Stainless vs. White Appliances (colors, steel, price, best)

[Beretta]

I've had white, stainless and black. All things considered I like black the best.

[DawnW]

I agree.

Dawn

Originally Posted by Cattknap

I dislike white appliances - I think they are dated and boring looking (no offense to you with white appliances)...I like black or stainless or paneled appliances.

[jhlcomp]

When we remodeled our kitchen I wanted stainless, but the sales person steered me towards white because of the "upkeep of stainless." I have regretted my decision. My white appliances are chipping - I have a drop in stove top with a white rim - chipping. My white fridge - chipping near the ice dispenser. It is just the two of us and we are not hard on our appliances whatsoever. I vote stainless.

[tahiti]

i don't like white either - looks cheap to me. if we ever upgraded our house, i would walk away if i saw white - for the price of the house the kitchen better be top of the line, and white appliances cheapens it for me. i think it looks especially bad with cherry cabinets.

i have a stainless fridge (7 yrs old) - no problems with it - gets smudges but no big deal. dishwasher is 1 yr old stainless and a 1 yr old microwave stainless. stove is black, no plans of replacing it. i have maple cabinets with dark counters and it looks really nice.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Yikes!
Maybe stainless is the new white.

[BusySocialWorker]

I agree - with kids stainless is hard to keep looking good... I HATE white appliances though and we always get nice high end black finish appliances that we love

[aussiegal]

We just moved into our new home and chose to purchase all black appliances. When the appliance guys were moving them in, they said what a smart choice it was that we didn't get stainless. The scratches and dents come so quickly, and just moving them in is a big headache for the moving guys. My fellow Realtor friend just had to return their stainless fridge which was moved into her new home yesterday because it was rusty!!

We love the look of black. It may not be everybody's idea but we never even considered stainless or white. Because of the business I'm in, I see stainless as a fad that may not last. We opted for something that is timeless and looks classy. IMO

[christina0001]

I prefer black or white. I hate stainless steel - it looks too commercial for my tastes. I think it'll become less popular in time because now at stores you can purchase inexpensive stainless steel sheets to paste to the faces of your appliances. If the stainless steel look can be had for cheap, then the trend setting folks are sure to give it up. IMO if you are going to stay for another 5 - 10 years, I would choose whatever will make you happy. Who knows what will be popular in 5 - 10 years?

[Cattknap]

High end stainless appliances are very strong and sturdy and hard to dent - I think stainless is a classic. Anything that is cloned and made cheap is going to look horrible in no time. We have black appliances - love the look - very easy to keep clean.

[Wanderlust07]

I recently sold my house and the stainless appliances definitely a draw for prospective buyers, so it seems that they aren't passé yet. Though I would probably have stainless again in the future, I'm not as crazy about it as I was when I initially purchased the appliances. The fridge was a challenge to keep clean -- fingerprints, water marks from the water dispenser, scratches and scuffs all showed disappointingly well. Stainless cleaners weren't easy to find, either, and I found that the sprays didn't work as well as the goopy liquid cleaners. I also had a stainless range/oven with a black enamel cooktop, and the enamel had become discolored from material cooking on, and the black showed every little speck and fingerprint.