We've grown tired of stainless steel appliances. There, we said it. Unless you're purchasing at the very upper end in the world of appliances, it seems stainless steel is just, well, makeup. And rather than have stainless just for the sake of it, we're proposing a shift to plain and simple white:
We've noticed that white has improved. Especially in refrigerators, where white once meant textured plastic, smooth and glossy white is now available in mid-price models. White appliances fall in step nicely with simple white cabinetry and it keeps a space light and airy. Much of the mid-priced stainless steel appliances we see are paired with black. Be it black sides of refrigerators or ranges, the black reads as dark and just doesn't fit well in many of today's kitchens.
A few white appliances we like (that don't break the bank - well, relative to the professional stainless steel stuff out there):
Is there a movement out there toward plain and simple white or are we alone? Do you think the days of salivating over stainless steel are numbered or is the material as strong as ever in the home kitchen? Let us know your take below!
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I've always been fine with white, but I really like that safety-yellow Aga in the picture.
I have all white appliances and I love them. I find stainless is getting too trendy and alot of them look cheap with all the black plastic trim.
Our newest addition was a white bottom freezer samsung fridge. Love it. And a few hundred dollars less, just because it was white.
I bought all stainless about 6 months back for our new (but very old) house and now wish I bought white. Our kitchen is open to the house and the stainless stands out- not in a good way.
Does anyone have the info on the fridge in the picture? I adore it.
Funny, everything old is new again!
That said, I thought the trend was going to black stainless steel -- but that hasn't really kicked in. We saw a black-stainless-steel fridge when we were redoing our kitchen, but it was pricey and there were limited options for matching appliances. But it looked really great, and didn't show schmutz like regular steel.
After surviving the era of avocado green, almond and white appliances, I am still very happy with my stainless steel. I will say that my trusty white refrigerator was MUCH easier to keep clean on the exterior though. The fingerprints on stainless are a pain and it does scratch:(
Aga ... drool.
White doesn't go with as many cabinet colors as stainless--dark wood, black, oak, cream--none would look great with white appliances.
Meh. I still think that white looks cheap unless you're in the upper echelon of the appliance prices. When I redo my kitchen I'm just going to get my fridge paneled over to match my cabinetry.
The house we bought a few months back is all white..cabinets and appliances. I just painted the walls a pale buttery yellow. And with 3 little boys, it's MUCH easier to keep looking clean than stainless steel. Sticky little fingerprints don't show up the way they do on darker wood and stainless.
Hallelujah! While I'm not so much for following trends, I just love that there have been a couple of posts recently singing the praises of white appliances. And I think it goes well with plenty of kitchen cabinets that aren't on the darker side. With everything? No. But with a lot.
I have a pretty open floor plan and am putting in white cabinets. The current range & fridge are white and while I debated stainless steel, I am opting to stick with white. I think it will really keep the small kitchen area light and airy and the appliances won't scream "look at me!" when you're in the LR/DR area.
Plus, while I'll be upgrading from a 24" range to a 30", the current fridge, while very basic, is perfectly good and it seems silly & wasteful to replace it.
I'm with LoveTheMeeps (renovated and bought all stainless steel), only that I don't regret my choice. They're just... appliances, you know? Regardless of how they look now they'll inevitably feel dated one day, and also one day (maybe the same, maybe not) they'll break beyond repair. Considering the average quality and durability of today's kitchen appliances, I honestly give a rat's ass of whether they're overly trendy looking or not. They sort of go well together, we like them, we're proud they're the first we buy out of our own pocket (!) and that's pretty much to it.
Seems most people are into it I guess...not me though. Its fine for others but I don't like the way it looks. It (to me) is tougher to keep pretty and clean, if the sun hits it over time are you going to have yellowed white appliances like so many have in their homes?
Also, scratches. I've scratched the hell out of my stainless steel appliances and bought one of those scratch buffers for them- works like magic. You scratch a glossy white appliance you're SOL.
After working in restaurant kitchens, stainless steel just says "kitchen" to me. White enameled plastic doesn't. To each their own.
By the way, we bought Fagor. We're so far satisfied with their performance, but potential buyers beware: they probably have the worst written owners manuals in the history of owner's manuals. They're Ikea assembling instructions meets Babelfish translator edition 2001. Horrible and frustrating beyond words.
The best example? The washing machine doesn't say how to start it (the installation guy did). Neither how to operate the delayed start option (unhappily the installation guy didn't). They tell you you have it, but since the buttons are for different options, you're left to figure out the exact combination of pressing the buttons that yield the result you're looking for.
As a side note, the manual doesn't tell you how to operate your appliance in French, English, Spanish and Basque (I can read them all). And doesn't tell you how to operate a slew of models so different that you wonder whether there's a model not covered by that manual. So... well, just that. The machines are OK, but the manuals are written by someone who doesn't do the laundry (or house chores) or reads manuals at all.
All I can say is HOORAY - I never liked the stainless EVVAH!
Appliances really can last a lifetime if they are properly maintained and cared for. As a DIYer who has remodeled and re-colored multiple kitchens, there is nothing like white appliances to match most colors and building materials. I also agree that they are really easy to keep looking spotless! Love white appliances!
The white appliances we used to have were definitely easier to keep clean (or clean-looking). That said, our new stainless/stainless+black trim looks a heck of a lot nicer in our new kitchen: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=413742908043&set=a.383931308043.169218.837823043&type=1&theater
White or stainless doesn't matter if you are buying a cheap fridge it will look cheap; if you are buying a high-end fridge it will look more expensive and last longer. When we are talking 6k for a high-end fridge will it matter if it's a coupled hundred less for white? Not really.
Each space is different, you need to think about how it will look in your house.
The white fridge in the photo looks great in this house, for the record I have the same fridge at home in stainless steel and it looks great in my house but I don't have any kids to fingerprint it.
http://single-girl-gourmet.blogspot.com
IMO username26 and Lacey8685 nailed it. Quality appliances and furnishings never look dated to me.
Some family members put a sub-zero fridge in their kitchen in the mid 70s. It finally gave up just a couple years ago. That 30 year old appliance looked just as perfect in that kitchen in 2008 as it did in 1978.
As someone who has never had anything but crappy white refrigerators in every place I have lived since I was a child, I wish just once to have stainless steel, so much nicer looking than the white fridges.
Oh - and if white IS the new stainless steel, prepare for a price hike.
"Counter depth" fridges were the norm for many years. Then they made 'em bigger. Then they started producing 'normal' size fridges, calling them counter depth and charging a premium price.
"Snowflake White" appliances at a 25% upcharge anyone?
I have to agree with the disdain for the current trend of cheap SS appliances. Really a huge pet peeve of mine. I'd rather have regular black appliances over cheap SS with the ugly black trim. That being said, I'm a sucker for high end really good quality appliances. You can tell just by how they look, and no matter how old school they are, they look really good. For something I'll use EVERYDAY, I'm willing to spend a good deal more on the quality stuff, except that I can't afford to do that. So in the meantime, I'll stick with mid-range black appliances.
Wholeheartedly agree. White (and other colors) is the new stainless. I'm so bored with the predictable stainless-granite-wood trinity. Also, we MUST know what brands the gorgeous fridge and range from the photos are.
I don't dislike white but I love my stainless. It does go with anything. I have an Electrolux gas range and I looked at the white just now and was not in love at all. I do agree with some other comments though that something well designed will look at least decent years from now regardless of current trends.
The only reason I wouldn't consider a stainless fridge? Can't put magnets on it.
I love the enameled look the appliances have in the picture above.
In my lifetime, I've seen a rainbow of large home appliances: White, pink, turquoise, green, gold, brown, copper, almond, black, stainless, and white again. Please, just give me white. Thanks.
Okay, I don't have OCD, but stainless is soo finger print friendly and hard to keep clean.
I know how to clean it, but it sure would be nice to do it less often - This simple new white look is just the thing for me.
I much prefer white to stainless, but I've never liked the cold commercial feel of stainless.
I ADORE that fridge, I had no idea that glossy white appliances even existed. Unfortunately as a renter I'm stuck with my low end "stainless" appliances with the tacky black sides...but when I do purchase a home these newer white options might be the way to go.
The color of appliances have never been a deal breaker for me, but I've also never had the luxury of being able to afford Viking or Sub-Zero. I guess I'm lucky that white is back...my entire kitchen is decked out in white appliance, cabinets and flooring right now. Very bright and airy, although a bitch to keep clean.
I love white appliances, and I find they're easier than stainless or black to keep clean. I believe that kitchens should be warm and light, and it's easier to achieve that look with white appliances. That said, I've noticed a trend towards appliances with wood facades that blend seamlessly into the cabinetry, which is certianly a nice look.
@Lacey8685, @Katherine from PartSelect.com: when someone includes a link as part of their post, I a) find it annoying and b) give much less weight to what they say, since there's a decent chance that they're just pimping their blogs/selves/crap. Please keep your self-promotion off AT.
I like white, but only occasionally with white cabinetry, oddly. I have never liked the looks of two whites together, particularly if one of them is dominated by the other in the room (appliances vs. all kitchen cabinets). It's especially bad when the appliances are a even a slightly more yellow-white compared to the cabinet color. It looks dirty to me.
Yay. I'm finally in style.
I think if I had small children I would avoid stainless because it does show fingerprints, but I love the look of stainless. You just have to remember to use the handle when opening and closing the fridge. I just bought a new construction house and I upgraded to stainless appliances not only because I prefer them but also for eventual resale. If you watch House Hunters and Poperty Virgins and other shows like that, everyone is always saying they want stainless appliances.
But the houses on House Hunters and Property Virgins are usually running the gamut of either boring or really ugly, so I kind of use that as a reverse guide.
As a person with a dark haired cat, I much prefer black or stainless :-P. I do think the stainless trend has clearly jumped the shark when you can get a coil electric stove in stainless...it used to mean high end, but CLEARLY does not in that case!
White can look great and so many of the SS appliances are cheap. When SS meant commercial, that was one thing; now it is cosmetic. On the designTV shows, if you don't have SS, granite, and a gas stove, you are destined for a design disaster. Truth is, it should be personal choice. White can look great and is easy to keep clean. Electric glass top is sooooo much easier to clean than gas and they are much better then they used to be. Quartz counters are much easier.
OK, sorry, but I finally stopped obsessing and torturing myself, not to mention deluding myself, by trying to reconcile white or black appliances in my kitchen. The truth is I love, love, LOVE stainless steel--it always was and always will be the buzz word and the defining note of elegance, class, and beauty in kitchen appliances. There isn't a model home or any truly beautiful home in a magazine or a TV that doesn't boast stainless steel appliances. Bottom line---I want it, I deserve it, I can afford it, and I won't be happy with anything else. I had my "epiphany" when I took a look a look at the cheesy white stove with black trim and door that was in th homeI just purchased. Although the junky appliances are all brand new, I felt i could give them away (or throw them away). I knew there was no way i was going to put granite counteetops and expensive hardwood or ceramic tile flooring in a kitchen with anything but stainless steel appliances. Now I'm happy!
@ Shanalulu - I disagree. I often find interesting and useful information from the links people provide here, so I don't mind them at all. If you don't want to read them, you can ignore. What's the difference between the editors linking me to a blog or a fellow reader linking me, if the subject is pertinent to the article in question?
I stay away from homes that have CURVED handles and black trim on stainless appliances as it makes them seem so cheap/tacky/cheesy. Professional appliances have straight "non-cutesy" handles. I have the same white glass front Jenn Air French door fridge with freezer on the bottom as the author and it looks great with my stainless pro range. Both have the signature straight handles which is what I've put on my kitchen cabinets as well. It all ties in visually and you can use the handles for towel racks as well. I also have butcher block counters so my kitchen looks very much PRO. As a former bistro owner, I DO cook a lot on my pro gas range (but don't bake).
Granite counter tops will someday be considered passe' /so "2000-2010s". And subway tile and glass tile backsplashes may also go out vogue. But if you like what you choose and it looks good, don't worry. I personally don't want granite counter tops because I love cooking and want to have "a kitchen that works" like a pro kitchen. How many restaurants have granite counter tops????
Hothamwater, I have the same fridge as in the photo and it's a JennAir. I saw it was selling for $3300.00 at Sears in Laurel, MD. (in 2011, I think). I got mine @Carlson's in Santa Monica in 2005 (for around $2700.00). I have been really happy with it.
I love white...but I'd really like them to come out with a slightly off white. I feel that would go great with some of the warmer colors in kitchens today. Stainless is way too cold and sterile looking. And I haven't walked into one kitchen yet where I haven't spotted fingerprints...my friend said keeping her stainless looking good is a full time job.