A tip for your oven between heavy cleanings

If you're going to cook something that will leave your oven a mess, put a baking sheet on the bottom rack of your oven. This will make it so the mess falls in the cookie sheet. You can wash it instead of the whole oven! The clean up a lot easier!

For more helpful tips like these

Call us at

208-344-6700

Visit us at

www.expressapplianceid.com

Stop by at

609 N. Orchard, Boise

Business hours:

M-F: 8-6; Sat 8-5

Protect-N-Shine is a great product that prevents smudges, fingerprints, and build up on your appliances. Watch their demonstration video!

If you have any questions,

Call us at
208-344-6700

Visit us at
www.expressapplianceid.com

Stop by at
609 N. Orchard, Boise

Business hours:
M-F: 8-6; Sat 8-5

Fixing Dented Stainless Steel

How to Remove a Dent from a Stainless Steel Refrigerator

Refrigerators made from stainless steel can often become dented when they reside in a busy restaurant kitchen or a busy home. Although a dent may not affect the performance of a refrigerator, it can usually cause a refrigerator to become unattractive, especially since dents in stainless steel are more noticeable due to the metal's reflective and shiny properties. A dent can be removed from a stainless steel refrigerator using a hair dryer and dry ice. Continue reading this article to learn about the dent removal procedure.

Clean the dented area of your refrigerator.

Cleaning the affected section will allow you to see the dent clearly, and will prevent any dirt, food particles, and other elements from negatively affecting the dent removal procedure.

Use a soft cloth, rag, or paper towels to remove any existing grime from the dented section of the refrigerator.

Heat up the perimeter of the dented area.

Use a hair dryer for between 30 seconds and 1 minute. The purpose of using the hair dryer is to heat up the metal so that it expands slightly. Use the hair dryer's medium or warm setting to avoid overheating the metal.

Place thick, heavy-duty gloves on both of your hands.

The gloves will protect you from injuries such as frostbite when handling the dry ice

Wrap a piece of dry ice in a soft, suede cloth.

The suede cloth will protect your stainless steel refrigerator from any scratches during the application of the dry ice.

Gently press the bundle of dry ice to the center of the dented area.

Then, rub the dry ice gently in a circular motion over the entire perimeter of the affected area. Continue to rub over the dented area until 1 full minute has passed.

Cease rubbing the dry ice over the dent on the refrigerator. The dent will pop out and disappear within seconds after the application of the dry ice

Repeat all steps using the hair dryer and dry ice if the dent is not removed from your stainless steel refrigerator after the first try. The rapid change in temperature from using the hair dryer to applying the dry ice should cause the dent to eventually pop out.

How to clean Stainless Steel Appliances

Just like wood, steel also has a grain. These are the very faint striations that can be found on the surface of your appliance. An entire sheet of steel will have the same direction grain. That said, an appliance will usually have other steel pieces attached, such as handles and knobs. These other pieces may have a different direction grain, so make sure you are aware of this.

Will your appliance be ruined if you do not clean in the direction of the grain? Nope. Nothing dramatic will happen! Only that If you wipe perpendicular to the grain, more cleaning residue (mixed with any grime already on the steel) may get deeper into the tiny little crevices of the grain. For optimal shininess, its best to go with the grain. This rule applies to any cleaning agent you use on any piece of stainless steel.

What you'll need

• 2 non-abrasive cleaning rags. I went with 100% cotton because it has almost absolutely no residual lint. However, in the past, I have used run-of-the-mill paper towels, which worked ok (they do leave some lint)
• Dish soap. Here I used "Dawn"
• Baby oil or any mineral oil
• Stained steel

Cleaning

Mild and quite loveable, dishsoap is amazing in fighting grime off dishes...and appliances! Who knew? This step will clean excess oils off the steel, and make polishing much more enjoyable!

1. Apply a small amount to your cleaning rag. Rinse with a small amount of water, just enough to make your rag damp
2. Wipe along the grain line of your appliance. For extra stubborn fingerprints, you may need to go over the area a few times. 
3. When thoroughly finished cleaning an area, dry any water marks with a dry towel.

Polishing

This is the rewarding part. 

1. Put a *small* amount of mineral oil or baby oil on your second rag. Really, a couple of drops will be more than sufficient!
2. Similar to cleaning, follow the grain of your steel, and move in either direction. 
3. Polishing the steel in this way will give you optimal results.

You're done! Enjoy your shiny appliance!

Have Super Looking Stainless Steel Appliances!

Ahhhh, stainless steel.  You look marvelous.

However, scratch up stainless steel, and your cool-looking appliance will quickly look much cheaper.

What's the best way to clean stainless steel?

Although Martha Stewart says, "Try Windex,"  we beg to differ. Online comments frequently say that Windex tends to leave streaks on your SS.  Oil-based products also tend to build-up on SS surfaces.

One cleaner does have a squeaky-clean reputation among scores of stainless steel enthusiasts: BarKeeper's Friend.

To use it, simply apply this cleanser onto a clean, damp rag and wipe along the stainless steel grain.  Then use another towel to remove the residue.

One online commenter said, "a metal cleaner/polish like Barkeeper's Friend made all the streaks, smudges, fingerprints disappear."  Another said, "It looked even better than when it was new."