OTI

Do you use anything special to care for your aluminum serveware? Or maybe you have a decor piece that has the unfortunate markings of fingerprints or smudges. Clean your aluminum the easy way with a cloth that is specific to your aluminum pieces. We recommend Cape Cod polishing cloths, which come in a pack of 2 for $4.99 and live in a re-closable pouch so you can use your cloths again and again. Use them to clean, polish, and protect any type of metal. They’re available online under the accessories category (or view right here) and also in our warehouse store.

We’ve talked about silver and what it takes to maintain such lovely serveware. But what about aluminum?

Aluminum has increased in popularity because of its many benefits. The largest benefit? As we previously reviewed, aluminum doesn’t tarnish.

Other benefits: There are no additional household items to gather before cleaning aluminum. There is no extra time taken aside from hand washing your aluminum serveware. And as a major plus, aluminum is significantly cheaper than silver! Unless you’re trying to create your family’s retirement fund in silver metals (which very few people recommend), aluminum is a more effective way to create serveware beauty in your home. As easy is aluminum is to maintain, we’ve compiled a frequently asked questions page as well as some product care tips for your aluminum pieces.

Additionally, aluminum serveware can be used for any occasion, not just the special ones! Why spend money on something that you would most likely use only a few times each year?

If you haven’t tried aluminum, we guarantee that once you purchase your first serveware product, you’ll see how easy it is to enjoy the beauty of silver whenever you want—without the hassle.

smooth rectangle platter grand - aluminum serveware

Silver is beautiful, but unless it is used significantly, you’ll find silver is a lot more work than you anticipated.

Over the centuries, owning silver dishware was a sign of status, and it wasn’t uncommon to dedicate an entire day to polishing the silver every week. When not in use, it was usually stored away in a secure area of the home. Because of  the elements of silver (which we mentioned previously), silver must be polished to remove the tarnish.

Searching the Internet, we found a list of items that can be used to clean silver:

• Heat-proof glass or plastic dish
• Aluminum foil
• Baking soda
• Table salt
• Clean, soft cloth
• Toothpaste

And that’s just a start.

There are also silver polishes on the market, but none of them will tell you what the ingredients are. However, most of the silver polishes are toxic. In fact, the Environmental Protection Agency lists it as Hazardous Household Waste as they contain strong acids (they do offer their own alternative cleaning solutions as well).

Why do people go through all this effort just for silver? Is it worth it?

Coming up, part 3: how to care for aluminum

Many of you probably have parents or grandparents who own silver serveware. (Or if you don’t, we’re pretty sure you know somebody who owns some.) What do you know about silver?

Silver, by nature, is a precious metal that is also a naturally occurring metal, but it’s also subject to chemical reactions. In the case of silver, when it reacts with sulfur in the air, silver becomes tarnished, and it’s unavoidable.  Tarnish is the dull gray or black coating that forms on the surface of silver, like in the photo above. And we don’t know about you, but we would call that ugly!

Aluminum is an element that has the look of silver but it very different in terms of properties. Unlike silver, aluminum is never found in its native element (it cannot exist because it loves oxygen) and is almost always an alloy with other metals. This combination gives aluminum a low density and because it already combines with oxygen, it has a high resistance to corrosion and tarnishing. That does not mean that it is perfect; the metal can still be harmed if not properly taken care of. (Aluminum is also referred to as pewter, though true pewter is not approved by the FDA. We’ll write a future post about pewter.)

Coming up, part 2: how to care for silver

tarnished silver vs aluminum