black vs stainless steel appliances. (warm, refrigerator, cold, better)

[STK12]

Opt for black...black goes with everything. Stainless is horrible cuz it shows any little dents. Black is timeless and sleek. Stainless will probably be replaced in a few years anyway by bronze or some other color. Stay with the "basics".

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by STK12

Opt for black...black goes with everything. Stainless is horrible cuz it shows any little dents. Black is timeless and sleek. Stainless will probably be replaced in a few years anyway by bronze or some other color. Stay with the "basics".

That's what I thought about white. I do not like stainless and am absolutely befuddled that the cold, morgue look has persisted for so long. And stainless fixtures? Don't get me started... They have toned it down a bit with the darker stainless and stainless and black mixes, but eventually this look has to go away. I have been predicting a turn to bright COLORS like red and blue as the fad that replaces stainless. So far that has only shown up in washers and dryers though. Someday stainless will join coppertone, avocado, and harvest gold on the scrap heap of taste. But, the recession is going to put a big hold on kitchen stylings.

On the other hand maybe the recession will cure us of replacing perfectly good appliances because we don't like the color. Oh the age of excess and conspicuous consumption. I miss you already.

[Mec4U]

I allowed myself to get sucked in to the belief that stainless steel appliances are the "above all and end all" of choice for today's kitchen. NOT SO FAST! I hated my stainless appliances! They not only made my kitchen look cold and industrial, they were impossible to keep clean. Scratches, stains, and streaks continually appeared--even on areas I never touched! Then, when I was trying to sell my house and lost out on the deal the truth came out. The buyers chose another home that had all black appliances. I have now switched to all black appliances myself. They are knock-down- drag out gorgeous, especially with my honey tone cabinets and flooring, and when I clean them, they stay clean! (My textured black fridge-I rarely clean at all) Stop buying into all the hype around you. Get the facts, and get what you like---don't just buy what you think everyone else is buying. It's your home---not theirs!

[azriverfan.]

I personally like stainless steel. Yes, we were told we would get fingerprints everywhere but that hasn't been my experience and I feel that aspect is extremely overstated. Black appliances were a trend in the 1990's. In the 80's,everyone had white appliances and then black appliances were introduced in the 90's. Then in the 2000's, everyone started switching to stainless steel and silver. Black appliances just remind me of being in the 90's. It's just an older style not necessarily a bad one. I personally feel black appliances age a place particularly in a kitchen. I don't think stainless steel is going anywhere. People were saying the same thing about silver cars in the early 90's and thus far that trend has held. Stailness might be cold and industrial but it's also very clean and sleek looking and to some people that will always appeal to people much like silver cars. I agree that I don't think it looks great in every applicance. I have black washer and dryers but in regards to my kitchen appliances, I think stainless looks great and really makes the kitchen look clean compared the black appliances we had.

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by sierraAZ

To tell you the truth, I was tempted by the newer smooth black fridges, but may end up buying a textured one, even though I live alone and will use the handles as opposed to leaving little hands on the surface. There was a consensus in this discussion that the textured black fridges are the easiest to keep good-looking.

Originally Posted by sablebaby

In our last home, we bought a smooth black fridge as I couldn't stand the ridges on the others. The smooth black was beautiful and never had a problem with fingerprints or keeping it clean. It was always clean.

It's been years since this topic was discussed, but somebody repped my post and reminded me of it. I ended up buying a smooth black fridge (there wasn't even a choice as it had to be counter-depth) and I'm happy with it. It does look a lot nicer than the textured ones. However, I did also buy a used fridge for the garage because the freezer of the pretty one is not big enough, IMO.

[themudpuppy]

I miss bisque. Seriously, I do. I've had bisque, black and stainless. Bisque showed the least amount of dust, streaks, fingerprints. Even if I missed a day cleaning the stove after cooking, it didn't stand out. Black showed every speck of dust and it was hard to get rid of streaks. Stainless was ok but gave the kitchen a cold look. I keep hoping bisque will come back in style, but it doesn't look like it.

[karen_in_nh_2012]

Can't believe this thread has gone on so long. :-)

Count me as one who thinks stainless looks cold, cold, cold. I went with black appliances in my kitchen. My cabinets are light maple ("vanilla with a cocoa glaze" if I'm remembering correctly!) and they look great together. I'm about to move to a new house and when I re-do that kitchen (SIGH at having to go through all that again!), I will again go with black ... actually I will try to replicate my current kitchen as much as I can as I love it!!

[theoldnorthstate]

not a fan of stainless either. seems harder to keep clean and smudgeless to me.

am replacing my applicances with stainless as it seems to sparkle well to make a pretty kitchen for selling. but for myself white, black or bisque would be fine.

[piyf]

I've had SS everything and not some cheap models either and it was still hard to keep perfectly clean without streaks or smudges. SS is so over rated. I now have black and love them so much more.

[Ohiogirl81]

Does a stainless fridge keep the food any better than a black or white fridge?