Would you pay to have your stainless sink restored?

What did he use to buff and shine it? I’m wondering if the thing that polishes cars will do it -the thing that spins.

As for whether or not I’d do it, my sink is in good shape. I guess a lot would depend on the quality of the sink, the quality of the steel. Also, it would depend on the condition of the countertops. If the countertops are crappy, you may as well just replace the whole thing (tops and sink). If the countertops are in good shape, you’d have to weigh the cost of buffing the sink vs. replacing entire sink.

@jca I have no idea what he used. It was all done by hand the way my husband remembers it. That was going to be my next Q, how to buff out and shine a stainless sink. I googled the Q and saw several possibilities. I’d have to figure it out by trial and error. I wonder if sink installers know how to do it? Seems like an easy side business to start. Buy a few supplies and advertise a little.

I’m betting if someone is replacing the faucet, that would be a good time to restore the sink. Take the faucet out, clean the holes, buff the steel, put in new faucet and it would look like a new sink.

The negative is sinks scratch up fast. You pay to fix it up, and in short time there are new scratches.

Builders are probably the best customer. When they deliver the house everything should be looking shiny and new.

Another possibility is high end rentals, where the landlord would pay to buff it out as part of an overall cleaning.

I swear by Bar Keepers Friend cleaner and polisher and my SS sinks all look amazing.

Thanks!

Bar Keeper’s Friend is good stuff.

I read once that you can also use auto wax on your ceramic sinks. I wonder how it would work on stainless. I am wondering if you took the buffer used to wax cars, and some auto wax (on top of a clean sink), how that would look? I usually clean my stainless steel sink with Comet or Ajax. Nice and shiny!

The biggest hurdle – and the reason you would hire a professional – is an even, consistent finish.

There are numerous how-to’s and videos on Polishing a stainless steel sink.
I would try doing-it-myself before I paid for restoration or replacement. There’s only so much harm you can do.

I don’t think that I’d hire someone specifically for that purpose. I might pay extra to someone for polishing the sink as an above-and-beyond part of a house cleaning. It’s not like having the AC ducts cleaned, which requires special equipment and knowledge to do correctly.

I have a ‘that will do’ attitude to housework so getting my sink professionally polished is not high on my agenda. It would only be dull in a short time. Also my sink was really cheap so I probably would be cheaper to replace it. Which would be wasteful since there is nothing wrong with it. So I would put up with it being less than perfect.

I did spend 10 minutes with some cream cleanser and a cloth this evening after reading this q. Looks nice enough. That’ll do

I’m going to buy some brillo pads and Barkeeper’s Friend today, too. haha.

LOL. I’m glad I inspired everybody. Please report back with your results.

I have tried scouring cleansers with steel wool and though the results are adequate for most cleanup…barkeepers friend for one does a MUCH better job both with scratch removal and the best part is the shine and leaves a water repellent surface that helps prevent water spot buildup. If you are happy with Comet you will be amazed if you ever do use Bar Keepers Friend.

If you are trying to renew your sink I would avoid steel wool or metal fiber scrub pads and just use Scotch Pads.

I wonder what will happen if we use Bar Keeper’s Friend and then some auto wax?

I wonder if you can use rain-x? Instead of the wax.

I have polished grungy chrome fenders on old bicycles by scrubbing with wads of aluminum foil and Barkeepers Friend. The results were surprising.