Metal finishing Q&As since 1989
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Removing scratches on painted kitchen stoves and refrigerator doors
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Q. I bought a new fridge; the sides are textured and the doors are shiny. They have some scratches on them from the magnets I had on them. How do I get rid of them? Plus when I got my knew fridge, it had plastic wrap all over it; it left it dull looking in some places, what can I do to even the shine out?
Kathy Jumper- Gardners, Pennsylvania
December 20, 2012
Q. I have a new shiny black fridge and my daughter put the window clings on the door and they came off easily but I can still see the cling on outline...I assume it must have removed the clear coat finish :( Will the Turtlewax liquid car polish [affil links] with carnuba fix this????
Dolena Seymour- Glace Bay, NS Canada
October 10, 2013
Q. I have a shiny new ice white Samsung with scratches. Will the Turtle Wax work with this as well?
Thanks.
- Annapolis, Maryland
December 13, 2013
A. Hi Miriam. I don't think car wax [on eBay or Amazon] cares what color the paint is. It should be fine.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
January 2016
Q. Hello. I have bought a new freezer last week. It's in light grey colour. While removing the stickers from the freezer some of the glue of the stickers were left on the freezer. I cleaned them later; when it was dry I found some scratches on the freezer. Please help me how can I remove those scratches. Waiting for useful tips.
Mariam usmani- Islamabad Pakistan
February 15, 2014
Q. Does this remove gloss paint? My son walked into a door I painted white,then transferred the paint to the fridge with a high gloss black surface.
Maureen Heath- kissimmee florida
July 4, 2014
A. Hi Maureen. Polishing wax is obviously not meant to remove paint, but the usual case is that the factory enamel is adhered significantly better than paint that was casually transferred to the surface by a kid. I'd try my fingernail first, then rubbing with the wax.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
July 2014
Q. Do you use the wax on the scratches or the entire door? It is a black glossy fridge.
Maura Thompson- Regina SK Canada
August 30, 2014
A. Hi Maura. You wax the whole door but you put elbow grease into scratched area to try to soften the scratches.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
August 2014
Q. Please tell me a few things. Do you use liquid or paste wax. I hear the paste wax takes hours to buff. What do you use to apply it with and shine it with?
I am afraid to try and end up with a big smear. Thanks.
- Regina SK Canada
September 5, 2014
A. Hi Maura. If you wish, practice on your car or a piece of outdoor metal furniture, or a rarely seen side of your stove, or even an old washer or dryer down in your basement. It's just car wax and it's not going to matter much whether you use liquid or paste, or a soft sponge vs. a soft cotton rag. Just don't use a cloth that might scratch paint. Good luck.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
September 2014
Kit Scratch Out
on
Amazon
(affil links)
I scratched my black Kitchenaid while cleaning it. You could see all the circles where I was wiping it clean. I bought some Kit Scratch Out at the hardware store. It really seems to have improved the look of the door. You really have to stand right up close to see anything. Before you could stand five feet away and see the circles. I had a hard time trying to find something I didn't think would scratch it while I was applying the paste. I ended up using the inside of an old tee shirt.
- houston, texas
September 4, 2014
Q. Thank you for you tips on scratches on my new kitchen aide refrigerator. Horrible from just a paper towel. Why would anyone design a product like this. My question is what do you clean it with (after I put wax on it) to prevent more scratches?
Donna Loyko- Groveland Florida
November 14, 2014
Q. Have Whirlpool fridge 4 years, brown spots appeared all over door of fridge. Tried Simply Green, bleach with fine 00 steel wool [on eBay or Amazon] -- nothing removes what looks like rust. Whirlpool wants no part of this problem. Any ideas?
ralph torres- delray beach Florida
November 15, 2014
A. Hi Ralph. For the benefit of the next person, never use bleach on steel or stainless steel -- it's murder. Can you use rust converter [on eBay or Amazon] / naval jelly, followed by repainting? What color is it painted?
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
November 2014
Q. Interesting responses to earlier situations, but I have another. I have a white refrigerator that appears to have some type of marbled vinyl front only that I would like to make look stainless. How do I go about it? I am just trying to get it to match other appliances until it's time to go. It is not smooth so I do not think the newly invented film will work. Anybody know if stainless paint might work?
Edna Blanchard- Carneys Point, New Jersey
March 2, 2015
A. Hi Edna. Paint will probably never look exactly like metal, but there's no reason the stainless steel color paint can't be applied to the patterned surface. But if it is real vinyl, normal paints may not stick well. Clean and lightly sand the vinyl, then try a small area of Liquid Stainless Steel [affil links]. If it doesn't stick well, you may need to start with Krylon Fusion [on eBay or Amazon] or Bulldog Tie Coat [affil links].
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
March 2015
BlueMagic 400 Metal Polish
on
Amazon
(affil links)
Ok, so I was freaking out. Terrible circular streaks, gouges from cleaning with a green scrubber. The front of the KitchenAid Oven is a coated/sealed metal. I was pricing replacement panels, which is an option. And then I got BlueMagic Metal Polish Cream.
An immediate and amazing difference! Now I can still barely see the damage, but I believe with repeated use it will cover it almost totally. Leaves silicone film that fills in the scratches. I will also note I was careful to rub and buff the product in the original direction of the lines of the metal. I think that also helped.
- Garden Valley
November 20, 2015
Q. My husband used a Brillo pad on my new black Electric stove. Is there anything I can do to remove these scratches?
Kelli Makuta- Charlotte North Carolina
January 31, 2016
A. Hi Kelli, your problem is not unique. Try carauba wax; but wax is flammable, so use carefully and get rid of the excess rather than letting it build up in blind corners.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
January 2016
A. For your black shiny refrigerator try black shoe polish, it works ! I bought a can of Carnauba wax for $16.00, it works but could still see some scratches, thought it should be black and "the light came on ", shoe polish !! Try it you may like it and much cheaper !!
Claudette Summers- Cornwall Ontario, Canada
November 29, 2016
Meguiars Carnauba Paste Wax
on
Amazon
(affil links)
A. I, too, just had a new shinny black refrigerator delivered a week ago and it too is now full of swirly fine scratches. My husband tried some wax he had for an airplane but the "rag" he used was rough and made the matter worse. I went out and bought Meguiar's Carnauba Plus Premium Paste Wax ⇨
and went to town on the fridge. After 3 light passes you can barely see any marks. Thank you to all who have posted before me. The can of wax is now stored under the sink for future need.
- Nashua, New Hampshire USA
March 10, 2018
Q. My black stove has some white scratches on top. I saw something to fix it before, some kind of paste made with baking soda, water and something else. Apparently this paste is supposed to fill in those scratches.
Bonnie Anderson- Cape Coral, Florida, USA
May 13, 2018
I had a KitchenAid that I cleaned and got swirly marks. I bought the liquid scratch out and it improved the look. I bought a new fridge and looked at the instructions for cleaning, so I wouldn't scratch this one. It scratched. I thought the last one was just a bad paint job, this is just incompetence on their part. They have to know this is a problem. Why can't they put on a heavier coat of paint. I have a double oven, microwave and gas stove that are 15 years old that have no scratches.
- Cypress, Texas Usa
July 24, 2018
I went to Ace and bought the
Turtlewax liquid car polish
[affil links] that was recommended. It did a fantastic job. You can't see any of the scratches. Thank goodness for the internet!
Q. Can anyone tell me how you clean now that the wax is on the fridge and how often do I need to reapply the wax.
Sherri shelton [returning]- Cypress, Texas Usa
July 26, 2018
I have had a black shiny refrigerator for a couple of years and just recently it's become more smudged and with occasional scratches. But today took the cake. I wanted to get it nice and shiny so I heard Windex Commercial Line [on
eBay or
Amazon]
works so I sprayed Windex on it and it left a horrible film that I thought would not and could not be removed. I was told by a sales person in Home Depot to try Mr. Clean Eraser. So I sprayed a soft cleaner on the refrigerator took the Mr. clean eraser and began to wipe the refrigerator ..it was horrible. Now I am in panic mode. After reading on this site I tried to extract some household items that I've already have that I could use. I was almost at a realization that my refrigerator was ruined and there could be no changes made to get it back to the shiny look. After reading about Pledge cleaner I decided to use "Old English Lemon Oil"
[affil links]. I begin to spray hesitantly in a small area and noticed that there was this gleaming shine. So I waited for about 15 minutes because I was afraid that it would change after buffing it with a soft cloth. To my amazement the old English polish and cleaner worked! I also used it for my black microwave and my countertop!!
- New Jersey, USA
January 13, 2019
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