Barkeeper’s Friend. Followed by Pledge to repel the water.

Try mineral oil.

I love my black and white appliances.

I second Barkeeper’s, scrub with the grain, but do not leave on too long - it is an acid based cleanser.

Stainless steel is the worst. I see a shadow of every stain I ever had on my frig. I’ll switch to white as my appliances die (I already got a beautiful KA white dishwasher).

More excited cleaning paste. It has cleaned up every stain on our KA fridge

dchall_san_antonio that's nice for you.

@daisychain Zn3b thanks! Do you mean Norwex? I googled and couldn't find anything for more excited cleaning paste.

@emilyam819 I had this in our last house for five years with zero issues! I assume it'd be the same with our new house/new fridge. Our other appliances are all smudge-proof and hold up great to fingers and water, but this size fridge didn't offer the smudge proofing. Ah well. The new cafe line looks great though, so does the white KA appliances - they just didn't go with our kitchen remodel.

@User @ulisdone thanks! ordered some and fingers crossed it works!!

That's hilarious. Yes, before autocorrect, it was Norwex. Good luck.

@daisychain Zn3b haha, no worries happens all the time. Thank you! Picking some up to hopefully get this out!

Try Dawn and hot water. That’s what we’ve always used.

https://dawn-dish.com/en-us/how-to-clean/stainless-steel-appliances

I second the Weiman stainless steel wipes. When you wipe it on you will see the streaks and/or smudges that you are trying to remove but as you wipe it off with a clean soft cloth all those marks disappear. One wipe is enough to do both the fridge, microwave and wall oven. The wipes work great for cleaning stuff that gets spilled on my cooktop but for that I sometimes have to use a couple wipes and some “elbow grease”

@badgergal thanks! We use Weiman spray but it didn’t make a difference. It’s like this hurt the finish or something.

I would not use anything abrasive like a magic eraser.

Caroline, hope the Norwex works for you. I did find from by experience that the Weiman‘s Spray did not work well on my appliances. but the wipes do.

If all the usual cleaning methods fail, then that's a strong indication that this isn't just grime on the surface, but instead it is corrosion. Contrary to popular believe, stainless steel isn't stain proof; it is merely stain resistant. Some chemicals can cause it to rust. And one of those chemicals is kitchen salt. If you wipe it off right away, there won't be any harm. But if you let salt water evaporate, then there is a good chance it could cause your appliance to develop a small amount of rust.

In that situation, detergents aren't going to help one bit. Abrasive cleaners like "Magic Eraser" will eventually show results. But you are likely to damage the grain doing so. I don't suggest using an abrasive cleaner on stainless steel. While it is possible to restore the grain, it requires a lot of elbow grease and experience and is just generally a big pain.

But rust removers will work fine in this situation. And the most readily available rust remover is Barkeeper's Friend. It is a combination of a rust remover and a mild abrasive. So, I suggest you apply a little bit, let it sit for a few minutes, and then gently rub with the grain the remove the rust stains. Then wash off with water and protect the surface with a good stainless cleaner such as Bayes or Sheila Shine.

Do not let Bar Keeper's Friend sit on the steel surface for a really long time. It can actually have the reverse effect and cause stains. Just give it a small number of minutes to react. That should be all you need.

I found that stainless steel cleaners leave a film on the appliances and then when you wipe off dirt you take off the film and have to wash the entire appliance with soap and water. Then re apply the cleaner. I also think that when the appliance (my Fridge & dishwasher) is new it has a finish on it that makes it hard to get rid of those horrible water drips. Now that my appliances are 3 + years, it is easier to get those drips off with soap and water. I do use the Weiman's stainless steel spray. I spray a paper towel and wipe it on appliance. Then I use a microfiber cloth to wipe off residue. It's a PITA. I also encourage (nag) the males in my family to use handles on all appliances.

Our contractor actually recommended WD40 for all the stainless. I used it initially, and it worked, but didn't like the idea of it and switched to the Weiman stainless steel wipes. I use them on the ovens, stove, fridge and even the espresso machine. They're fantastic.

My refrigerator and dishwasher (Kitchen Aid and Bosch) stained and marked horribly when new. After several months the stains disappeared. I think appliances are factory coated with something that eventually wears off.

One nice benefit of my fanatical covid-19 cleaning is that I discovered that a 50/50 mix of rubbing alcohol and water in a spray bottle does an amazing job cleaning stainless steel. It really cuts the grease and doesn’t leave any residue. Seems to work much better than my stainless cleaner.

I had stains just like yours and someone here suggested using Scrubbing Bubbles... low and behold it took them right off. I went behind with Weiman wipes then buffed with a microfiber cloth.

I tried the weiman wipes on my fridge and that didnt work.