I also “display” my pots and pans by necessity in my small kitchen. I invested in quality stainless (no nonstick allowed because of its adverse effects on the pet birds), and its still shining after over 5 years.

I would suggest a) never put them in the dishwasher… many dish washing detergents have phosphates that can etch your fine glassware and your cookware b)hand wash (right away!) with regular dish washing liquid and a NON ABRASIVE sponge (Dobie pads were suggested by Calphalon but any regular sponge works also), and c) then use Your friend and mine… Barkeeper’s friend will work wonders. just sprinkle it on, add enough water to make it soupy, and use the same soft sponge. For stubborn or cooked on stains add a little extra water and let the solution work for a few minutes (though leaving the acid in Barkeeper’s friend too long will also cause a sort of etching).

One other thing I’ve noticed on the bottom of pans, which could possibly be part of the problem, is that if you have hard water, and you heat the pan while the bottom is wet, the minerals will be left when the water dries leaving brown or white stains on the bottom. These also usually require Barkeeper’s friend to remove.