Stainless steel or Black Appliances?

[greyshep]

Hey guys,

We are building a home right now and have come to the point where we need to make a decision on appliances.

We cant decide what color to go for. We are debating between Stainless Steel or Black.

My fear with stainless steel is a) kids fingerprint festival b) Is stainless steel the new avocado, lavender or harvest gold of the 70's.

I am not too sure about black either but am less worried about the fad effect on that color.

I dont think we want white as it shows dirt very easily and we kind of want a change.

Any thoughts from the peanut gallery?

[BlackArcher101]

Impossible to tell you which one is best for you, since you gave no info on what your kitchen looks like.

edit: I like stainless/brushed and black equally, but the decision to use on over the other is based solely on the rest of the kitchen. I've used a Black fridge, and fingerprints weren't that big of a deal. Unless you have kids of course.

[Bobblehead]

Walk through an appliance store and look for fingerprints, especially on a busy day (so you know it wasn't recently cleaned).

[Deelow]

Leave Harvest Gold alone.

[BlackEleven]

We went through the exact same debate when we moved. We ended up going with stainless steel since the colours in the kitchen were already dark and we didn't want everything to look too dark.

Fingerprints are a bit annoying, but it really doesn't take long to clean with those cleaners made specifically for stainless steel -- takes me maybe 5 minutes to do the fridge.

As far as a fad, you can't really predict those things, so you might as well just go with whatever you think looks best now.

[Cowboy89]

Depends on the surfacing of each appliance but a smooth glossy black appliance will be worse on fingerprints than a Stainless steel one. As far as fads go I don't think Stainless steel can be as dated as the other fads you mentioned. Reason being is that every commercial kitchen pretty much has and always will have stainless steel appliances. Black is a little more 'home-like' and can be timeless as well. Tough call.

[greyshep]

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

Impossible to tell you which one is best for you, since you gave no info on what your kitchen looks like.

edit: I like stainless/brushed and black equally, but the decision to use on over the other is based solely on the rest of the kitchen. I've used a Black fridge, and fingerprints weren't that big of a deal. Unless you have kids of course.

Well our builder hasnt gone over kitchen colors with us yet. We are likely doing lighter maple cabinets, with a ceramic tile floor that is fairly dark.

Yes we have 3 kids and my wife looks after some kids during the day so she can stay home. So the fingerprint issue is certainly there.

[ken0042]

I have black right now, and will be swapping out for stainless as soon as appliances wear out and/or when I just get tired of them.

[BlackArcher101]

Originally Posted by greyshep

Well our builder hasnt gone over kitchen colors with us yet. We are likely doing lighter maple cabinets, with a ceramic tile floor that is fairly dark.

Yes we have 3 kids and my wife looks after some kids during the day so she can stay home. So the fingerprint issue is certainly there.

Go stainless or brushed steel then. Black appliances with a dark floor would be too much.

[greyshep]

Originally Posted by Deelow

Leave Harvest Gold alone.

Lol. No worries. I grew up surrounded by avocado appliances and purple bathroom fixtures. My parents have regaled me with tales of the bonus free upgrades they received in these items at the time.

Classic.

[troutman]

Black:

http://www.futureshop.ca/multimedia/...r/10065006.gif

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by greyshep

My fear with stainless steel is a) kids fingerprint festival b) Is stainless steel the new avocado, lavender or harvest gold of the 70's.
I am not too sure about black either but am less worried about the fad effect on that color.

Don't worry about the fad effect. Stainless steel is a neutral tone, meaning it will go with pretty much anything now AND down the line. Harvest Gold, Avocado etc, are not neutral colors, therefore they definitely have more of a fad effect.

For example, look at the Nexen tower downtown...that thing was built almost 30 years ago, yet because it uses a neutral steel color combo, it looks fresher then virtually all of the tan/gold/brown towers of the 80's.

Same goes with black, but I think stainless stell always looks nice in a kitchen. It has a much more professional quality about it

[greyshep]

Here is a photo of our future kitchen. (this is the showhome)

We were considering a similar floor color, different cabinets though. Since we have seen it in black its hard to shake that from the mind for some reason. Well the extra $900 its gonna cost us for the stainless has a bit of an influence as well of course.

[Flames09]

BLACK, SERIOUSLY BLACK. Fingerprints will annoy the heck out of you, we have a stainless steal microwave but black stove, dishwasher and fridge and the microwave drives us nuts.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Stainless has a great wow factor for resale, if that's at all a concern. No one ever gets excited about black appliances.

One weird factor - "stainless" is actually brushed aluminum. Fridge magnets won't stick, so no kids artwork unless it's taped on. Not that that's entirely a bad thing.

[Bill Bumface]

Stainless for sure with dark floors. I don't have kids, but I think I've cleaned my fridge twice in the two years I've had it due to finger prints. I have a black handle, so it doesn't show finger prints at all.

[Jiggy_12]

A smooth black color is almost as bad as stainless steel for fingerprinting and smudging, textured isn't so bad. Black also shows the dust alot more.

Stainless is the most popular color by far in Canada and won't slow down anytime soon. It won't be like harvest gold or avocado green...no worries there.

For resale value, nothing touches stainless.

To curb the fingerprints you can use a couple things. Lemon pledge works well and is easy to find. Stainless steel magic is another cleaner that really does work.

[Burninator]

Stainless Steel.

Stainless steel will match virtually any colour of kitchen. It is far more versatile than black. I don't mind black, but stainless steel really makes your kitchen pop. It definitely will give it a more modern touch. In my opinion, black is the poor mans stainless steel.

As far as fingerprints are concerned. I wouldn't put that on the top of the priority list. Kids can be bad for making them, but adults can be just as bad. At least you can train kids.

[photon]

The cleaner we have for the stainless has some kind of anti-fingerprint component and it isn't that bad at all, a lot less than I was worried about and I'm bad for seeing those kinds of things.

[Sylvanfan]

Seeing the showhome I think Stainless is the color to go with. I personally don't think the black and that floor go too well, but thats a preference of mine.