Stainless steel appliances--do you have scratching problems?

[justlearning]

We just bought a new house and are deciding on appliances. We love the look of stainless steel but I've heard that it can scratch easily--is this true?. I'm wondering if any of you have had this problem. Also, have any of you avoided buying stainless steel because you felt that it wouldn't work well with small children banging into the refrigerator, etc.?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. FWIW, we're looking at GE stainless steel appliances.

[houseof3boys]

Not scratching, but major finger prints! We have all stainless appliances in our kitchen and next time I would get the fridge that is made out of the stainless finish that doesn't fingerprint. It dents really easily also as evidenced when we moved in and they were unloading the darn thing and it hit the wall.

The dishwasher is not bad with the finger prints and is easy to wipe since it is a small surface. The stove top shows every drop of water (like when you take the lid off of a pot and it has condensation on it) and is kind of a pain to clean because you have to take off the grates to wipe it properly. The microwave and convection are the easiest to clean.

I love the way they look, but it is a lot of maintenance and I am lazy about cleaning everyday.

[Meatball Mommie]

I know a trick for the fingerprint issue...baby oil! It sounds weird I know, but take a little baby oil on a paper towel and rub it on the surface and it will stay fingerprint free (for a while anyway). I wouldn't recommend this on a stovetop, but on a fridge or dishwasher or oven door, it works great! DH's aunt from Ireland taught us this trick. Hope that helps!

As far as scratches, we've had no problems but we don't have a child old enough to do any damage (6 mo), so I can't really comment.

[egoldber]

We have a stainless steel dishwasher and cooktop. I agree about the cleaning. Its really quite terrible. I love the look, but I'm not sure I'd do it again.

Also, magnets don't work on stainless steel appliances, so if you like to hang stuff on your refrigerator with magnets (think toddler/preschool artwork and alphabet magnets) then you'll have to find another solution.

HTH,

[marinkitty]

Chiming in with my two cents. We have stainless appliances (just the standard GE ones) and lemon oil (like you use on wood furniture) also works great to clean off smudges/fingerprints and keep it looking great. You only need to use a little bit. And on the magnets - regular strength ones don't stick but those little stainless power dot magnets (at Restoration Hardware; CB2 and Containter Store around here) work great. We have tons of pictures on our fridge.

Holly
Mom to Mia (3.17.03)

[peasprout]

If you get a stainless stove, make sure the top of the stove isn't stainless,...it's such a pain to clean!!! I would give anything to have a regular stove that just wipes clean! You really have to scrub the stainless, but if you scrub too hard you may scratch it. The fingerprints don't bother me as much as how hard it is to clean.