Hi, folks -

Wondering if anybody out there has any good ideas on how to restore the finish to the surface of a stainless steel appliance. I have a new stainless steel trash compactor under a butcher block counter. We had the countertop refinished, and unfortunately the person who did it wasn't careful when they were sanding with an orbital sander and also got part of the trash compactor door.:mad: It's not so bad that we want to replace the whole unit, but we'd like to find a way to restore the finish if possible. Any suggestions? Thanks!

If the marks caused by the sander are not all that deep, and your steel does have some type of very fine grain to it (very fine lines in one direction in the finish as opposed to it being a glossy surface with no lines of any kind) then I would try some 240 grit fine sandpaper followed by an abrasive cleanser and a new green ScotchBrite pad. Maybe even some 0000 steel wool after that using water as a lubricant.

I would work everything in the same direction as the grain. You may have to work the steel wool into a larger area in order to get a blended appearance.