Let’s get this up front – I am not sponsored in any way by Pledge or SC Johnson. This is a totally unbiased user review by someone who stumbled onto great advice.

I could not keep the stainless appliances looking good

The house I moved into came with new GE appliances. While the French door refrigerator is really pretty, the noise from it is enough to drive me insane so I called GE to have it checked out.

I thought my stainless steel appliances looked terrible. A neighbor had told me a repairman said to use WD40 – I thought that was a gross idea, tried it on a spot and didn’t like the result. I read a blog that suggested all you needed to have gleaming stainless was water and a microfiber cloth. Maybe so, but that method was extremely work intensive and didn’t last 5 minutes. I tried stainless steel cleaners and the appliances still didn’t look nice. It annoyed me every time I walked in the kitchen. I wanted to know how to clean stainless steel appliances!

Anyway — I asked the GE repairman if he had any suggestions for cleaning them. Oh boy, did he.

Pledge on stainless

He asked if I had a can of Pledge. I did. He told me he’d do the right side door of the refrigerator. These were his recommendations for cleaning all your stainless steel appliances. This includes refrigerators, stoves, dishwashers, microwaves, coffee makers, etc. If it has stainless put Pledge on it.

1. I suggest you run your hand over the surface of the appliance before so you know how stainless steel feels without Pledge.
2. For appliances with a large amount of stainless and no glass (refrigerators and dishwashers) put towels down on the floor to protect it from spray. I learned this the hard way when I oversprayed Pledge on hardwood at my previous house and both me and the dogs would almost slip and fall every time we walked on that spot.
3. For smaller appliances and appliances with glass, spray a heavy coating of Pledge on a cloth and apply to the stainless. The other option is to spray Pledge directly on the appliance and spend some time cleaning the Pledge off the glass. I applied it to a cloth.
4. For large appliances: spray Pledge on heavily and swirl it around really getting into the stainless. Allow it to sit for a few minutes to soak in. You don’t need to worry about the grain of the stainless. He suggested wiping it heavily in circles so that it really gets into the surface.
5. Use an old t-shirt to thoroughly remove the heavy coating of Pledge. Again, don’t worry about the grain of the stainless and wipe in circles, changing to clean areas of the cloth until all the Pledge is removed.
6. Now run your hand over the stainless. It feels like satin. It’s wonderful.

After doing this to my refrigerator it was absolutely gorgeous. Best part is that it takes minor touch-ups once a week with Pledge to clean up the splatters from the ice maker/water dispenser in the door and the messy fingerprints on the handles. I live alone and am the only person who cooks in my kitchen – I can’t figure out what idiot keeps grabbing the refrigerator door handles with slop all over their fingers…

Pledge on Corian

The GE guy said Pledge is also great on Corian and did a small area. I have since Pledged the living daylights out of the countertops in the kitchen and both bathes. You really have to feel the surface before and after. There is a rough drag when you pull your fingers across the surface before. When you coat them with Pledge everything slides effortlessly across the surface.

Corian will need to be re-coated more often since you’re constantly wiping your counters down, but it even makes that easier since stuff seems to stay on top of the Pledge. I went hog-wild and did the entire kitchen and both bathrooms. The Corian looks awesome.

I am SO glad I asked the GE repairman the question and really appreciate his information.

Follow up: I’ve been using Pledge to clean my stainless steel appliances for over a month and I’m amazed how clean they are staying and how easy the once a week touch up is to keep them looking great. If my water/ice dispenser on the refrigerator didn’t splatter so much my fridge would look perfect all the time.