Can old electric stove dirty and mark my new pots and pans?

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Stainless steel is a sort of misnomer,
as many things will cause it to change colour.
Heat is one of those things.
 
It is completely normal. You could polish it away using a number of enviro-friendly methods like baking soda or use commercial polishers. The above post is incorrect. Stainless steel is not a misnomer. It does exactly that. It is more stain resistant/stains less less than non-stainless steels but it is not stain-free. Stain-free would be a misnomer but people often get them muddled and are surprised when their stainless items don't maintain a pristine appearance.
 
tripleq said:
It is completely normal. You could polish it away using a number of enviro-friendly methods like baking soda or use commercial polishers. The above post is incorrect. Stainless steel is not a misnomer. It does exactly that. It is more stain resistant/stains less less than non-stainless steels but it is not stain-free. Stain-free would be a misnomer but people often get them muddled and are surprised when their stainless items don't maintain a pristine appearance.
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Not trying to be rude but are you sure you know what "misnomer" means? You are saying that HRC is incorrect, that stainless steel is not a misnomer then go on to say that it stains??? If something is called stainless and it stains then it is a misnomer.
 
OliverNuther said:
Not trying to be rude but are you sure you know what "misnomer" means? You are saying that HRC is incorrect, that stainless steel is not a misnomer then go on to say that it stains???
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Yes, a misnomer is a wrong or inaccurate designation. HRC_64 is saying that stainless is a misnomer because many things will cause it to change colour. Staining on stainless steel is absolutely normal because it is stainless and not stain-free. Get it? Stain-less. Not stain-free. Stainless is not a misnomer because is does stain even if it is stain resistant - again, not stain-free. Stainless is NOT a misnomer when describing the properties of stainless steel. So yes, he/she is absolutely wrong. Stainless implies resistance to stains - not invincibility to stains.
 
Depends how much you want to play semantics with English.

Tripleq is correct. Stainless steel was never created to be totally stain resistant. It stains less than carbon steels. The amount of resistance offered depends on the composition.

But i have seen marine grade 316ss develop tea spot staining very quickly in the right location.
 
If you are going to use "less" as a qualifier as in stains less than other materials then the "less" needs to be hyphenated or separated by a space. "Less" as in "stainless" is an absolute as in free from stain or without stain. So "stainless" is absolutely a misnomer.
 
OliverNuther said:
If you are going to use "less" as a qualifier as in stains less than other materials then the "less" needs to be hyphenated or separated by a space. "Less" as in "stainless" is an absolute as in free from stain or without stain. So "stainless" is absolutely a misnomer.
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Well said. Other examples include "costless" and "childless".
 
OliverNuther said:
If you are going to use "less" as a qualifier as in stains less than other materials then the "less" needs to be hyphenated or separated by a space. "Less" as in "stainless" is an absolute as in free from stain or without stain. So "stainless" is absolutely a misnomer.
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I was using hyphen to demonstrate a point (as many trusted resources do when trying to clear up confusion about this term). You can look at any definition of stainless steel or or consult any manufacturer you wish. No one claims or defines stainless steel to be impossible to stain. Stainless steel is a steel which is resistant to staining but not impervious to it. If producers, sellers and metallurgists define it as such I'm not going to disagree. Stainless is not a misnomer. When they invent a steel that cannot be stained and call it stainfree steel that won't be a misnomer either.
 
Apart from you are relying on consistent and pure application of the english language.. which doesn't happen.

And also I was talking about the technical development of the product and its naming, rather than the english analysis of its name. Two totally unrelated things.
 
"Brainless" also doesn't mean 'below average' ;)
 
My original comment in this thread above was actually
a specific reference to a physical property of stainless steel.

Its altogether not related to rust/oxidation, it may not be intuitive,
and it's outside the scope of normal "stain" concerns for knives.

You might find this referenced as "heat anodization"
or "inco-colouring".

I have no idea what these phenomena
translate to in other languages.

But google will probably sort you out.
 
I agree totally that stainless steel is not and was never intended to be impervious to staining. My only point is that if you call something stainless and it subsequently stains, then it is wrongly named; a misnomer..

And just because consistent and pure application of the English language doesn't happen, it doesn't mean that it shouldn't happen.
 
Ha, all this debate about stainless/ stain-less, and no one pointed out the OP wants to cook with pots and pans, but have them not even get dirty on the bottoms :biggrin:

Get 'em dirty, stained, discolored, etc. on the bottoms -- that means you are cooking -- which is what it is all about :cool2:

Any home kitchen worth it's salt has pots and pans that are discolored on the bottoms. The ones that don't are the ones where the kitchens are there to impress visitors with their beauty, and the homeowners eat all their meals out.
 
WildBoar said:
Ha, all this debate about stainless/ stain-less, and no one pointed out the OP wants to cook with pots and pans, but have them not even get dirty on the bottoms :biggrin:

Get 'em dirty, stained, discolored, etc. on the bottoms -- that means you are cooking -- which is what it is all about :cool2:

Any home kitchen worth it's salt has pots and pans that are discolored on the bottoms. The ones that don't are the ones where the kitchens are there to impress visitors with their beauty, and the homeowners eat all their meals out.
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Lol 😂.... They’re only new for a day
 
Knifolini said:
Hey, i have an old electric stove like this https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe.../Electric_stove.jpg/1200px-Electric_stove.jpg
Im wondering if the stove could mark and dirty my new pots and pans in different materials, stainless clad and copper, mark them on the bottom with black dirt. And if they were to be marked, could this be polished away? or would it damage the heating of my pots?
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I don't want to be an ass, but if you don't mind me asking, how new are you in the kitchen? You don't want the bottom of your pans to get dirty? And you are worried if it can be polished away? You don't know if you should have a hanging pan rack, or which size of saucepan to get, or if you should be buying crazily expensive stainless bottom copper pans, practice knives for sharpening, etc.

Did you recently come in to large amount of money or something? Or just diving headfirst into everything kitchen related?
 
There is something else to consider - some brands of pans do not play all that well with that kind of stove - these old-fashioned stoves work wonderfully as long as you have a little patience and ... pans and pots that are dead flat where they contact the hob and *keep* so under heat. This is not a given at all, and annoyingly enough thinner pans (that would give you the best heat control on this stove type - you already HAVE a chunk of thermal mass under your pan) tend to be affected most...

Bad example: my "Spring" ceramic coated grill pan - once you get it to the temperature where you are glad you didn't get PTFE nonstick, the pan bottom concaves enough to leave you with lousy heat transfer and a visibly glowing hobplate beneath it...
 
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