product info at Amazon] to condition. It looks a heck of a lot better, although the fine scratches are still there.

Sally Sue Branson
Consumer - Fayetteville, Arkansas

Help! Our fridge is only 2 months old. My son put a scratch in it by rubbing a magnetized plastic toy letter on the stainless steel front (thanks, fridge phonics!) The scratch is up and down (with the grain) but is pretty long and deep. Any suggestions on what is best to use? Has anyone tried the Scratch B Gone or other product on this type of scratch and does it work?

Thank you for any advice!

Nancy Cook
Consumer - Prosper, Texas

I recently purchased Kenmore SS Appliances and made a mistake cleaning them. I used the rough side of a kitchen sponge. I asked an associate at Lowes for a product that could help. He advised me there was nothing. I took a chance searching this site. I am amazed what a problem this is and the number of people who have made scratches with those kitchen sponges. I am having the same fear as many of the writers of these questions. I am afraid to use an abrasive product. I am not sure what type my SS is. It does have visible grain that goes the length of the appliance but there is also a shiny finish. Can anyone offer any advise? I also called an appliance repair shop and the gentlemen who I spoke with previously worked for "HoBart". ( they manufactured commercial appliances) He told me that the employees would use scotchbrite pads and would go with the grain of the SS. I was horrified of the thought. After reading some of the suggestions on this site I guess that approach seems to be pretty successful. I am eager to try this, I just want to make sure the scotchbrite pads will not damage my refrigerator. Does anyone have a Kenmore SS Side by side and has used the scotchbrite pads? Any advise would be so much appreciated.

Crystal Goggins
Consumer - Dayton , Ohio

I used the grey pad to sand out the scratches in my stainless steel side-by-side and it left a shiny finish. I would like to know how to get it to match the rest of the metal

Royce Hammett
- Lone Grove, Oklahoma

Dear Sally, Nancy and Crystal. I am sorry to read the problems you've had with your Ss appliances. Unfortunately, scratches are to be expected on Stainless steel yet now there truly is a proven and tested solution called Scratch-B-Gone. Our kit does what it says it will do and many times over. However, there are two restrictions; the surface must be 'real stainless steel'. This means that it can not have a protective clear coat finish nor be synthetic or imitation. Appliance, namely refers, sold as 'Easy Care', 'Clean Free', or fingerprint free can not be repaired with our product. Please check with your retailer or manuf. Please call us and we can help you determine if your refer qualifies for Scratch-B-Gone. Good luck ladies. Barry Feinman, Inventor

Barry Feinman Restore It Yourself, Inc Carlsbad, California

I am so happy to have found this website tonight! My lovely 7 & 8 year old daughters decided earlier tonight they would put their feet on the fridge as high up as they could. I guess it was a contest! Well, one had boots on so it left a smudge that was about 3 feet long and when I cleaned that I found my daughter's hard dress shoes had left a few scratches going against the grain of my Frigidaire (side by side separate fridge & freezer). So I used what I normally use to clean it, Pledge multi surface cleaner, but that didn't get the scratches out. Then I used my Method Stainless Steel Conditioner with their stainless steel cloth. Looked great until it dried.

After reading the website I tried

wd 40: sprayed it on with a tissue and didn't quite get out the scratches so I tried...

bar keepers friend: made a paste with water and put it on using my finger and a very light touch going with the grain. I let it dry for about a minute and then used the Pledge to take it off. I was almost sick when I saw the white marks it left, but then I used the tissue with the WD-40 [link is to product info at Amazon] on it and the marks were gone. Whew!! The scratches are still there, but they are less noticeable. I plan to try the SBG if I see it in Home Depot the next time I am there.

and if those don't work I'll go out and get the Scratch B Gone.

Jenna MacArthur
homeowner - Hudson, Massachusetts

Dear Christine and Jenna..I read or hear about this problem everyday. As the manufacturer and creator of the Scratch-B-Gone kit for Stainless steel, our company talks with people with from all over the country with similar stories. Our kit is recommended by most appliance manufacturers (ie, GE, Kitchenaid, Sub Zero, Electrolux ICON, Dacor, Bosch, etc). Take it from me, this kit works! Best of luck, Barry Feinman, Inventor

Barry Feinman Restore It Yourself, Inc Carlsbad, California

I'm really interested in the Scratch Be Gone product many of you have mentioned. Will it work on "brushed" stainless finishes? We have a Frigidaire refrigerator that we bought one month ago. No one told us that our 20 month old twins wouldn't be able to play with their alphabet magnets on the fridge. In a few short days there were scratches all over the bottom portion of the refrigerator door. I understand the brushed stainless finishes require a different sort of care than regular stainless. No stainless steel cleaners or WD40 for us. Vinegar and water work great to remove the few fingerprints we get, but now what about these scratches???

Thalia Seggelink
- Mill Creek, Washington

I have a Frigidaire Professional Series (brushed stainless steel) refrigerator. Will the Scratch-B-Gone work on this?

Donna Pry
- Jackson, Missouri

Dear Thalia and Donna, As always, sorry to read of your misfortune. Many of the Frigidaire refer products have a protective clear coat finish on the to reduce smudging, fingerprints, and scratching. Any appliance sold as a clean free, care free, clean steel, or similar are sold with this protective clear finish. Once this finish is scratched, their is nothing on the market to restore it as you can not match the clearcoat appearance shy of removing all off it. Suggestion of magnetic also suggests an imitation stainless finish as most appliance grades of Stainless are non magnetic. Do these tests to figure out your situation; (1 real Stainless will be cold to touch compared to imitation or clearcoat. Touch another Ss appliance and compare temps, if same then real. (2 Touch your fingers all over surface, if smudge then real, if not or less then likely clearcoat or synthetic. If you find your appliance is 'real' Ss then yes out kit will do the fix you look for. Remember, always brush with the grain of the surface. Hope this helped. Barry Feinman, Inventor, Scratch-B-Gone.

Barry Feinman Restore It Yourself, Inc Carlsbad, California

I just used some polish on my stainless Jenn-Air Refrigerator to effect a couple minor scratches. It helped a lot, but now when the light hits a certain way, there is a dark area around where the scratches are (where the polish was applied). It's not very noticeable, but I'm wondering if this will dissipate with time as the metal oxidizes, or if I should consider one of the products discussed on this page (like SBG) to blend the effected area with the rest of the surface.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Bob Johnson
- Rockport, MA

I have a couple minor scratches in my new Jenn-Air stainless refrigerator. I used some polish on the surface which helped quite a bit, but now when the light hits it a certain way there is a darker look to the area where the scratches are (where I used the polish). I am wondering if this will dissipate as the surface oxidizes, or if I need to use one of products discussed here (like SBC) to "blend" this area. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Kanbun Uechi
consumer - Rockport, MA

Bob, the oxidizing period you mention can take up to 8 months to occur. This process is a gradual one at best. Our Ultra Shine chemical found in our Scratch-B-Gone kit speeds this process significantly resulting in also instantaneous results to blend with surrounding surfaces. This assumes there is not a clear coat on this surface. Jenn-air surfaces respond well to our process, yet Whirlpool has introduced clear coats to many of its refer surfaces and please be sure this one doesn't before using our Scratch-B-Gone as this will damage the surface more. I don't believe it does but please check with your supplier or Whirlpool tech services. Best, Barry Feinman, Inventor

Barry Feinman Restore It Yourself, Inc Carlsbad, California

I'm hoping someone here might be able to help, but I have gone and done what I feel is completely stupid and ruined the Stainless Steel Finish on my brand new Fridge.

When I unpacked my fridge I noticed a few scuffs nothing seriously so I thought I would just remove them with a dish cloth. Well they didn't remove and unfortunately now I have other smaller scratches. I thought the cloth was non-abrasive.

Well I found this site and read through all this information, and decided to take to the scratch with a tiny bit of brasso and sound elbow grease.Unfortunately now I lighter scratches but a massive light patch, that is in contrast to the rest of the finish. I realized on reading the manual that is because my Electrolux fridge has a protective coating.

Is there any way to remedy this? Really I should have just called the store and told them the fridge has a scratch. And see if I could get it replaced.

Matt Ford
- Sydney, NSW, Australia

Tammy and Matt, Good Grief Charlie Brown! Ouch! Now that I've laid the explicatives let's get to the repairs. Yes Tammy, the scratches will come out as long as they are brushed grain and you have access to them. Our kit Scratch-B-Gone will remove these scratches fully and quickly. But for you Matt, NO there is nothing you can do to restore the clear coat and get it to match. You could however use a lacquer stripper and remove all the coating. Can't promise how it will look overall but may be worth an effort before buying a new one. Good luck to both of you.

Barry Feinman Restore It Yourself, Inc Carlsbad, California

First of all, we all have to use some common sense here when reading these claims of removing scratches from brushed stainless steel. I am a new owner of a kitchen with all new stainless steel appliances. Over $6,000 grand worth and I regret the choice even now, never knew what was in store for me. I'm paranoid to move freely in my own kitchen. It's crazy and if I had to do it again and had the money, I would replace all this stainless steel with more practical kitchen appliances.

Now, my first observation and experience is that anybody that tells you that a rubbing compound will remove scratches from brushed stainless steel is not being truthful. That's just a better way of not calling someone an outright liar. If brushed stainless steel is created by scratching motions or brushes, then what we need to be looking for is what type of scratch technique the manufacturer used on your particular appliance. They need to provide us with a repair kit specific to the SS we have purchased. Instead, we are spending hours looking on the internet for a cure, reading a lot of untruths and impossibilities and wasting our hard earned money.

Now some of the remedies sound very close to the truth, except before I scratch up my brand new appliances even worst, why doesn't someone who claims to have fixed something, provide us with some before and after photos. We can't be the only ones in the world with this problem. Scratch B Gone sounds good in theory, but not sure if it will produce the same brushed pattern that I have.

Thanks for listening to my rant. And good luck to you all. If I find something that works...I will be back.

Linda
stainless steel kitchen owner, with regret - San Francisco, California

Linda, I understand your frustration and have those same sentiments told to me many times. That's a great idea, I will post some before and after pics next week for you and others to view if it is ok with the good folks at finishing.com. Just know that our Scratch-B-Gone is highly recommended by folks like yourself and manufacturers. In fact, our professional kit is on every GE service truck across the country , used at the factory of Dacor, recommended by Subzero and Wolf, and used by Uline, all for repairing scratches in Stainless appliances and sinks. Best of luck to you.

Barry Feinman Restore It Yourself, Inc Carlsbad, California

After having my $7,000 Sub Zero fridge for one week, a guest in our house leaned against it and made a painfully noticeable 3 inch scratch across the grain of the door. I am really sick about it! It is so noticeable when the light comes in from outside. It is a brushed surface, but the scratch seems to be highlighted when the sunlight comes inside. After reading all of these posts, I purchased the Scratch B Gone kit, but honestly, I am petrified to use it. It seems like it would work great from all the posts, but because of the positioning of our fridge near the windows, I feel like in that light the treated surface may be highlighted or have a halo around it. That would probably be worse than the scratch. Can anyone give me advice on whether or not to use this product, aside from the manufacturer's posts in this forum? Any advice would be great!
Thanks!

Tara Hamm
Home Owner - Atlanta, Georgia

Tara, I understand completely your anxiousness but please call Subzero and ask their customer call person what they recommend. They will tell you Scratch-B-Gone. Subzero actually trains their technicians with the use of Scratch-B-Gone. Please call me with questions, Barry Feinman, inventor

Barry Feinman Restore It Yourself, Inc Carlsbad, California

Hi all,
I have tried everything to remove scratches from my stainless steel fridge. Since I had everything Kitchenaid, and couldn't afford the fridge, I decided to buy one used. I got it at a great price but the girl that sold it to me said the lamp in her kitchen was out. Never buy a fridge that way! Anyway needless to say she had washed every inch of the front of the fridge with what I think is a scouring pad. IN CIRCLES! I had hundreds of spirals all over the surface of the fridge. Anyway, I read a lot of info on the internet, and the best I could find really helped. It was using WD-40 [link is to product info at Amazon] with a sponge/abrasive (the ones you find at the dollar store that are half sponge on 1 side and half abrasive on the other). Well, I did this for about 3 hours and there is not 1 scratch on my fridge. I cleaned it all off with a 3M stainless steel cleaner and the outcome was amazing! Thank god she didn't put any dents in it because I can't find a solution for that! Hope this helps someone!

Natalka Dutka
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Thank you, Barry, for your reply. I was hoping to hear from some consumers who actually used the product.
For those of you who have not yet tried it, here is what I have found so far:
I watched the enclosed DVD, and decided to start on my HEAVILY scratched brushed stainless kitchen trash can. It is so badly scratched (with a few dents) that we were going to replace it. I started with the Light duty pad, and I have to say, it is really easy and 95% of all of the scratches are gone! It is really incredible, actually. I used it on the ENTIRE trash can lid, but I realized I should have just tried it on one spot to see if it blended well with the surrounding area, before I try it on my Sub Zero. I am very pleasantly surprised with the results! My only complaint is that the kit is $49.95 and comes with the teeniest, tiniest 0.75 oz bottle of lubricating fluid, and the instructions say to use plenty of it. So I used about half of it for my trash can lid! I think I need a much bigger bottle!
I will let you know my results with my fridge when I get up the nerve to do it!
Until then, I would like to say, the Scratch-B-Gone kit was worth the $50 already because our kitchen trash can was $150, and I almost bought a new one.
I will post again when I use the kit on my fridge....

Tara Hamm
- Atlanta, Georgia

I have a month old Franke stainless steel sink. I just noticed some scratches possibly made by improper cleaning or by some metal dish. I used Inox cream that came with the sink but scratches did not go away.
At the risk of sounding as a complete idiot, how do I determine what sort of finish my sink have and which way grain goes? Everyone else on this board seems to determine this with a great easy. Please help!

Tanya Melnick
- Cupertino, California

+++++++ Tanya, Franke makes a sink which has no grain but rather is described as 'mirror finish' The style lacks a grain. Is this the case with yours? This style tends to be more problematic as it takes scratches easily. You can use our Scratch-B-Gone kit to put a slight grain finish so as to be more forgiving. Good luck Barry Feinman Restore It Yourself, Inc Carlsbad, California +++++++ Hi again. I wanted to follow up with the Scratch-B-Gone on my Sub Zero fridge. After watching the enclosed DVD a few times and getting up the nerve to work on the scratch, I have to say, I am sorely disappointed that I did. I followed the directions to a T and used the lightest mildest possible pad, and even so the scratch IS gone, but you can see the finish is definitely different where I treated it. At night, when the sun is not shining on it, it seems to be just OK, not great, but during the day, the area stands out like a sore thumb. I called a Sub Zero tech in our area, and they are scheduled to come out and see what it will take to fix (at $125 just to come to the house and look!!!) So, I at least gave this a try. I think it works great for something small, or if you are going to do an entire appliance, but not if you are going to do a spot area. Good luck to you all. :( Tara in Atlanta Tara Hamm - Atlanta Georgia +++++++ Tara, what did the Sub-Zero technician say. I am very curious. Steve Brodsky - Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey