I have had the SS appliances. I wont buy them again. I will only have SS sink.

My KA appliances have a brushed SS finish so fingerprints don't show up much. Don't worry about matching - seriously - I have 3 KA appliances and the finish is slightly different on all 3 and different from my DCS range and GE MW. Enjoy your kitchen and 3 year old and don't be anal about fingerprints.

My Samsung fridge has some sort of coating so there are none.

I don't obsess over fingerprints. If someone is coming over, I'll clean, but for everyday use, I don't worry about it and will get them on the weekends. OTOH, our fridge is not SS, so I only have to deal with the stove and DW.

I use Weimans polish/cleaner on our Fridge, Stove, MW, DW about once a week on everything but the stove, I do that usually 2-3 times a week just to keep it looking brand new.

We don't have a 3 year old but I do have my 94 year old mother with us which honestly I think is just as bad if not worse.

Another vote for the Weiman's Stainless polish/cleaner. This is our first home with stainless appliances so I was a little worried too. I'll be honest, until I found the Weiman's I was a little disappointed that we went with stainless when fingerprints started showing up & I couldn't just wipe them off with a soapy cloth. We use the pre-moistened Weiman's wipes for our Samsung fridge, Monogram rangetop, Monogram double ovens & 2- KA dishwashers. They work great, are quick & easy to use and the finish stays clean for ~2 weeks in our house even with a 7-year old son who is always "stahving!" & feels the need to touch everything and a 17 year old son who is in charge of dishes and putting away leftovers in addition to eating us out of house & home. My thought process is--if you're going to have to wipe the appliance down anyway, why not get the finish you want and just use the Weiman's.

Skip all of the oil-based cleaners, polishes, sprays, and creams. They look nice when freshly applied, if applied well and evenly, but many are often a PITA to apply without streaking or smearing, and rarely if ever allow for spot cleaning or t/u's.

Do a search here, in kitchens, or even home dec for alcohol-water spray or just cleaning SS. Since I switched to using that on my SS appliances (after scrubbing off every last trace of the oil-based stuff I had been using), it is super easy to clean and maintain them. I can spritz the cleaner all over OR just where needed for spot cleaning. I wipe dry with a microfiber cloth, though I've used paper towel as well if that's what is closest when I notice a smudge or schmutz on my fridge or stove.

Gave a bottle to my friend when she completed her kitchen last year. She has two boys and is thrilled with how easy it is to keep her appliances looking clean and fingerprint-free.

I use it on my granite and for a quick clean of my range's black burner pans. Stuff is terrific and easy to mix up.

I have four kids under the age of 13 and little by little replaced white with stainless. I think asking how bad fingerprints are is like asking how bad dust is. Everyone has her own threshold for cleanliness - what might annoy someone else wouldn't necessarily annoy me. I have to say, that I didn't regularly clean my white appliances unless something obviously showed - say a sauce dripped onto the oven door, etc. Once in a great while when in a cleaning frenzy, I'd completely wipe down the appliances. Now with my stainless, I probably wipe down the fronts at least once a week. I had the Wieman's wipes but hated the smell - it would linger on my fingers. Now I use the Wiemans spray and a microfiber cloth. I'm not the most anal person in the world, and can deal with a few smudges on the appliances, but if I'm expecting someone and it looks bad, I'll do a quick wipe. Really, it doesn't take any time at all - I consider it as easy as wiping off my counters, something I do multiple times a day (four kids, remember!). I imagine that if you are pretty obsessive about cleanliness, it will probably bother you. But if you tend to overlook the little things, then perhaps it won't bother you.

Cat_mom, did you make the concoction that calls for lavender oil? I was going to try making my own spray, but was shocked when the only lavender oil I could find (at Whole Foods) was like $20 for a tiny bottle. I know a little goes a long way, but I just couldn't bring myself to spend that much on a tiny bottle (of course, I'm sure in the long run, it's really no more expensive than the Wieman's stuff but I wondered if there is somewhere else to get lavender oil at a more reasonable price!).

I use Pledge All-Surface cleaner on my SS when I think about it. Otherwise, I just use a damp microfibre cloth, which works fine 95% of the time. BTW, all my appliances are different brands, but I don't notice any difference in finish. I chose each for function, not to coordinate with the others.

Fourkids4us, yes, I'm the culprit! :-)

I first got lavender oil at a nearby Mrs. Green's mkt for ~$9 or $10 to make a "calming" spray to spray on our bedding before going to sleep (I was having some trouble sleeping), so already had it in the house when I started mixing it in with my alc-water spray. I think the price went up a little there, but I got it at Fairway for around $9-$10 the last time I needed to get more. I've seen it for around that in other local health food/organic shops.

It's a small bottle but it lasts a really long time. I hold the bottle of oil over my spray bottle and the oil comes out in droplets, one by one, so you can really control how much you are adding to your mixture.

Less is more when keeping stainless steel clean looking. I like the alcohol/water spray too because you can spot clean around the handle of the refrigerator. That is the only thing that gets prints. My range gets dirty but a damp cloth and dry cleans it.

Eandhl, you are lucky you only get fingerprints around the handle. My kids sometimes leave handprints on my fridge - don't ask me how! We also have a water dispenser on the exterior and sometimes they'll overfill and it dribbles down the front. For the most part, it doesn't look terrible, but it is definitely more noticeable than with my old white appliances!

I have SS appliances
Miele - no fingerprints!!! They use a special coating
Elux - fingerprints - but no kids and fotunately DH has learned that there is a handle for a reason - so only have to touch up occasionally.
I will have to let you know about my Wolf oven and GE speed oven when installed.

I have a KA architect series 33" french door in my place. it was the first replacement appliance bought for the kitchen. there are only 2 adults around most of the time and a 9 and 16 year old occasionally . Yes it does get some finger prints mostly around the handles and sometimes other places if the door is pushed shut with out the handle.

I will ad another vote for Wienman's cleaner/polish. I use that on it once a week with a microfiber cloth. then keep that cloth handy for touch ups every few days with out spraying more cleaner for just finger prints. I don't try to drive myself mad cleaning it. just a quick wipe when cleaning up the kitchen.

I like the stainless look and don't care if its not perfect 24/7

Thank you everyone for your responses. Now for the followup question: Am I sacrificing quality if I go with the Frigidaire Professional that has the coating to resist fingerprints or are the Frigidaire Professional, GE Profile, and KA Architect lines pretty comparable?

Thanks!

I would say you can get a bad one from any brand. I have bought a little of every brand in some type of appliance, well almost. i have had whirlpool and Frigidaire ranges both good. BTW whirlpool makes KA. I have had Frigidaire, Whirlpool and GE Fridges in places lived all were ok.

I have had GE, Maytag,Frigidaire and Samsung laundry. I am not fond of GE washers.

That all said the Frigidaire fridges seem like they have cheap shelves and drawers until you get to the Gallery line and higher, but once at that level they looked fine from what I seen in my recent shopping. I will say that my KA has drawers that are nice but you can tell they are cheaper made than the ones in the 29 year old fridge I got rid of.....things are not made as well as in the past in some ways. sure they are more stylish and more efficent but some parts are not as strong anymore.

Get one you will be happy with and get an extended warranty if you can get a good deal on that too. I got mine covered for 5 years for $179. at that price one ice maker repair will have in the black on that deal.

Finger prints arnt bad. For us its the water drip marks over the dishwasher front and fridge.

I was given a free bottle of Bayes stainless cleaner and conditioner when I purchased my copper sink from Rachiele. The owner just raved about it and sent it as a surprise gift with my order. Wow! I use it only once a week and it is not greasy and no finger prints! My husband took over the task. He loves to do it. He also uses it on our cooktop which is cast iron gas. Keeps it looking new. There is a trick to using it. A small amount goes a long way. I was told to use a microfiber cloth and just two or three sprays. That does my entire kitchen. After years of fighting with keeping stainless appliances looking good, this was a treat.

Here is a link that might be useful: Stainless cleaner.

Our GE profile fridge shows fingerprints easily -- but our Miele dishwasher (also SS) doesn't as much and they wipe off more easily. The GE is 10 years old, though, and the Miele only a couple of years old, so maybe GE has updated the tech on its SS to improve it.

Have you tried going to the appliance store, casting embarrassment to the wind, and pawing the options you're considering like a little kid to see how they take it? Bonus points if you have a chocolate or lollipop first!