No. 4 Finish Stainless Steel Sheet vs Hairline Finish

By Ferosteel Technical Team | Reviewed by Engineering Dept. | Last updated: October 2026

Every week someone walks into our sample room holding two sheets of stainless and asks what the difference is. They look the same to the untrained eye — both silver, both brushed. But one is No.4 satin and the other is hairline, and picking the wrong one on a project costs money or makes a wall look wrong. Here's what we tell fabricators standing in front of the samples.

 

---

Start with the Belt Grit

Both finishes are made the same way: a 2B stainless sheet runs under a rotating abrasive belt, and the belt leaves parallel lines across the surface. The only thing that changes the look is how coarse or fine that belt is.

No.4 uses a belt around 120 to 180 grit. You can see the individual brush marks — they're distinct, slightly irregular, and when you run your finger across the grain you feel a faint texture. This is the brushed finish on every commercial kitchen wall, every dishwasher front, every equipment cover in the world. When a customer says "brushed stainless" without any other words, they mean No.4.

Hairline uses a finer belt, typically 240 to 320 grit. The lines are so dense and close together that from a meter away they blur into a smooth satin surface. Up close you still see it's brushed, but it reads as a step up from No.4 — smoother, slightly brighter, more expensive-looking. Hotels and office lobbies spec it when they want the brushed look without the "industrial kitchen" feel.

**

Figure 1: Hairline on the left, No.4 satin on the right. The difference in line density is visible when you see them side by side — and invisible when they're installed on opposite sides of a building.

The belt grit also affects price. A fine grit belt wears faster — maybe half the life of a coarse No.4 belt — and the line has to run slower to get an even finish. That's why hairline runs about 10 to 20 percent more per sheet than No.4. For a single elevator cab it's negligible. For a full hotel lobby it's real money, which is why kitchen contractors default to No.4 and interior designers default to hairline.

---

When You'll Actually Notice the Difference

At two meters away, they look identical. If you're standing across a kitchen looking at the wall, you can't tell if it's No.4 or hairline. Nobody can.

The difference shows up when someone stands next to the metal. An elevator passenger leaning against the wall, a hotel guest waiting at the reception desk, a shopper walking past a retail display — they're 30 to 50 centimeters from the surface, and that's where the finer hairline grain reads as "nicer." No.4 at that distance looks like it belongs in a kitchen. Hairline looks like it belongs in a hotel.

This is why we tell fabricators: if the wall is behind a counter, behind equipment, or in a service corridor, order No.4. If it's a feature wall, an elevator interior, or a reception face, order hairline.

There's also a practical side. Hairline's finer lines hide fingerprints slightly better than No.4, because the dense grain breaks up reflections more evenly. On an elevator door that gets touched hundreds of times a day, that matters. On a kitchen backsplash that gets wiped down after every service, it doesn't — the cleaner is going over it anyway.

**

Figure 2: No.4 in a commercial kitchen. You can't tell it apart from hairline at this distance, and nobody cares — it's a work surface.

**

Figure 3: Hairline in a hotel elevator lobby. People stand next to this wall every day, and the finer grain is what makes it read as premium rather than industrial.

---

PVD Color Changes the Equation

Both finishes can go through PVD vacuum coating, but they don't take color the same way.

When you PVD coat a No.4 sheet, the coarse lines catch the color unevenly. The result is a slightly mottled, hand-brushed look — bronze or copper over No.4 reads as vintage and textured. Some interior designers specifically want this. It looks intentional, like an old brass surface that's been refinished.

When you PVD coat hairline, the fine grain distributes the coating evenly. The color comes out smooth and consistent — gold, rose gold, black titanium over hairline looks like a uniform colored metal, not a brushed surface that's been painted. This is why almost all luxury colored stainless panels — the gold elevator cabs, the black reception desks — use hairline as the base.

If you're going silver, the choice is based on location. If you're going colored, the choice is usually hairline unless you specifically want the mottled vintage look on No.4.

---

The Project We Got Wrong

A few years ago we supplied a hotel lobby project where the designer specified No.4 brushed for the main feature wall. We sent the samples, the designer approved them, and the panels went up. When the hotel opened, the general manager called us: the wall looked "too industrial," like a kitchen.

We went back with hairline samples. The difference was obvious under the lobby lighting — the hairline wall looked like a hotel, the No.4 wall looked like a restaurant kitchen. We replaced the panels at our cost. Lesson: if the wall is a design feature in a hospitality space, don't cheap out on No.4. The 10 to 20 percent savings isn't worth replacing the whole wall after install.

The other mistake we see is mixing them on the same project. No.4 on the elevator doors, hairline on the adjacent wall. They're close enough that the difference looks like a factory error, not a design choice. Pick one finish for the whole project and stick with it.

---

How to Check in Person

If you're standing in a sample room trying to decide, do two things.

Hold the sample at a 45-degree angle under a bright light. On No.4 you'll see distinct parallel streaks. On hairline the surface will look almost smooth, like a satin film.

Run your finger across the grain. No.4 has a slight roughness you can feel. Hairline feels almost glass-smooth.

Do this with the actual lighting from your project if possible. A sample under showroom spotlights looks different from the same panel under diffuse office LEDs. We send samples for free — take them to the site and hold them against the wall before ordering.

---

What Customers Ask Us

Can you tell them apart from a photo? Not really. The difference is subtle enough that phone cameras flatten it out. You need physical samples side by side.

Is hairline more scratch-resistant? No. It's the same stainless underneath. The finer lines make light scratches slightly less visible, but the metal itself is identical.

Which is cheaper? No.4 is the base price. Hairline runs 10 to 20 percent more because the fine belt wears faster and the line runs slower.

Can I PVD color either one? Yes, both. But as we said, hairline takes color more evenly, and that's what most colored stainless uses.

What thickness do they come in? Same range — 0.5 to 1.5 mm for decorative panels. The finish doesn't change the thickness you need.

If I can't decide, which one? Default to No.4. It's cheaper, it's standard, and for 90 percent of applications nobody will notice the difference. Step up to hairline only when the wall is a visible feature in a space where people stand close.

---

Ordering

Tell us what the panels are going on and we'll recommend the finish and send samples.

Field	Example
Application	Elevator / Kitchen / Lobby / Corridor / Equipment
Grade	304 / 316L / 201
Thickness	0.6 mm / 0.8 mm / 1.0 mm
Finish	No.4 brushed / Hairline (HL)
Color	Silver / PVD gold / Black / Bronze
Size	1219×2438 mm, or custom cut
Quantity	30 sheets / by m²
Destination	Port / city for shipping estimate

Contact Ferosteel → Request No.4 & Hairline Samples

---

Ferosteel rolls both No.4 and hairline stainless sheets in Foshan, China — 201/304/316/430 grades with optional PVD color — supplying kitchen fabricators, elevator companies, hotel fit-outs and equipment makers across Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

Related reads: brushed stainless steel sheet for grades and specifications, or hairline stainless steel sheet for grain direction and color options.

• Previous
  Notice about Ferosteel 2022 May Day Holiday arrangement
• Next
  Bead-Blasted Stainless Steel Sheet: Matte Finish Guide