Stainless-steel

Whether residue or paint caused the problem, it's easy to remove.

Once the sink is clean and dry, you can add a few drops of olive oil or mineral oil to a lint-free cloth and buff the sink until it shines. However you clean or whatever you use to scrub, keep the sink looking its best by rinsing the metal well, then wiping it dry with a soft cloth or a microfiber cloth, so water doesn’t linger and begin to form a mineral crust. Chromium at the surface combines with oxygen in the air or water and forms a protective layer of chromium oxide. [Quick Shine deep cleaner](https://www.quickshinefloors.com/shop/hardwood-floors/quick-shine-deep-cleaner-and-wax-remover), could also do that if someone dumped a bucketful of mop water in a sink and didn’t clean up the splashes. If someone repeatedly sprayed one of these products on a cleaning cloth or mop in the sink and didn’t rinse and wipe off the sink thoroughly, the spatters could leave a stubborn residue. Shards of steel wool can break off and become lodged in the grain lines. The Quick Shine deep cleaner is ammonia-free, but it’s what Thompson called “an amine-based product — in the ammonia family but without the ammonia smell.” Or she suggested using Windex Original ($4.99 for a 23-ounce bottle at But chlorine bleach, which is found in numerous cleaning products, breaks the bonds in the chromium oxide layer, allowing oxygen to reach the steel and form iron oxide, or rust. “Let the cleaner sit for a good two minutes,” Thompson said, then scrub and rinse. Once she saw the pictures you sent and consulted with a technical expert at the company, she emailed to say that she was sure it was not caused by a floor finish. Joni Thompson, who has that role at Holloway House, which makes the Quick Shine floor-care products, heard a description of your problem and said the deposits might be residue from a floor-maintenance product designed to leave a shiny finish or to strip a shiny finish. Q: My former cleaning lady put something in my stainless-steel sink to clean the floors.