Is the granite/stainless steel kitchen a fad? - Page 2

^That stuff, I expect, will have an even shorter shelf life than granite.

They are fads, but that doesn't mean that they can't be done in a tasteful, untrendy way. dark cabinets, granite and stainless already look a bit dated. Some of those composites are pretty cool, paperboard in particular. GQG-no white appliances?

I've had stainless countertops since the 90s and wouldn't go back. I don't really like granite, but we have a little of it. Our stainless is not shiny, so it doesn't show finger marks. I can also put any hot pan I want on it, which makes it useful. When we first got it, people were like WTF, now everybody thinks it is cool.

One of the benefits of granite is the ability to set hot items just out of the oven on it. I like stainless as well...for my garage. I bought a stainless food prep table on wheels for my car detailing and it works great in the garage. I'm sure it works well for food prep as well.

It' so hard to generalize, I've seen tons of tacky, exepnsive new homes with stainless everything that look terrible, but it's not the materials' fault.

I love the butcher block. I'm sure it will make a resurgence sometime (if it's not already coming back).

I also LOL that as the average family size has shrank, and the amount of meals cooked at home has dramatically decreased, the size of kitchens has exploded. I suppose it's a good way to conspicuously consume.

I think both will continue to have their place in kitchens moving forward. Granite is just so damned functional. It works. It's rough, it's tough, it takes all the abuse you can throw at it. Polished granite is probably superior to any other counter surface when it comes to being bulletproof and low-maintenance. And the fact that it's a natural material will give it aesthetic credibility and longevity. Stainless is more likely to fade deeper out of favor, but its functionality, and its roots in the professional kitchen will mean it also will always maintain a certain amount of credibility. That said, I think we're already moving past both materials as the "must-haves" of the modern luxury kitchen. "Sustainable" engineered countertops made from recycled materials are only going to continue to be developed, and someday their functionality may match, or at least approximate, granite's. Stainless is falling out of favor as well, as better manufacturing techniques allow greater color customization. Still, I don't know that either really rise to the level of a "fad." Borrowing Doc Holliday's analogy, which I think in his case was being used to support the opposite opinion, consider wooden floors. There may well have been a time when people were tearing them out for the fad of the moment (shag carpeting, whatever), but wood has always been, and will always be, a sensible, attractive, classic option. So I think it will be with granite and stainless.

Yeah, I'd agree with that. Both are good materials, and I'm sure they'll continue to be used. But there's a certain combination that's become as ubiquitious as the harvest golds of the '70s. It's that specific look that I think will look very 2000s in the coming years.

Granite will always be more desirable than, say, formica, but I can see a time when the granite/dark cabinets/stainless combo will no longer be much of a selling point.

Are you saying that the extended granite countertop bar thingy with stools going into a "great room" with a "plasma" TV hung over a gas-fed "fire"place are not forever features?

- B

I don't get the comment on fingerprints on st steel. The st st surfaces are brushed, not polished. I've never seen a fingerprint on the door of a sub zero or on the surfaces of a wolf

Depends on where your fingers have been.




- B

The Mexican oil of this is better.


- B

Granite faucets and fridge?

Island, dingleberry.