It's called "patina".

Going forward, use a regular sponge and Barkeepers Friend to clean your sink. There is a Pro who posts frequently on this forum Joseph Corlett who has mentioned how to buff out scratches. Try doing a search for his comments on how to do it.

The thing is, all stainless steel will scratch. You could buff out scratches now, and get a scratch tomorrow. It is the nature of stainless steel. May as well embrace the patina as Sushipup said.

I too need Joe’s expertise here

Sink brand and model please

You can refinish stainless steel with a random orbital sander and a progressively finer abrasive protocol, however, I'm thinking that if you got scratches from a sponge, you may be getting too fussy for stainless.

The first few scratches on a stainless sink always look terrible. Give it a few months, then all the scratches come together to form patina and you won’t even notice them!

Thanks! It does look pretty bad can see all the circle of scratches. I think it’s so upsetting bc we just remodeled it wasn’t a cheap piece and only have had the sink a short time so it is a shock.

Use the sponge on the rest of the sink too. Stainless gets that blending of scratches that doesn’t allow any one scratch to stand out. Look at it in a month after ignoring it for now.

backstroae, I’m in the same boat that you are. We are still in the process of remodeling our kitchen and my brand new ZLINE hood range has a mist of tiny rust spots all over it. My heart sank when I saw it. I researched how to get the rust off and now I have a million tiny scratches. It wasn’t the most expensive hood but it wasn’t cheap either. I’m so disgusted now. I had waited so long for this remodel and I’m so bummed this happened.

Kim:

Your problem isn't a million tiny scratches, it's a million tiny inconsistent scratches. Use a random orbital sander with a red Scotchbrite please.