5 Best Stainless Steel Cleaners of 2026, Evaluated and Reviewed

To test eight stainless steel cleaners, including wipes, liquid sprays, and aerosol cans by popular brands like Bar Keepers Friend, Weiman, and Zep, we soiled half the side of stainless steel refrigerators and dishwashers in our labs with mixtures of flour and water and vegetable oil fingerprints. We left the debris on these surfaces for 3 hours, and then followed the directions on each product to see how well they cleaned and polished.

To ensure consistent results, we used Comet Microfiber Cloths to clean and buff each surface. The one exception was Bar Keepers Friend Stainless Steel & Polish, which comes with its own microfiber cloth. For this one, we cleaned it with both the Comet cloth and the included cloth to see if a different cloth made any difference. In addition to performance reviews of each product, this article includes information and safety ratings from our partner, SkinSafe, an organization that uses Mayo Clinic data to evaluate overall product safety, potential for irritation, and allergenicity. SkinSafe scores products based on the presence of the 11 most common allergens: The higher the score, the fewer allergens a product contains. The highest possible score is 100.

Tip: When cleaning stainless steel, always wipe in the direction of the metal’s natural grain. Then buff the surface with a clean, dry cloth. Avoid using steel wool or abrasive scrub pads. They can scratch the surface, making it more susceptible to moisture damage. In addition, tiny steel wool particles can become lodged in the stainless steel finish, where they may eventually rust and cause staining.