Did You Know That You Can Sand Stainless Steel?

Perhaps I'm the last person on earth to find out about this, but I'm just floored with the amazing results. Our vintage O'Keefe & Merritt gas stove top was original to our home which was built sometime in the 1950's. So, it was always pretty beaten up... Not with dents but with grime and scratches that I couldn't get off no matter how many SOS pads or how much elbow grease I used. Most of the deeper scratches are still there but it still just looks so much better than before.

After 26 years in this house, I began looking at new stove tops and nearly swallowed my tongue when I saw the outrageous prices. So, I had to come up with another plan. Luckily, I stumbled across a blog called "The Life of CK and Nate".



In this particular blog post, they outlined what they did with their stainless steel stove top, as well as what worked and what didn't work. Since I usually make a lot of mistakes before getting something right, it was a relief to have found a tutorial that saved me from those many mistakes.



I've been working on the stove top and indoor grill for a week now and and honestly, it almost looks new, so I set my attention to sanding our double sinks too.

The trick is finding the grain direction of the stainless steel and only sanding in that same direction.



The stainless steel might not actually look new but it certainly looks better than it did before. These activities also afforded me some much needed exercise for my arms, which are painfully screaming at me today.



Don't you just love it when really hard physical labor pays off in the end? This is a great way to breathe new life into old stainless steel appliances, so don't be afraid to give it a try.