The area that was covered by the film has not had a chance to oxidize. (also sometimes the film or tape removes some surface oxidation.)

Clean the full surface and then wipe down with a mineral oil based stainless steel conditioner/cleaner. The SS will blend to match in the next couple weeks.

Jakvis,

Many thanks for the suggestion.

The problem with that is that if applying a stainless steel conditioner does not work, I will be out of the retailer's return period after several weeks of waiting for the oxidation to occur and the surfaces to match.

Also, apparently this is not normal as the Bosch representative told me that "frankly, I have never seen one like that".

BTW, the Bosch customer dis-service solution to all this after making me wait for 2 and a half days was essentially the same as yours - they would send me some cleaning wipes as a "goodwill gesture". They didn't care that I found that lacking.

I forgot to mention that I already DID try cleaning the entire surface with warm water and mild dish soap and there was no change in the appearance,

As I said it will take a couple weeks to even out the oxidation. This is not completely unusual but it does fix itself.
I'm only saying this based on my 30+ years in the appliance business and seeing a lot of stainless steel over the last 15 years since it exploded in popularity.
Sometimes I see where the tape marks are visible on SS and sometimes I see situations like yours. But given a little time it all disappears.. If they order a new panel for you most likely it will have the same pattern when the protective covering is peeled off. Unfortunately most people don't realize this.
Bosch is a stand up company and if you still have this shiney strip they will take care of it even a month down the road. I've seen them take care of customers well outside their warranty.
If you've called them make sure they have a file for you and tell them you will call back in a month if the panel hasn't changed.

Jakvis,
I have the same exact problem going on, same model etc. It was installed two weeks ago. Two days after instal I went to the place I purchased and the first thing they asked me was, "did you take the plastic off?", the installer must have taken it off I replied. I did notice a Bosch on display, different model with a small difference in color on the door and pointed it out to them. They asked me to take pictures and bring them in. So the following week I did take in pictures, they look just like yours. I was than advised to call Bosch and they would also call them. The Monday after I did call Bosch and they than sent me a email requesting copy of my receipt and pictures, which we did send. No response back yet so we are going to call them again today. I will let you know if we hear anything.

We installed a Bosch vent hood just last weekend. For various reasons, it had been sitting in our dining room since June. The blue plastic covered up most of it, but not the part right in the middle where the name is. When we peeled the plastic off, the difference was very apparent and very "in your face," as it was at eye level. I rubbed it a bit with a microfiber cloth and it didn't change. At Home Depot the next day, I got the stainless cleaner they recommended (Magic is the brand name) and as soon as I wiped it across the hood, it was all the same color. Don't know how analogous this is to your dishwasher situation, but thought I'd mention it.

I had remembered reading years ago that if an appliance is real stainless steel a magnet will not stick to it. We've had a ss fridge for years, magnet did not stick, ss oven, magnet did not stick, now the ss Bosch dishwasher -it stuck to it -really good! Now what, is it not even real stainless steel?

Lori

Do you think it will stay the same color or will the difference become apparent again when the cleaner wears off? I guess what I'm asking is do you think the oil in the cleaner permanently changed the color of the steel or are you going to have to refresh it periodically?

Hard to say for sure, but it seemed more like it was removing a slight discoloration rather than adding anything, if that makes sense. It certainly all looks the same after 5 days, but that's not very long. I actually wasn't worried about it changing back, which is why I wanted to chime in. Of course, I could be wrong!

Lori,

Thanks so much ! I am going to get some Magic and try it out (like the sound of that) . I'll let you know how it works.

So I just got done using the Magic spray cleaner and thought it looked great - everything SEEMED to blend together. After applying and buffing it I decided to see if the change was permanent and washed the stainless down with warm water and mild dish soap and guess what, we're back to a two toned panel ladies and gents. As I suspected, petroleum distillates do not permanently alter stainless. So we are back to Bosch replacing the panel.

Dang! Sorry to hear that. Guess I won't be washing my hood then...

Barkeeper's Friend, then your choice of stainless cleaner. It WILL match over time as they two sections come together. It's not instantaneous for the two sections to even out, but it WILL even out. (And I'm only the 3rd person with 30 years experience telling you this. ) The cleaner does disguise the temporary mismatch until that happens, and the BKF helps as a polishing compound to even it out.

Well it's silly that they packaged it like that to cause the problem in the first place. My. Bosch is a different model but looks exactly the same, and it came with one solid film over the whole front panel. No excuse to cause the customer concern and have them hope the problem goes away over time, IMO.

Bar Keeper's Friend, yes.ÃÂ I used the "oily"-type SS cleaners for a while until I figured out they aren't so good.ÃÂ Scrubbed my SS appliances with BKF, got all the oily residue off, they look much better.

Be sure to rub gently and ONLY in the direction of any polishing marks or grain on your SS surfaces.

This post was edited by dadoes on Fri, Oct 11, 13 at 9:11

Oxidation, Tarnish, Patina, Different words for the same thing.
The metal exposed to air while the d/w is in warehouses or storge will tarnish diffently than the metal covered by the film. Once the film is peeled off and given a little time the the finish evens out to be all the same.

As to "fake" Stainless Steel ???
There are many different grades of stainless steel.
Austenitic SS - 14 common grades
Ferrittic SS - 5 common grades
Martensitic SS - 7 common grades
Duplex SS - 3 common grades

304 and 430 are the most common grades of stainless steel used in the appliance industry with 430 being from the Ferrettic type

After talking with a collegue he mentioned using a ammonia and water solution to wipe down a SS surface to even out the oxidation and then wiping it down wirh mineral oil.

This post was edited by jakvis on Fri, Oct 11, 13 at 14:28

Jakvis, here's what our's looked like. Amazingly it has gotten better over the last several days. I have used Weiman's Stainless Steel cleaner & polish which may have helped even out the color differences. (?) Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.

Renovation ronnie,

Your panel looks very similar to ours. Our retailer fought with Bosch over this and has ordered a new dishwasher for us so we can swap it out. They wanted to replace the whole thing rather than try to find an installer to swap out just the panel.

Re some of the other suggestions by people, I would not use barkeepers friend on any stainless after reading a review from someone who claimed it ruined their Jenn-aire cooktop.

The onus is not on you or I to fix it. The dishwasher as delivered was defective and the manufacturer should make it right. Bosch is penny wise and pound foolish in handling this the way they have. Thank god my retailer backed me up on this.