Are stainless appliances becoming passe? - Page 5

It just seems to me that every kitchen that was renovated in the ninetieshad such acreages of stainless steel installed that it's become something of a cliché, at least where I live. White is, to me, a very neutral (by nature featureless) and practical "colour", and I can't see how it can be more date-able in a private kitchen than the full-on industrial look. All that said, I like the industrial aesthetic, particularly in kitchens. As you said above, SField, I don't think neither you, Fuuma or myself care too much about it.

It's not too bad, but shipping stuff is fairly easy these days.

Another trend that I know is comming is wood countertops, but not butcherblock. Imagine rare, more exotic woods like bubinga, cocobolo, brazillian rosewood, honduran mahogany, walnut etc...

I considered this for my worktable, but I just kept it SS. My countertops are marble, which is very common in italian and french kitchens. In fact, any half decent pizzaria always has marble.

SS appliances have been passe since every manufacturer of cheap, mass production appliances figured out the consumer was dumb enough to pay more for a thin veneer added to the same cheap appliance, and pretend they have a Sub Zero (which is also passe BTW). It's sorta the same way the mass consumer was duped by the industry to think mega pixel count is important in cameras.

Who cares what it's covered in...quality is all you should be concerned with. You want SS...get a Traulsen...makes a Sub Zero look like a GE. 20 gauge SS on the whole thing...outside...inside...shelves...everything. But more importantly, it's form follows function...this thing is made well, and does what it is designed to do well. It just happens to look sexy in the process.

If that was the only consideration people took into account when buying most things for their home then the world would be a little different. Same as cars, clothes, and many other things. That just isn't the case. Keep in mind that most people also cannot afford a 10k fridge. Because I cook so much, I in fact do care about quality so we agree there. To me, any 'trend' is passe even before it begins, which is why I tend to do things that have been around forever and will never go out of style. For some reason, those types of things and ideas appeal to me.

I will sell you my dijon mustard colored refrigerator.

I want matte black everything. I want my kitchen to look like a black hole. I want to feel a palpable sense of dread when I go in to cook or do dishes.

You tickle me in a way that if women tickled me that way.....

uhh ummm ya so anyway

Not only is it Dijon mustard colored, it has... wait for it...WOODEN handles! And it whistles sometimes! (I can't make out the tune though) I'm willing to part with this gem for like... hmmm... $1800.

Regular, cheap mass market appliances don't "go" with anything. Deciding what colour they are is really just a personal choice, but makes little difference. The only thing you can do is try and match all the appliances themselves, but that might even be worse.

Vintage appliances can make a statement in a kitchen (as well as save money and possibly have better build quality)...serious "pro" or exotic appliances can make a statement in a kitchen as well. But your everyday pedestrian appliance is going to look...pedestrian...any way you do it. The only way to "match" your kitchen, is to have them built behind matching cabinet doors.

What I did when I was designing a kitchen for my open loft years ago, because I A: couldn't afford to instal the serious expensive stuff. and B: didn't want to look at a stove or fridge, was to use inexpensive appliances, but have them fitted to match all the cabinetry doors with an inexpensive conversion kit (at the time, for euro aplliances)...that way all you saw was a wall of nice maple cabinets. To make a "statement", I decided to use heavy duty polished stainless marine cleats as door handles.

But at the end of the day, this person seems to have "resale" as the priority...so my advice is to stick with what the unwashed masses want.

So buy the fuking stainless appliances.

One would think; however, it is important to not underestimate the American Yuppie, who will, when he has sufficient means, purchase a house with two kitchens: one for the staff to cook his meals, and one for 'show' with the finest of all possible implements. He may putter in it occasionally, making attempts at toast and the like, or he may merely use it as a showpiece. When Viking was the yuppie stove-of-the-moment, a good number of them went to this use. Stainless will probably always be 'in' with reasonably serious cooks or those drawn to the style it espouses. It will become passe with hipsters the moment they move on to something new. ~ H

That's when you buy an Aga: (they don't do stainless)



I had the Viking stainless in a home of mine, along with stainless everything else. I did it because that is what the market wanted. As someone mentioned the stainless is a b1tch to keep clean if you do any amount of cooking.

The problem arises when a serious cook wants future resale value. I am not serious so I was able to keep things looking nice. My mother is a serious cook and her 6 burner Thermadore looks like it has been in hells kitchen for 40 years, even though it is only about 15 years old or so. But then real cooks don't worry about resale value or appearance, just performance. If she were to move, even though the range works great, she would have to replace it because the buyers would not be able to understand why it doesn't look like the one in the magazine.

I am quite past the look. I will never get big box stainless appliances again. I much perfer some of the italian designers out there for kitchens, who use stainless more judiciously.

An anglophile professor of mine was very excited when he got an aga. I didn't really understand the appeal--what is it?