Stainless steel or White appliances for kitchen?

[mickeyfan2]

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

Nice kitchen. The cabinets are the focal point and not the appliances.

To the OP, since this is a remodel to update the 1960s kitchen, go with the black appliances.

 

[ducklite]

Here's a better picture:

I didn't put in a black sink, I chose a cream colored sink. The white was too bright--which I think white appliances would be with cherry cabinets. The cream just blends in.

I didn't go with stainles for two reasons. They are really hard to keep fingerprints from showing--I think of how hard it is to keep my breadmaker fingerprint free and shudder at a fridge. Also, I'm afraid that they are "trendy" and will eventually look very dated.

Anne

 

[golfgal]

Stainless Steel appliances have been around for a long time, they have just gotten very popular in the past few years so they seem "trendy". We had friends when I was growing up that had stainless refrigerator and stoves. Since SS isn't really a "color" they won't really go out of style like white, black and off-white, they will be around forever.

 

[Monte Cristo]

Stainless Steel appliances have been around for a long time, they have just gotten very popular in the past few years so they seem "trendy". We had friends when I was growing up that had stainless refrigerator and stoves. Since SS isn't really a "color" they won't really go out of style like white, black and off-white, they will be around forever.

I totally agree with this. We have the cherry/brushed nickel/SS appliances in our kitchen and it looks great. I don't find the whole finger print complaints a big issue. Normal cleaning keeps everything looking nice.

One note I think I read from WDWorld2003....I don't know if other cleaners will work, but we do buy cleaner especially made for cleaning SS. Oh, and I wouldn't use a SOS pad on them!!

 

[tae1218]

Another vote for stainless. Last fall we replaced all of our appliances with SS and I love them.

 

[hlbtimes2]

We have all SS, I love it! We don't have a huge problem with fingerprints. I use the SS cleaner on them about once a month. It takes a couple minutes and they look great. If you wanted to mix, I wouldnt do white and SS. I would do black and SS. Most of the SS have black trim of some sort and would pull the look together. White would be to much of a contrast.

 

[Tinks]

Another vote for stainless. We remodeled last year and have a medium maple cabinet with a ginger glaze. I debated about the appliances but we eventually went to all SS, including a SS drop in sink. We put a panel on the dishwasher.

It's beautiful if I do say so myself! Absolutely no regrets, and I have 3 little boys running around!

 

[mickeyfan1]

We had stainless steel in our home in AZ when we moved into in in 1995. They were installed in the house in 1987 when it was built. They were the first thing to go when I redecorated. I hated that they never got clean of finger prints, and I have no kids. I have read that if you wipe them down with olive oil, it will keep the prints off. Anyway I replaced everything with black and loved it. Now in this house, everything is white, that was all the builder offered, no upgrades at all. I know my neighbor has stainless steel stove and fridge, but a black dishwasher. It looks OK, but not great.

It is all personal preference, but I think that stainless is a trendy thing and will be gone in another 10 years.

 

[azgal81]

I don't know if I'm really sold on the stainless steel look myself. It seems like they are charging you alot extra just for the look. Whatever you do choose though I wouldn't mix stainless and black/white I think that would look horrible.

 

[ZachnElli]

Another stainless steel fan here and I have a toddler and know all about fingerprints! There are some great cleaners out there for stainless steel that not only remove fingerprints, but prevent them and I only have to wipe the down once a week. Heck, I have to do the TV way more often! LOL! I don't think of stainless steel at all like the avocado, stainless steel is a neutral, avocado is not! I like the restaurant look myself! Going for an Italian one here!

 

[clarabelle]

I think black and stainless mix pretty well.
There is a bisque color that some people are using.
I am doing stainless -sometimes I do feel like a trend follower -but I really like the stainless.
If you think you are going to be putting the house back on the market in the next couple of years I would consider stainless for resale

 

[clarabelle]

Here is a site with loads of kitchens to look at -maybe you can look and see which kitchens seem to appeal to you.
http://finishedkitchens.blogspot.com/

 

[stinkerbelle]

We have light maple cabinets with brushed nickel hardware, and we went with a mix of stainless steel and black. I thought the stainless steel dishwasher was "too much", so I went with black.

I love my kitchen...but everyone has their own preferences. We honestly built our kitchen around our fridge - the Trio. We fell in love with it the moment we saw it. Of course - because it's ginormo, we had to raise the upper cabinets a smidge. But it has SS with black trim...so I think it all blends well.
(these pictures are kinda old)

ETA - yes, they show fingerprints if you aren't careful...but heck, a house is made to be lived in...I clean the fridge MAYBE once a week if it's bad...after a while, you really don't start to notice them. And many of the new SS appliances have that 'matte' no-fingerprint finish

 

[WDWorld2003]

Wow, thanks everyone for the great pics and websites! I love your beautiful kitchens. I am leaning toward stainless steel but my DH will be hard to convince.

 

[Brutie]

I say go with what you like even if it does go out of style. I dont care what the trends are, I get what I like and want.

That said, we just built a new house and moved and our kitchen has the white shaker style cabinets with brushed nickel knobs and all of our appliances are black.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Stacey2grls]

I am currently agonizing over this one. We are going to completely gut our kitchen soon, and I definatley know every detail that I want. Except for the appliances, white or stainless. I love the look of white, it is classic, will never go out of style, but gets dirty quick. On the other hand, stainless is so sharp looking, but may go out of style. Oh, what to do?

 

[Mackey Mouse]

I am a slave to my stainless steel appliances. The fingerprints are horrific and if I had to do over again, I would get white.