Are stainless appliances becoming passe? - Page 6

Calm down please. You are mixing cheap stainless-steel-like looking products covered with polyurethane for real stainless steel apliences of professional kitchens that could be cleaned with a steelwool.

Your comment about marble in kitchens also deserves a reply. Italians have them in every cheap restaurant because it is cheap. However it is not durable nor hygenic for use in modern kitchens.

They are very impressive and some English I know do love them.

Here is an inside look from their website:

http://www.aga-ranges.com/aga/inside.asp

I love the way they look, but I fear it would take me an hour each time to figure out how to boil some water. And the ovens seem smallish to me. I think one must approach this range with a different mindset than what I consider to be a more conventional one.

Our appliances are all white. We have black granite countertops and white cabinets. The white brightens up the place. It works for me.

After living through the 60's and 70's I will never buy colored appliances.

Stainless may go out of popular fashion but it will never become like avocado green because it is a derivative of professional kitchens. It may not be the rage but it will still make sense.

Aga?

Talk about yuppie status symbol. At least Viking and the like are practical.

Over the summer I visited a friend in Geneva whose refrigerator/freezer doors looked like cabinet doors. It was a cabinet depth applicance. Cool.

Any half-assed kitchen cabinet dealer should have them these days (or can order them), as it is fairly common practice. There's not much to it...it just allows the cabinet door hinge and the fridge door hinge to swing in unison. It's basically just a slider that attaches the inner part of the cabinet door and the outer part of the fridge door. Since your new fridge is cabinet depth, it could be a good candidate. I'm pretty sure the fridge needs to have a flat door, and the handle needs to be removable. Just order a matching cabinet and door to fit it (probably not going to be one, so you may have to have that part custom cut/fitted). If done right, it really doesn't cost much, but will have a more dramatic affect to the look of the kitchen than any mass market appliance will. If you have an AGA just as a status symbol, then that is pretty stupid. AGA is not just an ordinary stove...it's a way of cooking. If you use it correctly, not only is it very practical, but an amazing cooking device. Although a lot of the newer ones are programmable, the basic principle behind them is that they are always on, so they can be expensive to operate. This is fine in the UK, where it is generally cool and damp a lot of the time...they are also a heater (and can even be hooked up to an HRV), so a little more of an issue it hot climates, or places with hot summers. They are also practical in the sense that they are very versatile and multi-functional...not just in the methods of cooking (you will never toast bread in a stupid cheap toaster ever again when you have an AGA), but in how it can be run...it can run on electricity, natural gas, oil, wood, coal, peat, kerosene...or even bio-fuel. It's also practical because not only will you never have to buy another stove...neither will your children...or grand children. This makes them environmentally sustainable (not to mention they are also made from 70% recycled materials). They may be a one-time up front expense, but in the long run, they are cheaper (and you'll be a better cook in the process). It would actually be stupidly simpler, as there are no buttons, knobs, dials, or settings to operate. You want to boil water, you just put the pot on the boiling plate. You don't even turn anything on or off. And there are 2, 3, or 4 ovens...so there's nothing wanting there (unless you want to roast a whole cow or something). And yes, AGA cooking is different than conventional cooking ( 80% is done in the ovens)...but well worth getting used to.

Sheerly in terms of resale value, once the stainless fad passes, I'm skeptical it will matter much what professional kitchens look like. When avocado green is in, the kitchen is either avocado green or it's not.

I suspect stainless will take a big hit shortly, as it's ubiquitous, usually non-magnetic, prone to fingerprints and looks awful when dinged. I know more than one casual cook who has it and doesn't like it. Once the industry moves on, stainless will be as dated as any other bypassed trend. High-end appliances will still have appeal for the select few home cooks truly concerned about such things, but the luster will be gone for your average home buyer.

Do you have an AGA?

Who knew appliances could stir such emotions. Ours are stainless, so is our countertop. I got used to stainless working in a restaurant and never wanted to go back. It is pretty beat up because we cook a lot, but it is thick gauge, and the people who made it can come back and polish it up, but I don't imagine we will ever ask them to do so. White doesn't bother me at all, unless it is that cheap pebbly white which kind of sucks. I wouldn't use an AGA stove if somebody paid me. They are too ugly. The fact that people talk about them being more than a stove, like they were some pair of pants with built in socks, or footies or whatever, just makes them that much uglier.

What's the best option for someone who enjoys cooking and wants some semi-serious power without hitting into the "lets buy a giant wolf/viking and be trendy but never cook"?

You can get an NXR, which is chinese assembled of german and American parts.
You can get them sub $2K (a 30 inch) they are kick ass and will deliver the features and near the same performance.
I have a Caldera, which is very high powered, you could also go with Bluestar, more expensive but less than Wolf or Viking, but also much better in performance and you are not paying for the name.

Did anyone give the right answer yet: that it depends on the design/style of the kitchen and apartment?

No...my current situation does not suit having an AGA.




Well, aesthetics aside (many people think they are better looking than anything ever made), a traditional design AGA is a serious workhorse. They are suited to homes or institutions where cooking is an all-day affair. It simply doesn't make sense for the "average" person.



Since when does stainless veneered appliances go better with any kind of style of kitchen more than white or black??? It doesn't. I thought we covered that already?



Induction.

I plan on switching to induction by spring. I'm not interested in those multiple burner built-in cooktops....I think I will buy 3 (for me personally, I don't see a need for more than three) of those pro version portable Viking single burner units (or something else if it catches my eye). I also plan of installing a nice stainless work station in the space where the old conventional stove used to be, and have the induction units on top, with open storage/shelves for an oven and pots/pans underneath.

Ah! I knew a couple in northern England who had an Aga and loved it. But as you say, it is part of a whole lifestyle -- these were pastoral farmer type people and it suited them down to the ground. I have a 6-burner Thermador, too -- I love it, and the backsplash is getting heat rainbows, the burner pans definitely have a layer of carbon on them that is never coming off, yadda yadda yadda. It cooks really really well, though I beat up on it pretty bad and it's due for the third service call of the 11 years or so I've had it. I really don't like flat or mirror-bright white or black -- they are both too much. A nice charcoal grey would probably be my next choice. Agreed on the 'stupid as a status symbol' but not so much on being a better cook necessarily, but you will be better at that particular style of cooking. ~ Huntsman