Stainless steel or White appliances for kitchen?

[WDWorld2003]

We are picking new appliances and I go back and forth. White is timeless and can be reordered 10 years from now. The stainless may go out of style such as the old harvest gold or avacodo green We also have noticed the stainless seems to finger print more.

Another question, would it be weird if I mixed it up and had a stainless stove and wall oven but a white refrigerator and dishwasher?

We are having our cabinets refaced in cherry with brushed nickel knobs.

Any thoughts out there on what have done and liked? Thanks!

 

[Nancyg56]

I love my stainless appliances. I use stainless cleaner on them to keep them looking nice. You will notice fingerprints on them, but I found that my white ones seemed to get dirty faster.

 

[Mercy]

Well it's obviously a matter of preference, but I perfer SS appliances. We just remodeled out kitchen and that is what we put in. I do not find them hard to keep clean. Just wipe them down and they look fine. I do not, however, have any small children anymore. I struggled with the whole keeping the SS clean before we purchased, but I am so glad I decided to go SS, no regrets.

 

[PlutoPony]

I considered mixing SS and black appliances when I redid my kitchen, and ended up going with all SS. In the end having all the same seems to make the kitchen look more "finished" IMHO. Can you take a cabinet door with your finish to a Lowe's or something and see how it looks against white and SS? We did that and it really helped us make the decision. We decided we didn't like how much contrast black had with our light maple (much like white could do with darker cherry) and liked the look of SS more with the cabinets.... YMMV. Have been pleasantly surprised by the upkeep on the SS, altho the refrig does get fingerprints which come off easily.

 

[golfgal]

I am not a fan of white appliances unless you have an all white kitchen. They do get dirty easily and they just don't look good with anything but a white based kitchen. My sister has cherry cabinets and white appliances and I think it looks horrible. The cherry is such a nice, warm wood and the appliances are so cold looking. Her kitchen would have looked so much better with even off-white appliances. The stainless looks really nice with cherry cabinets.

As for the fingerprints, someone here said that if you polish them with Endust they keep fingerprint free for a long time.

 

[bamajill]

I'm seeing a lot of builders start to use the 'Stainless Look'. It looks as good as the ss but has a matte finish and doesn't leave the fingerprints that drive everyone crazy, lol!

I'm a Realtor and the people I've been working with over the last year all seem to be happy with that.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=225749-2251-FRS6LR5EM&lpage=none

Here's an example of what I'm talking about from Lowe's.

I agree with the poster who said it is all personal preference. I love the look of SS and I don't really think they will go the way of the avocado & gold appliances of the 70's...(but anything is possible!).

 

[Nancyg56]

As for the fingerprints, someone here said that if you polish them with Endust they keep fingerprint free for a long time.

I never tried it, but it sounds good. I don't mind the fingerprints, I just wipe the fronts down every day, but it would be nice to be able to let it go once in a while.

 

[mickeyboat]

We have SS with cherry cabinets with brushed nickel knobs. The SS appliances really pull the whole look together. I don't find them that hard to keep clean. I wipe them down when they look bad, and polish them every couple of weeks.

Denae

 

[Beth76]

Oh stainless definitely. It will look really nice with the cherry and brushed nickel. White would stick out like a sore thumb and look very outdated. If you really don't want SS though, try black.

 

[mickeyfan2]

I don't like the look of either. We did the refridgerator and dishwasher with the slide in panels (made by our cabinet company) and a black stove top and wall oven. The appliances are not the focal point of the kitchen but the beautiful glass corner cabinets are.

 

[MouseWorshipin]

It is just a matter of personal preference, but I despise the stainless steel look. Makes the kitchen look like a restaurant to me. Blech.

But they are much easier to clean, so I think they'll be around a while!

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

I dislike the SS and did not even consider it when we built our new home. Like the previous poster said, it makes me thing of a commercial establishment or a school lunch line.

Our cabinets are natural oak, tile is a lighter tan, and appliances are all white.

Don't worry about what's "in" or "dated" .... go with what you like and what you want to look at every day.

 

[WDWorld2003]

You have to use a special polish for stainless steel? I guess I didn't realize that. I take it you can't you an SOS pad on stainless steel?

Our old appliances are white but I can do anything to them and they still look fine - however, mechanically they are shot.

I really thought this decision would be so much easier! I was convinced white was it but now.... I'm leading toward the stainless with possibly a panel for the dishwasher.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I don't like the "stainless look" unless it is very high end stuff, which I can't afford so I don't like it.
We currently have stainless.

I have had white and it is nice, but only for "contemporary look". I am a earth tones person and the white did not compliment it well.

I like Black these days. It goes well with my earth tones.

 

[Brianne]

My kitchen's exactly what you're doing & I went with white appliances. I wasn't willing to pay a couple hundred more (on average) per appliance for SS. Too many fingerprints for the "real" stuff & the fingerprint-less material looks odd to me. I like how the kitchen looks & am not unhappy with my decision at all.

 

[Disney Ella]

To me, it would depend on if you have the money to update your appliances when stainless steel is no longer in vogue. Like you, I think that eventually stainless steel will become as dated as avocado. I'm too cheap to buy new appliances when the other ones are still working, so I'd probably go with the white. I think it would look better not to mix white and stainless steel.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We are planning a kitchen remodel and I doubt I will be using SS if I replace the appliances. Currently we have black, and are planning white cabinets, so we'll either stick with black, or go to white. I'll have to decide when we finalize all the costs, materials and colors.

I also wonder about the avocado issue years from now. And I prefer not to do what everyone else is doing, anyway. Many friends have recently done their kitchens and they all used SS, high end wooden cabinets, and granite countertops.

 

[WDWorld2003]

This isn't a high end remodel.... we're refacing the cabinets, formica countertops and updating the 1960's appliances - it's funny, those appliances actually back in style! I am so thrilled to be getting a dishwasher - it will be 18 inches but at least I'll have a place to hide some dishes.

Thanks for your help everyone.... still deciding

 

[Skatermom23]

I also have cherry cabinets with stainless steel knobs! I went with the black appliances though. I can't even imagine white ones. That wouldn't look too well with the rich warm wood color. I didn't choose stainless steel appliances for two reasons...1. finger prints and 2. Dogs like to slobber all over it! EEWWWW!

 

[ducklite]

I've got cherry cabinets with black appliances. (My handles are gold/brass though)

Note--the walls are not green like they look in the photo, they are cream colored.

The black hides all sorts of dirty fingerprints and such, and is so easy to keep clean. In fact the fridge has a texture on it, so no fingerprints at all.

Anne