Is Stainless Steel Overrated? (flooring, stove, painting, appliance)

[JanuaryGirl]

Agreed that you should get what you personally like the look of more. Also though, I've seen SO many kitchens with stainless where white would've looked better. If you're not renovating the entire room, think hard about how stainless will match before you go with it. Better to have everything match and flow than have fancier appliances that look out of place.

When we did our kitchen we went with smooth white appliances. Much cheaper than stainless, but nicer looking than the typical textured-white-fridge look.

[DKVA]

I agree with everyone else-go with what you like.

For me we have been relocated twice and are gun shy. We felt we needed to do granite and ss as this is what is common place in our neighborhood. We don't have young children but the ss is easy to keep clean and the granite is no problem. I just wipe the ss appliances down with a microfiber cloth and they look great-the granite is sealed which should be done on a yearly basis.

[ansky]

What color is the rest of your kitech (i.e. cabinets, walls)? Our kitchen is white so obviously white appliances would look ridiculous. The previous homeowners left us with SS appliances and they all look great. Black appliances would have looked great too. SS is my favorite since it gives more of a contemporary feel to the room. My old place had a white refrigerator and I constantly had to clean fingerprints and other splatter marks. I find that my SS appliances rarely need cleaning.

[JayCT]

I am not sure why people think stainless is harder to keep clean than white appliances. White appliances show dirt and fingerprints just as much as stainless IMHO. Stainless is used in commercial kitchen where there is a lot of heavy use and grease. If it was that hard to keep clean, it would not be used there.

Stinaless will be around for a while IMHO. It is too popular to be stopped. Look at ads for homes in your area and I am sure that you will see homes advertising stainless kitchens. That tells me it is what people are looking for. It is your decision if you want to go stainless or not. It took us a couple of years to change but we started with the refrigerator, then the microwave and range and finally the dishwasher. It did not look the best but we survived. Now it looks great. Jay

[Cosmic]

That crap you all are calling stainless steel is probably not a true stainless at all. Sort of tells one about the power of Madison Avenue. There literally thousands and thousands of grades of stainless. The handbooks are like 6 inches thick.

Stainless steels come in like four major categories.

Ferritic, austenitic, martensitic and a duplex / combo type.

Each general type has its own characteristics. The chuckle being that you keep hearing over and over again that stainless steel is easy to scratch. Where exactly did you ever hear that, many of those grades are some of the hardest steels made. Most grades of stainless is not shinny or maybe not even "Pretty". This crap in appliances is probably some type of plating, many of them have a type of coating, it is all about being "Pretty" and some wag calls it stainless. The rest of them believe him.

Go into any industrial plant and look at anything real stainless and then see if it looks like anything you see in a fancy kitchen. Real stainless is very hardy, super corrosion resistant, most are totally resistant to chemical attack. Look at the instruments use in dental and medical uses, those are a real type stainless. Many household utensils are a real grade of stainless. It can be made pretty and mostly smaller items are by polishing them to a fine finish. Bigger stuff mostly is not.

That crap in appliances is probably a type of fake stainless. I've yet to hear anybody actually attempt to assign it a real grade.

So back to the OP question; Is real stainless really overrated? Answer NO, real stainless is what it always been. A super good grade of steel adaptable and suitable to a huge number of uses, many of them in rather severe environments. This crap called stainless and used in crap kitchens is surely very over rated. Lot of it is probably some type of plating process of fake bonding / rolling technique as used in many metal working procedures to make something look like it is not.

I have a real stainless commercial take out sink. Hefty thick metal, real stainless, not all that shinny, never shows fingerprints, will not stain and easy to clean. I do not mind real stainless, I never exactly expect it to be all that pretty and shiny. The really good stuff is a bit on the dull side in its native state in most applications. Most do not have a surface fine finish to make them that shiny. To make it pretty requires very fine surface finishing and polishing. The World never changes, make it shiny, bright and pretty and you could make it out of real crap, just plate that to attract the hard core pretty huggers. Illusion is a fun game.

Actually I've gotten to like the newer black appliances. Any shade a fellow wants as long as it is black and the price is right.

Be a purist and never call that crap in kitchens real stainless unless it comes with a government label certifying in was not made in China and is the real deal with a given grade and pedigree. What grade of stainless do they claim it is????

Just remember thare is something in the many, many thousands of different types, grades of real stainless steels.

[uptown_urbanist]

I agree with the others: go with stainless steel if you like it, stick with white if you prefer that. I don't like the look of SS in most kitchens, although in some contexts I think it does look best.

We've been starting to think about buying a place and one of my personal pet peeves is all the people who redo their kitchens prior to selling. It's all SS and granite and cherry, which while it can look nice, isn't my taste, and I think it's all going to look really dated in about ten years. On the other hand, lots of people like that look, and I'm sure they're thrilled to move into a place where they love the kitchen.

I doubt SS will be just a fad, or at least not in the sense that of those avocado and harvest gold appliances that have mostly (finally) all gone on their way. I think the overall look of modern kitchens will change, but SS seems to offer enough versatility that you could, down the road, still change the look of your kitchen without having to get new appliances. If you want it, go for it. If not, I doubt plain old white will be going anywhere soon, either.

[Irishtom29]

I hate stainless; it's harder to weld than mild steel and you can't cut it with an acetylene torch, you gotta use an arc gouge. It's harder to fit than mild steel too.

And welding stainless overhead the hot rollers than go down your sleeves and shirt NEVER seem to cool off; with mild steel you can shake them off.

Anyway stainless is very useful in industrial applications but in some trophy wife's kitchen it's an affectation and a sign of a shallow and hypocritical mind. Like you'd ever see such people in a place where stainless really was useful, fat chance of that.

[f_m]

Originally Posted by USNRET04

My over the range microwave died yesterday, looks to be the magnatron and the appliance is 9 years old. I plan to replace it right away.

My dishwasher is showing a lot of wear and may need replacing in the near future. The flattop range and side-by-side refrigerator is OK for now.

All are white. I had planned to do a light upgrade to the kitchen in the near future, possibly just the counter tops to a granite type.

Since I need a microwave now, should I go with SS or just stick with white? Is SS just a fad?

I won't be able to afford the other appliances to at least next year. So it may be odd having an SS microwave and dishwasher next to to the white.

I would think making them match works better, but it's up to you, especially if you plan to change over. However, most of the entry level stuff is not that great. If magnets stick to it, then it's the cheap-o stuff (some kind of 400 series stainless or similar, which can eventually discolor in rust). So likely at the low price end you will find the cheaper stuff, or just very thin sheets of the stainless.

"Real" stainless used in medical equipment and commercial kitchens is normally 304 stainless. I've been to one of the factories of a premium kitchen range/oven maker and that stuff does look nice (premium makers include Dacor, Subzero, DCS, and others, although they were making GE units there too, so some of the common brands might have something good, but if it's a low price, then probably not). Obviously the nice thing about real 304 (or marine grade 316) is it won't rust under any normal situation, and it's stronger than plain carbon steel that is painted.

Reminds me, I went to a craftsman style house where the kitchen was remodeled in custom wood and stainless counters, which was pretty nice.

[wanderintonc]

I think you should go with what you like and what looks best in your kitchen. I have stainless now and love it! It's not hard to clean at all. But I used to live in a small house with a tiny kitchen that was white, and that was best for that space. If I was you, I'd decide what I like best, and go with that-keeping in mind the light renovation you have planned soon.

[texdav]

I hate the fingerprinting on most of the stainless apllainces. The new ones that have the coating seem good tho at appiaince centers.