In article >,
Steve > wrote:
>I have really nice set of stainless steel pots and pans with copper ( or
>copper coated ) bottoms that have become discolored from use on a gas stove.
>
>Is there a special cleaner I can get to make the copper bottoms look
>shiny and undiscolored again?

A fine steel wool does the trick. You may want to finish up with
a polishing and then a metal protector, although I'm not sure how
those metal protector chemicals stand up to heat.

Generally though, I believe you should leave the bottoms alone.
Continued attention to making them look like copper just wears out
the copper, eventually. It's best to have a layer of something
else (oxide, carbon, other grime) protecting the copper. The color
shouldn't be that shiny golden copper color, but rather the color of
an old penny.

Don't leave copper bottom pots in a wet sink. The resulting
oxidation (copper "rust" is turquoise in color) will eat up the
copper faster than anything else.

-A