Recipe 72 of 100 · The Country Cleans Mix Book
Stop Fingerprints on a Stainless Steel Fridge
The Showroom Trick
Fingerprints back on the fridge 20 minutes after you clean it? Clean the panel first, then barely dampen a microfiber in 1 tablespoon mineral oil stirred with 1 teaspoon white vinegar. Wipe with the grain and buff hard until nothing feels slick. Skin oil sits on top and wipes off, for about a week. Never on cooktops, oven doors or near a burner.
What it fixesFingerprints that reappear on the fridge door twenty minutes after you clean it.
You need
- 1 tablespoon mineral oil, or plain olive oil if that is what you have
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- 1 clean dry microfiber cloth
- 1 second dry microfiber cloth for buffing
Mix it
- Put the mineral oil in a small bowl.
- Add the vinegar and stir with a spoon for about ten seconds. It will not fully combine and that is fine, you are going to pick it up on a cloth anyway.
Use it
- Clean the panel first with the Stainless Steel Streak-Free Polish from the Mix Book and let it dry. Oil over grease is just sealed grease.
- Dip one corner of the dry microfiber into the mix. You want the cloth barely damp, not wet. If you can see a shine on the cloth, it is too much.
- Wipe the panel with the grain in long passes. Cover the whole surface including the handle.
- Buff hard with the second dry cloth, still with the grain, until the panel looks dry and no oil drag is visible when you view it from an angle.
- Run a finger across it. If it feels slick or leaves a mark, you used too much oil. Buff more.
Dale's noteThis is what appliance showrooms do before a customer walks in. The oil film fills the microscopic texture so skin oil sits on top and wipes off instead of soaking in. It lasts about a week in a busy kitchen.
Don'tDo not use this on stainless cooktop surfaces, oven doors, or anything near a burner. A thin oil film on a heated panel bakes into a yellow varnish that is a nightmare to strip.
This is 1 of 100 mixes in the Mix Book
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