With their sleek designs and smooth finishes, stainless steel appliances look good in nearly any kitchen. However, these appliances really only shine when they are in pristine condition. If you neglect your cleaning or make some common mistakes with your stainless steel appliances, you might find that your once-shiny fridge now has rust that drags down the look of your kitchen. Accordingly, you will want to know how to clean rust off a stainless steel fridge so your appliance can sparkle again. There are a few different methods to remove rust from stainless steel, but one easy option is to use a Scrub Mommy sponge and some Scrub Daddy PowerPaste or Bar Keeper’s Friend and a soft sponge or rag.

All you need to do is apply either the PowerPaste or Bar Keeper’s Friend to a sponge or rag and gently scrub at the rust spots on the fridge. Make sure you scrub with the grain of the stainless steel to help avoid scratching the surface. Then, rinse the surface and examine your work. If the rust did not come off with gentle scrubbing, repeat the process and use a little bit more pressure while scrubbing. Once the rust is gone and you have rinsed the surface, dry it with a soft towel. While you are fixing up your refrigerator, consider finishing the process with the best cleaners to use on stainless steel kitchen appliances for spotless results so your fridge can be back in pristine condition.

Rust can often develop in hard-to-reach areas on your refrigerator, such as around the door and drawer handles. If this is the case, you should know that you can remove the handles and get into those tough areas. Depending on your model of fridge, you can do this by carefully tapping a rubber mallet upwards on the bottom of the handles to pop them out of place, and then slide them out. To return them, you just line them up and carefully tap the mallet on the top of the handle to pop them back down in place. Other models may be a bit more complicated due to screws, but they can often still be accessed for removal. With the handles out of the way, you can easily scrub between the doors and around where the handles typically are and remove all of the rust.

Also, one of the most important things you can do to prevent damage while removing rust is to make sure you follow the specific directions on the product you choose to use. For example, Bar Keeper’s Friend is not meant to be left on any surface for more than one minute, and it is not meant to be used with abrasive sponges. PowerPaste, on the other hand, does not have time restrictions and can be used with an abrasive sponge like the Scrub Mommy. Although the process is not too difficult, you might want to look into cleaning habits to prevent rust and keep stainless steel appliances sparkling, so you do not have to go through the rust-removal process frequently.