Appliance Color

[BabyBearsMom]

I mentioned in my other thread that DH and I need to get a new dishwasher. All of the appliances in our kitchen are white and less than 10 years old. I don't love that they are white because the cabinets are white, so it is kind of white overload for me. I would much prefer it if the appliances were black or stainless steel. We will probably live in this house for another 5 years but not more than 8 more years (we have a balloon loan so we really need to leave before that comes due). DH thinks we should get the dishwasher in the color we like and then replace the other appliances as time goes by to the same color. I think that our fridge and oven (the only two other appliances) are in perfect working order and should last us until we leave the house and we will be trying to sell a house with mismatched appliances. What do you think?

[vludmilla]

Definitely start buying what you like and don't bother matching what you don't like. If another appliance goes in a year, you might wish you had started to move in the direction of what you wanted.

[vludmilla]

If you are going to sell in a few years, it may make sense to buy stainless even though it won't match. Buyers seem to perceive stainless as higher end even though it isn't always so. A brand new white appliance might actually be perceived by buyers as old.

[BabyBearsMom]

If you are going to sell in a few years, it may make sense to buy stainless even though it won't match. Buyers seem to perceive stainless as higher end even though it isn't always so. A brand new white appliance might actually be perceived by buyers as old.

It's so funny, my DH literally just texted this to me about 15 minutes ago.

[joules]

If you decide to go stainless, there is always the "fake" stainless finish. We recently replaced our dishwasher (changed to stainless) and I found out what everyone was complaining about. It's so hard to keep clean. So then when we replaced our fridge, I got the fake stainless finish. Since the 2 are not next to each other you don't notice that they don't match 100% at all. SO much easier to keep clean. Also when at the store I did a small test....I just ran my fingernails lightly on the stainless fridge and it scratched so easily!! (i didn't do it hard at all). Then did the same thing on the fake stainless and no scratches at all. No fingerprints either. I was a bit skeptical about going "fake" but at the stores, I really couldn't tell the difference in most cases (depends on the brand....we got a Samsung fridge). And a lot of the times the fake looked better because the real ones were so dirty with fingerprints.

We decided to go with stainless because all our appliances were/are on their way out and we plan on selling in a few years. We couldn't do black because the kitchen is the only room in the house that doesn't' get any natural light. And for re-sale value the stainless seems better than the white.

[crl]

Am I the only one who thinks stainless has become so ubiquitous that it must be on its way out? All white kitchens have shown up in design magazines in every decade. I think they are a classic. I also think all matching appliances is generally a more finished look and will show better for resale. Since you are planning to sell, I would stick with white.

Catherine

[Binkandabee]

I would stick with the white. It's not likely that all your appliances will need to be replaced by the time that you move.

[Tinochka]

We sold our house last year and our realtor told us to buy SS... People like SS.

[ourbabygirl]

We had this same problem last summer- I might have even posted about it here.
The house was built in '99, and all appliances are white (which I'm fine with- I'm more of a white than a stainless or black appliance person).
Ended up needing a new dishwasher last summer, and ended up getting another white one so they'd all match... there's no saying how long our oven, microwave, and fridge will last, and that's a lot of stuff to switch colors on. Though we did get a nice version of a white one- one of those drawer dishwashers, so we can do two small loads at different times, which is really nice with kids and all their sippy cups, etc.!

[AnnieW625]

Am I the only one who thinks stainless has become so ubiquitous that it must be on its way out? All white kitchens have shown up in design magazines in every decade. I think they are a classic. I also think all matching appliances is generally a more finished look and will show better for resale. Since you are planning to sell, I would stick with white.

Catherine

:yeahthat: White looks nice and crisp. I would like think that SS is on it's way out too. I love bright white kitchens and if I wanted a contrast as far as appliances go I think I would go with black.

I did vote for keeping them white, but that is the practical side of me.

In your case just go with what your heart tells you and replace it with what you want, but just remember if you change colors now and your other appliances last until you sell you should plan on budgeting to replace them mainly for resale value.

[wellyes]

I'd get white if you're definitely selling. Mismatched appliances are a bigger real estate sin than white ones, for sure. I also think stainless steel in a white kitchen (unless it is truly upscale) can look tacky, and black wouldn't work.

[lucybabymamma]

I say, go with stainless, even though it can be kind of pain to keep shiny-looking -- it matches white, is seen as "newer" and is what buyers want to see and probably will for quite a while.

[hellokitty]

I'd get white if you're definitely selling. Mismatched appliances are a bigger real estate sin than white ones, for sure. I also think stainless steel in a white kitchen (unless it is truly upscale) can look tacky, and black wouldn't work.

:yeahthat: I would hope that the color of your appliances wouldn't be what breaks the deal for a potential buyer. If so, it's probably a sign that they are going to be a PITA to deal with anyway, lol.

[essnce629]

If you like stainless then buy stainless and replace stuff with stainless as time goes on. That's what we did when we bought our house last year. When we bought our house the only appliance that was stainless was the dishwasher. The fridge, oven, and over-the-range microwave were all white. It didn't concern us since we knew we would eventually replace stuff. The fridge that was here was small and old and we knew we'd eventually replace it with a stainless french door model. We did that in the first 6 months. The microwave was already broken when we moved in, so we replaced that with a stainless one immediately. The dishwasher was already stainless and I was glad I wouldn't have to worry about replacing it. So now the only appliance in our kitchen that is white is the oven and we won't replace that for at least another year or more since there's nothing wrong with it.

[zag95]

I'd stay with white- depending on how old your other appliances are. To replace other appliances that work perfectly fine, with stainless steel, seems like a waste.

I, like other pp, am not a huge fan of stainless steel. I have all white appliances.....

[american_mama]

I said buy white because it sounds unlikely your other appliances will need replacing in the short time before you are quite likely to move. In general, I agree that stainless steel is perceived as better for re-sale, but that a matched kitchen matters more.

You may be able to have the best of both worlds. Do dishwashers today come with reversible front panels? Mine does, but it's quite old. You could buy stainless steel, so you have that for resale, and buy a white panel so that it matches now.

In my case, my appliances are all old and almond/buff except the dishwasher and oven door were both black . For unknown reasons, the front panel did reverse, but to the wrong color. A new dishwasher panel would have cost $40 from an appliance repair store, but I came up with an alternative. I bought high heat spraypaint in almond from Lowe's for $5 and painted the wrong side of the dishwasher panel, keeping the black as a back-up. It looked great! I also removed the oven door and painted it (took six coats) but it looks great too. The paint is rated to 2000 degrees or something (it's designed for fireplace screens, barbeques and the like) so I am not concerned about bubbling from the heat.

Anyway, hope the reversible panel option helps the OP and the high heat spraypaint might help someone else.

[JTsMom]

I would go with SS. If you move before you replace the other stuff, and you think it will be a problem, you could always sell your current stuff on CL and by a used SS replacement to put in.

I have a vintage white stove with a chrome top and SS for everything else. I'm happy with the way it looks, and we get a ton of compliments on it.