Stainless steel or black appliances?

[ROEDISNEY]

I have stainless steal and hate it. It never looks nice. You see every print on them. I had black along time ago and I like the black and I had the white and likes that to.But hate the SS.

 

[Maybelle]

I love my "brushed" stainless and black appliances. We have regular stainless for the microwave because it was not available in the brushed steel, and it is more of a pain to keep looking good.

I think with the diagram you showed, brushed stailess with black, and brushed nickle hardware on the cabinets would look really sharp.

JMHO

Good luck!

 

[rottiemom]

With that color scheme? Stainless. But is there any reason you can't live with the existing kitchen & appliances for a while as opposed to refacing & replacing & put the money saved towards the eventual re-do? I suggest this because it gives you a chance to live with the kitchen for awhile & work in it, to discover what you like & dislike about the layout & what you'd do differently. Then, when you're ready to gut & re-do you'll have a good idea of what you really want (and not what the kitchen designers tell you that you want). Just a suggestion. I lived with my old kitchen for 10 years before we gutted it and I love absolutely everything about my new one because I'm the one that came up with my idea design for the space (which will also save you $ in design fees as you've done the design part yourself...wait...this isn't the budget board).

As far as cleaning stainless I have all stainless appliances in my kitchen, all by different manufacturers and I find all of it pretty easy to take car of & keep clean (and I have a 5 yo boy & a large dog in the house, not to mention a cat that seems to like to samba up & down the edge of the stove judging from the pawprints). With all of those hours spent polishing stainless fenders, casings & rims on vintage bikes I just decided to draw on that experience & use Simple Green. It eliminates fingerprints with just a wipe. Then a quick polish with whatever SS polish is handy & I'm done. Pledge also makes some SS wipes that are fantastic for cleaning.

Just so you know, SS is not magnetic so putting artwork up on the SS fridge isn't going to happen unless you use tape. I have a bulletin board set aside for that .

 

[arminnie]

I think that stainless steel will "date" a kitchen much in the same way that avocado and harvest gold did post-70's.

. I know that stainless is all the snobbery rage right now, but totally agree with a previous poster in that granite counters and stainless appliances will date a kitchen in the same way that avocado green and harvest gold did in years past.

All of this stainless and brushed nickel look will be as outdated as brass is now. I don't think it will happen next year - but it will happen.

I did end up getting a satina finished refrigerator for my New Orleans condo because everything in it is that color. I was going to get black - but with my very light maple cabinets and open to the living room look - it just would have stood out too much.

I have black appliances with my more golden cabinets in Little Rock.

 

[Mickeyorbust]

Don't forget the satina-fake stainless- at least for refrigerators. We have one with black accents, and its easier to keep clean than stainless (and you can put magnents on it) . Looks great!

Completely agree with PP's about keeping stainless steel clean. It is a huge pain! We have both Stainless Steel and Stainless look-a-like in the same kitchen. I prefer the Stainless look-a-like. They're so much easier to clean and no one who has been in my house knows the difference between the look-a-like and the real stainless.

 

[NaplesRI]

We have a stainless refrig that just annoys the daylights out of me cause it always has fingerprints on it.
Now, I am not MISS CLEAN, but it just looks awful, and who wants to spend so much time wiping it down?
Black or white to me is the way to go- they are timeless.
Stainless steel is the rage- but anything that's that "IN" won't last, and a few years from now, everyone will be getting rid of stainless because of the work involved to keep clean.
I also didn't realize you can't hang magnets on it till we got it.... I miss seeing our DGS's drawings!

 

[Green Tea]

My husband would chuck my note and magnet covered white refrigerator out the door if he learned stainless won't hold magnets.

 

[rockyroad]

I have a black fridge that has a finish called "liquid black".
It scratches very easily and I cannot allow anyone else in the house to clean it.

You can't clean it with paper towels or spray cleaners.

I don't recommend this finish.

 

[Eeyore's-tail-tack]

the people who name it stainless are not the people who clean them. I clean houses for a living for a world wide company. i simply hate stainless. i have only found one cleaner worth cleaning it, ift is "Alco" i believe that is the correct name, i will research and post agian if wrong, i always thought stainless is pretty, until you are nearly in tears trying to get the marks off

 

[BLLB]

We have a stainless cooktop and double wall ovens. Our fridge is the "fake" stainless referred to by the OP. If you think black would look nice in your kitchen, I would choose black for the easier clean-up.

 

[MMluvsWDW]

We went with a mix. I love my satina fridge. I have a black dishwasher which I love, and a black stove that I hate. I think on the stove it's more the style of stove than the color that makes it hard to clean. I will never have my style gas stove in black again! Then with the microwave we went with a stainless/black mix that I love and ties everything together.

Congrats on the new place, and enjoy the redecorating!

 

[prncess674]

Pick whatever you like withOUT regard to resale value. Assuming you are new owner, I am assuming you are in your house for the long haul. Flippers and short term buyers will be left in the cold for the short term. Even "relavent" short time such as 5-10 years could mean a completely new material as the cool material. Pick whatever makes you happy without regard to what the next family will enjoy. Assuming you aren't just a flipper, pick what will make YOU happy during your time in the house.

A nicely finished kitchen with black appliances won't be a big detractor to a buyer. If you were picking between white and black/stainless then that might be a different story.

 

[luvmy3]

I picked black, I do not like the look of stainless. I also wouldn't worry about re-sale, if someone really likes your house they will buy it with or without stainless appliances.

 

[skjj2009]

Stainless...I have black as we wanted to save that little bit of money and I TOTALLY regret it. I REALLY wish we had gone with stainless.

 

[danneva]

Appliances are the workhorses of your kitchen. Together, they will add up to about 9% of your kitchen budget. White appliances are still the classic favorite, followed by black. Stainless steel, with its professional look, continues to grow in popularity. Stainless steel is convenient and easy to clean, but you may be afraid that in choosing stainless steel, you will lose the character of your kitchen. Stainless steel does not stain, corrode or rust as easily as ordinary steel. Stainless basically means that it ‘stains less’ not that it is stain proof, so do not think that no matter what falls on it, it will not stain. This is not the case. But it is far more stain resistant than many other materials used in domestic appliances. Stainless steel is also less prone to corrosion and rust than many other types of finish. Another of the main benefits as regards style of a stainless steel kitchen is that it is easy to find stainless steel kitchen appliances that match each other so coordinating a kitchen is made far easier. A stainless steel themed kitchen also has a modern feel to it and because it is easier to clean than a lot of other finishes and does not corrode easily it looks smarter and newer for longer. For a traditional kitchen, is not the feel that you are usually going for? But a lot of the time, the mood of your kitchen is defined more by how you mix the types of cupboards and the colours of other features in your kitchen with the stainless steel kitchen appliances. Stainless steel will look more attractive if your cupboards are made up of warm colours and dark woods. For a modern looking kitchen, light wood looks great with light fresh colours and stainless steel appliances. But of course, if you have your heart set on glossy cupboards and high shine ultra modern doors, the stainless steel will begin to make the kitchen look impersonal, so choose carefully to achieve the look that you are really after.

 

[StephMK]

Don't forget the satina-fake stainless- at least for refrigerators. We have one with black accents, and its easier to keep clean than stainless (and you can put magnents on it) . Looks great!

We have this fridge too & it's great. Not a cleaning issue at all. I vote ss only because I think the black will make the kitchen really dark unless you have a lot of natural light in there. We have a black dw & stainless stove, fridge & microhood. I think they blend well & the dw is in a corner. The stove gets some marks but not really that bad. I swipe on ss cleaner & it's fine.

 

[dfchelbay]

I'd go with black appliances. Also, in looking at your two pictures, I think I might consider a darker counter top too. I think it would bring it a richer look. Even if granite or quartz aren't in the budget now, you can find granite looking laminate at Lowes and Home Depot. It's very inexpensive too. I think it would bring your whole room together.

 

[mlittig]

OP, please let us know what you end up doing and post pictures if possible Good luck with your new house

 

[Tampa Mousekeeter]

I have stainless.....I hate to clean stainless....it's clean for 5 minutes because my DH is a pig.....saying all that, I would pick it again. When you look at both pics, to me anyway, the picture with the stainless stove looks much more updated than the black...it's almost like before and after..

 

[danneva]

My husband would chuck my note and magnet covered white refrigerator out the door if he learned stainless won't hold magnets.

In fact, magnets sticks to stainless because it is the presence of the chromium that provides stainless steel with the ability to repel permanent stains and keep looking fresh and clean over long periods of time. It is important to note that other metals may be introduced into the steel compound as well as the chromium. One of these metals is nickel. Essentially, the addition of nickel to the stainless steel compound helps to strengthen the protective qualities of the chromium. Stainless steel that contains nickel is not magnetic at all. The reason is that the presence of the nickel alters the physical structure of the stainless steel and removes or inhibits any magnetic qualities. However, magnetic stainless steel does exist.