Remove/repair mark in stainless fridge door?

zepper · Oct 28, 2014

Hi everybody,

I'm housesitting for some friends with stainless appliances. They warned me not to open the fridge and oven doors at the same time because they were installed too close to each other.

Well, you can probably guess: I forgot about this unusual restriction and opened the fridge to add something to the oven—bam!

There's now a dark mark, about 1/4" wide, on their practically-new Samsung side-by-side (see photo). The mark's a different color from the fridge, so I can't tell if it's actually a scratch, or just some kind of coloration that was transferred from the oven door. I've tried Windex, baby oil, baking soda applied with a Q-tip... but it's still there.

I'm just sick about this. Have any ideas how I may be able to fix it? I'm reasonably handy, so suggest away. Thanks!

nealtw · Oct 28, 2014

No good deed goes unpunished. I think your hooped.

beachguy005 · Oct 28, 2014

You should try some of this. You can get it anywhere. I use it on my stained SS all the time and it works great. Rub with the grain of the finish. Wipe with a few drops of oil. Even olive oil works.

Bar Keepers Friend

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Bar-Keepers-Friend-15-oz-All-Purpose-Cleaner-11584/202290251

slownsteady · Oct 29, 2014

I bet it was there before and you only noticed it when you re-injured it. They had to find out about the conflict somehow.

zepper · Oct 30, 2014

Well, despite the pessimism, I managed to remove the mark. First, I read as much info about stainless finishes as I could find. Then here's what I did:

1. Applied a small amount of cleaning powder for stainless-steel and copper pans to a wet Q-Tip.

2. Gently rubbed the mark with the Q-Tip, going only in the direction of the grain (pattern) of the steel's finishthat is, horizontallytill the mark disappeared.

3. Applied a very small amount of the powder (which is abrasive) to a soft, moist rag; then gently wiped along the grain over the general area where the mark was to smooth out the grain lines as much as possible. (This took the most time and patience.)

4. Used some stainless steel wipes from my supermarket's cleaning-supply department (the resemble baby wipes, but they're for steel) to clean the entire fridge. Following the wipes' instructions, I wiped only in the direction of the grain here, too.

5. With a dry, soft rag, buffed the fridge to remove the wipes' residue and leave a nice sheen.

What a relief. Of course it's much easier not to scrape the fridge in the first placeso that's my best advice. :?)

nealtw · Oct 30, 2014

Good job and thanks for the update.

Remove/repair mark in stainless fridge door?

Help Support House Repair Talk:

zepper

Well-Known Member

nealtw

Contractor retired

beachguy005

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slownsteady

Well-Known Member

zepper

Well-Known Member

nealtw

Contractor retired

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Remove/repair mark in stainless fridge door?

Help Support House Repair Talk:

zepper

Well-Known Member

nealtw

Contractor retired

beachguy005

Well-Known Member

slownsteady

Well-Known Member

zepper

Well-Known Member

nealtw

Contractor retired

Latest posts

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