Stains on stainless steel cookware?
 

Hey I recently got a new set of stainless steel knifes and pans. Well on the knifes I have noticed that little stainlike dots show up, and even after scrubbing with hot soap and water the dots stay on. The same with one of my new pans. The inside of the pan has waterspot like marks on the inside of it. After 10 minutes of scrubbing with a sponge the spots are STILL there. This is driving me nuts. I slow heated the pan like the instructions said to, I cleaned it how it said to.

Is there a way to clean off these stains without having to result to measures that would mess up the knifes and pans and what is causing these stains to even show up? I thought they were suppose to be stainless. :crazy:

There's this stainless steel cleaner my wife has that takes care of it. A quality cookware store should have it. I don't know exactly what the causes of spotting and such are, but in pots at least some of it is going to be mineral residue from tap water, especially if you do a lot of boiling.

I always assumed that "stainless" just meant "rustless."

Ah that would make sense. The water in my area is horrid.

Stainless Steel cleaner did the job. Thanks. :D

I'm a big fan of Bar Keeper's Friend for cleaning cookware. And, remember, the word "stainless" is misleading as it actually means it's highly RESISTANT to stains and rusting, but it can certainly still happen and is not uncommon in the case of minor water stains.

A common source of those dots you saw is pitting caused by excessing exposure to salt. If you cook with your stainless frequently then remember to soak, rinse and drain your cookware thoroughly. Letting soak water stand in it in cases where you have used salt will cause pitting and the appearance of that white dotting that you observed. Hope this helps...

yea, salt will do a number on stainless, and ditto on the Bar Keeper's Friend best cleaner for stainlees I've found

Yeah, Bar Keeper's friend rules for cleaning stains off of steel.

I've heard that Klean King is also really good for that sort of thing, though I've never used it.