I have ss counters, hood, and range. I usually wash them with dish soap and then wipe them dry with a dish towel or microfiber cloth if I want them to look nice. If I want the hood clean, I have to bump it up to PineSol because I don't reach up there often enough and it gets bad. I'll also use Windex when it's handy. Bleach if I feel something calls for it (raw meat goo on the counter). (No, not together.)

If you think your appliances might have some sort of protective coating, you might want to be more careful, but my ss is plain old stainless steel so I clean it like I would a frying pan or garbage can...

I don't use polish. That seems like a lot of work. :P

Yes, like Fori I only use dish detergent, or a little alcohol/water blend. My SS appliances are more budget level and I don't think my appliances are "fingerprint resistant" but I don't seem to have an issue with that.

It seems to me that wiping any kind of oil or polish on a non-absorbent surface would make it more prone to fingerprints and smudges beyond normal everyday dirt.

Stainless steel is an alloy containing (among other metals) iron, chromium (minimum 10%), manganese, and usually nickel. It doesn't rust because the surface quickly oxidizes into a VERY thin stable layer and protects the underlying metal from further corrosion.

I use Barkeepers Friend (non-abrasive "scouring" powder) occasionally to refresh the surface. It contains oxalic acid which cleans away the oxidized layer, removing smudges, water "stains" and such. The oxidized layer quickly reforms afresh and gleams like new.

Not a fan of the WD-40 smell, so I'll have to pass on that. I'm sure it probably does clean well, but I still have to wonder about the oily residue that's left behind attracting fingerprints and dust.

I finally found in the Whirlpool manual that they recommend Affresh, which I think is their own branded cleaner. I don't see it listed in any stores locally, so would have to order it from Amazon. It gets decent reviews.

Dadoes - I did use some Barkeep to do the initial clean, but it took forever to get rid of the residue. Do you just keep rinsing with a damp cloth until it's gone?

I don't have trouble with rinsing. Maybe I use light dose of it. I rinse twice with a cloth wrung just to the edge of dripping, then dry with an old bath towel.

I use Norwex cloths to clean our SS fridge. I have no affiliation with the company, but am obsessed with their cloths. They are like the Mercedes of microfibre. I wipe down with a wet cleaning cloth and then rub once or twice with their purple polishing cloth. Takes less than 1 minute.

https://norwex.com/ 

Just a note on WD-40. It may clean well (never tried it for that), but it was invented to perform the function of a water displacing coating for just machined metals -- a job it is excellent at. I believe its original source was Rockwell or Lockheed Burbank. The original is a rather poor lubricant, although recently the name has been co-opted to apply to a range of chemicals, and my comment only applies to the original.

I think Barkeeper's Friend works well as a polish, and I use one of the automotive body shop MetalPrep-type solutions (phosphoric acid based) for the extremely rare case of an otherwise unremovable fingerprint donated at the factory.

Thanks, daisychain01! I will definitely check them out.

I only use the stainless steel wipes and a microfiber cloth. Works like a charm.

I don't know about cleaning with WD-40, but wiping down with an oily rag and then wiping clean is supposed to make the surface show fewer smudges. I haven't tried it, myself. I think someone I know uses the kind of mineral oil you put on your butcher block.

Before getting a SS fridge, I used Weiman's SS Wipes on my SS cooktop, hood, and wall oven, successfully cleaning up cooked on messes on the cooktop (albeit with some time to let the wipe soak into the bad spots). But they left the fridge very streaky.

I tried WD40 which did work but I sure didn't like the smell in the confines of the kitchen.

Then, based on one of those 10-yr-old threads I think, I tried the Weiman's SS Spray Polish and that worked great! My fridge does NOT have an anti-smudge coating so YMMV.

1. Spray the polish directly on a small portion of the fridge (which for me is, in turn, each door and drawer in my French door-two drawer fridge)

2. Wipe completely with a microfiber towel before the spray dries.

3. Wipe again with a dry microfiber towel and voila!

Hope this helps!