Good news: Suzy’s midcentury house included a bathroom with a Nutone recessed fold-down bathroom scale. Bad news: It was all pitted and icky from exposure to moisture and who know what else over the years. Happy ending: Suzy used Liquid Stainless Steel to repaint the piece, inside and out — and it looks great!
I often get questions out how to clean up pitted and rusty chrome. I am not an expert on minor, topical repairs to freshen up chrome, but I think some readers — and Kate — have been successful with some of the products out there.
Re-chroming — real-deal rechroming — is super expensive, I’ve been told.
And to further complicate, I tend to think: Not many bathroom hardware back in the day was stainless steel — chrome finishes were the go-to.
All said… for some products … like a Nutone built-in bathroom scale, which *may* have come in stainless steel originally, or which is so large that it really needs its nice finish, I think that this liquid stainless steel might be a great solution.
Susy used LSS Liquid Stainless Steel:
Thanks, Suzy, for letting me show your photos! The revitalized scale looks great!
Wendellyn Plummer says
I checked out the product on amazon.com’s web site. There was a very informative, step by step explanation by a user, even pictures! I am considering this process for a dishwasher I have, that does not match the rest of my appliances. I would suggest, like the person on amazon did, be patient!
Suzy says
Thanks for the lovely comments. I had originally taken the wall scale completely apart and spray painted a Rustoleum silver tone. I didn’t like the end result and the paint scratched off too easily. I decided to give this liquid stainless steel a try. I only did a partial disassemble this time, I just cleaned it really well & followed the directions. I loved the results as did my husband and it has not scratched off. I plan to use the liquid stainless steel on a vintage brown stove hood vent that I kept from my childhood home to match with my vintage stainless cooktop & vintage stainless double wall oven.
Scott says
Having owned a series of vintage cars, I can verify that real deal re-chroming is super expensive, but it’s based on the size of the item, so might not be as bad as you would imagine. If you can find a local or regional re-chroming (look for automotive businesses) it might work best to take the item in for a look see, to ensure the item can be replated and find out exactly how much it will cost.
That being said, I’m super excited to find out about liquid stainless as sometimes you need the less bright finish. There are also very convincing looking chrome paints now, some come in a two-part formulation.
Carolyn says
I don’t know if the guys on “Woodsmith Shop” used this but they did paint plywood to look like metal to create another horizontal workspace on the lathe table. I read the reviews on this product which highly recommends not only cleaning your work surfaces but rough it up a little for better adhesion. Seriously, if you like your current appliances and they work well, why not paint them stainless? You can always re-paint a different color! I’d rather spend $100 and time using this paint than thousands for new appliances I don’t particularly like – new fridges come to mind. I don’t have long baboon arms to reach in the back for things and I’m not that keen on glass shelves.
I like that readers contribute to this blog – sometimes we just don’t see things that are staring us right in the face!
Pam Kueber says
I LOVE that readers contribute to this blog!
Nikki says
Oh WOW!! This is just what I needed to find for my condo. There are metal “stainless steel look” frames above my sliding closet doors and this will work beautifully!
Thanks Suzy for the information and the pictures!
Cynthia says
Looks great. As for how a way to restore chrome, I used automotive chrome polish (it was a white cream in a plastic bottle from the auto parts store) applied with a rag and then rubbed off and polished by hand – on a chrome table base that was rusted and pitted from the salt air in South Florida. It was restored to “like new” condition, smooth and shiny. It’s wonderful to see something come back to life.
Edward says
That’s what I do, then I go over it with good car wax.
Jeff H says
I had wondered about this stuff– will definitely try it now.
Laura says
Wow, this looks great. I wonder if Suzy could give us a step by step of how she achieved this result? Wire brush, steel wool? I’m sure instructions are in the package but would love to know her process.
Karin says
I have never heard of this product. If Suzy’s pictures are any indication, it is definitely something I will be researching. Up to now, I’ve had varying degrees of success with metallic paints.
Janet in ME says
Great suggestion! It looks great now. My first house circa 1958 had a stainless steel wall oven and cooktop. They always looked all smeary. I was telling my mother-in-law how discouraged I got trying to clean them up and she told me to use baby oil. You just wipe it on and then buff it to remove most of it. It was wonderful getting the fingerprints off. I passed this on to a friend in her new house and she was thrilled also. It won’t help pits of course, but will make stainless look much cleaner.
Carol says
WD40 works great on raw stainless steel. I don’t know about using it indoors though. It is very slick and hard to remove from surfaces like flooring. One could spray a rag outside and bring inside to use. It cleans and shines great.