I use bar keeper's friend on my sink, and it works great.

I now have stainless steel appliances and sink, which seems to be everyone's desire these days. I don't have any rust marks (give me time and thanks for the tip) but white appliances and sink are what make me happy. YOu clean them and they look clean.

Stainless steel is so nice and I love my appliances, but they take a little more work than white. Thanks for the tip. Vinegar seems to be a solution for many household issues.

I thought stainless steel didn't rust?

Bar Keeper's Friend. Changed my life.

Stainless steel doesn't rust. It's the residue from things that DO rust. In my kitchen, that is very often a cast iron skillet that needed to sit in the sink and soak for a bit.
It's common to get rust on stainess that looks like the photo above from cleaning with steel wool because it leaves little particles of itself hanging about.

Barkeepers Friend, my favorite, too. It's oxalic acid which I think is fairly non-toxic...right?

Simple green works great for me.

Coca Cola
A metalurgist told us about it several years ago. My kids used cola to make their bike handbars sparkle. Now imagine what that rust remover does to your insides. Tastes like sweetened shit too!

Mrs. Meyers surface scrub is awesome - I would highly recommend.

Vinegar IS amazing. I keep it next to the sink and use it as the rinse agent in my dishwasher, to disinfect my cutting board, etc.

woah, we TOTALLY might do this to our sink! here at http://www.casacullen.com/ we're ALL ABOUT doing things on the cheap and doing them correctly...this rocks and makes a HUGE difference!!! your before and afters make it so obvious that sometimes we overlook things like this and making this change ACTUALLY makes a huge difference!

hubby was about to get his dremel out and try to use soft pads and basically DRILL it out...this is a much easier recommendation...thanks apt therapy!! - casacullen wife

I think this was posted on apartment therapy somewhere a while ago, but I've used a ton of these vinegar tips.

http://vinegartips.com/

Baking soda is good too....unfortunately I have rust stains on my counter which are much tougher to remove than the sink.

If your stainless steel sink has some grain left, be sure to scrub with the grain.

I will second (actually, third) the BarKeepers Friend suggestion. Find at the grocery store right next to the Comet. Anyone with old fixtures should know about this stuff.

@splatgirl --

If your cast iron cookware needs to be soaked/scrubbed to clean, you haven't seasoned the pan properly.

Once seasoned properly, food shouldn't stick - and you don't scrub out the insides w/ soap & water afterwards either (and you definitely don't let it soak in water) or you'll need to completely re-season the pan.

More info on cast-iron seasoning here:

http://www.wikihow.com/Season-Cast-Iron-Cookware

You can scratch stainless steel badly (which will allow for rust). I second all the postings about Bar Keepers friend, but would suggest you first try a plastic scrubber (the kind wrapped around a sponge) because it will not further abrade the metal.

If this fails, there is always the steel wool.

FYI: If you put a drain grid on the bottom of your sink it will greatly extend the life of the sink and will be very useful for you as well. Custom-fit bottom racks available for newer sinks, generic sized ones for older (bed,bath beyond).

Hi bepsf. I realize that is the popular thinking about cast iron, but in real life, sometimes stuff does still stick no matter how vigilant one is about the care. Mine are seasoned (one with 30 years worth of seasoning), they get a ton of use, and yea, soap is off limits, but artichoke dip cooked in them in my wood-fired oven almost guarantees the need for a little soak time. Or a chisel, but that tends to go badly for both my kitchen knives AND my cast iron. I think it's the acid/cheese combo that makes for stick-age, although I'm sure the 800 degrees helps, too.

I've been using SOS pads for about a hundred years. Is that bad for the sink?

LOVE the home hacks!

Splatgirl, oxalic acid is the mild toxin which makes eating things like rhubarb leaves not so good. It's not an environmental toxin though, which is what you need to be careful about when putting stuff down your drain.

Great tip for removing the rust stains.
Now how do you keep that shine once the stains are gone?
I run a professional maid service and believe it or not, we use baby oil on all stainless steel appliances and sinks. It looks great.

some one wrote "I use bar keeper's friend on my sink, and it works great." What on earth is that? help me out please

I love the happy dance part.