Burning Question: The Finish Line
This week we’re wondering about your dream kitchen appliances. Namely the finish. Do you lust for sleek stainless steel or prefer the more finger-print-resistant white or black options? And while we’re on the subject, what’s your idea of the perfect fridge design? Is it a side-by-side model or one of those freezer-drawer-on-the-bottom dealies? Do tell.
And we can’t talk about amazing kitchens without sharing the easiest way to spiff up a tired or dated one. Painting those old cabinets will have your kitch looking like new in no time (and contrary to popular belief, it’s not rocket science).
Images courtesy of Lowe’s.
Psst- Don’t forget to drop in on Hamburger’s House to see what Burger’s blogging about today…
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Stainless steel! When we remodeled our kitchen last summer we put in all stainless steel and I LOVE IT. It hasn’t been hard for us to keep clean, but we also don’t have kids. I’ve heard fingerprints can be a nightmare. I use Method’s stainless steel cleaner and it works perfectly.
We went with the single door, freezer on the bottom, and I would definitely do the same thing again. I love having everything in the fridge so accessible.
I love the look of stainless, but hate to clean so I went with Kenmore’s silver mist. The same sleek look, but it’s enamel so cleans up so much easier.
stainless, freezer on bottom.
We have a stainless steel fridge that we purchased about 2 months ago and love it! Even with a 2 year old, the finger prints are not as bad as people make it out to be. I just clean it once a week or so with a stainless cleaner and it’s fabulous. To me, nothing looks better than stainless in the kitchen. We opted for the side by side. My sister has one with the freezer on the bottom and hates it. She complains that it doesn’t hold that much, and there is no easy way to organize it. Everything gets lost and she always has to move everything around to find what she is looking for.
Plain-old-boring-white. Freezer on top, fridge on the bottom. Your standard run of the mill fridge. But it beat the heck out of the dinosaur that was here when we bought the house. That one finally pooped out and the motor must have burned out because it sent out a burning smell that had us running to (insert major home appliance giant here) and slamming the door of said dinosaur rather quickly whenever we needed something inside. And I wouldn’t let hubby get the “ice and water in the door” feature because I’m too cheap. A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the credit card, I always say.
If that white one in the middle were stainless my heart would melt. Nothing falling out of a top packed freezer on your toes and no side by side where you cant fit a platter in the fridge or a pizza in the freezer!
We got new appliances in June – we opted for stainless, french door, with water dispenser, like the first one in your pics from Lowe’s.
The water dispenser sold me. It’s soo convenient.
Our second runner up was a Samsung, top fridge, bottom freezer. However, I imagine the bottom mount freezer with drawers would get annoying, how can you make sure everything fits in properly.
I would love to have stainless steel but when we moved into our house the dishwasher, oven, and microwave were all black and fairly new. I like matching appliances so we decided to go with a black side by side with ice and water on the door and I LOVE it! It’s a smooth shiny black finish – not the marbled texture that you so often find. It’s very sleek so I’m satisfied until it’s time for new appliances. (mainly I’m hoping for a gas stove one day – I can’t handle the ceramic cook top….)
My all time dream kitchen would have a seperate fridge and freezer…enough room for everything. Of course my current kitchen would have to grow to be about twice the size but one can dream, right?
When we bought our house, it came with brand new white appliances. I had always considered that the least desirable of the three options, and although I would prefer stainless steel, I actually like the white better than black in our kitchen. We have a light stone backsplash, and black appliances wouldn’t give the room the same light and bright feel it has now, so I have come to appreciate the white!
stainless steal…love the look and not too bad in terms of cleaning. I’ve had black appliance before and I found it bad for cleaning – everything shows on black! and white it just out of date in my opinion. I have freezer on bottome and love it with double doors on top – awesome. Looks very nice and very practical. I also find the bottom freezer holds more then top freezer.
Stainless, side by side. The freezer on the bottoms don’t make to much ice and I hate bending down. LOL
Stainless. French doors fridge on the top and freezer pull out on the bottom. I absolutely hate the look of the ice and water dispenser, it’s like a blemish on a beautiful face, so naturally we steered clear of that.
Stainless steel is snazzy but I admit I’m kinda bored with it as the ONE TRUE appliance finish. Everyone on those HGTV shows thinks they can’t live without stainless. Personally I’m fine with plain white. Actually my ideal would be one of those fridges that’s built into a cabinet so it’s completely disguised, which makes the finish question irrelevant. Barring that, I’d prefer white, and I like the freezer on top traditional layout. I think they have more room than side-by-sides.
PS My first comment! I love your blog. We just bought a real fixer-upper and we’re doing everything ourselves from plumbing to design…
We have stuck with white. Easy to clean, and bright and cheerful. When we get a new fridge, we plan to get a counter depth, freezer on the bottom model. When I priced them last, there was one model that had an on the door water dispenser, but it had the ice maker in the freezer drawer. That is the kind I want, because the ice maker didn’t take up fridge space.
I have white appliances, in a pickled finish kitchen. So I’m happy with the colour. I would like a fridge with a bottom freezer drawer (mine is on top). I had a side by side once, but wouldn’t again as you can’t fit large trays and plates in if you are entertaining. I have a flat top electric stove … would never had one again. They are so difficult to keep clean. Every mark shows and you have to have special clearning solutions to get anything off. I am one of few who do not lust for stainless.
We have the mat stainless steel look, can’t remember what it is called but its lovely and I use Hope’s Cleaner (BB&B sells it), its amazing, super easy to clean. And without a doubt the french door with freezer on the bottom, best designed fridge EVER – and the most efficient too….I love this fridge.
I have to say I prefer black. I HATE stainless steel! It shows every finger print, every smudge, every little spec – and quite frankly, I’ve got more to manage in my kitchen than keeping the darn thing spotless. They look great in the showroom and that’s the last place they look great.
I prefer a side-by-side with an ice/water dispenser in the door. Those are the only “bells and whistles” that I enjoy. I’m pretty simple to please actually, so when it comes down to brass tacks, an ice maker is the only non-negotiable!
Our dream fridge is stainless steel with the freezer drawer at the bottom. Right now we have an 80′s/90′s almond-colored side-by-side fridge. Someday our fridge dreams will come true…
We have a “titanium” finish LG side-by-side refrigerator which has the same stainless steel look, without the fingerprints!! I really wanted a french-door style refrigerator, but it nearly doubled the price with the ice and water dispenser (a must-have for us).
I hate cleaning stainless steel. If I ever replace my appliances I will pick black instead. So much easier to wipe down. And for the fridge, I would go for freezer on the bottom, side by side on top.
i like stainless steel or the white glass finish, and would be happy with a side by side or freezer on the bottom.
Oh stainless steel–definitely! I love it! We actually just purchased a stainless steel, french door with pull out bottom freezer. We can’t wait for it to be delivered! Our cabinets are all white and once we get the almond (yes, almond!) dishwasher and oven replaced then we’ll have a matching kitchen. We also nicked the water/ice combo in the door–adds HUNDREDS of dollars.
My dream would be a fridge with one of those cabinet fronts in white! To me, stainless steel is cold – I like a warm, cozy, shabby feel :) But that’s just me. I like those new models with a freezer at the bottom.
Right now, I have a tiny apartment sized fridge that is only about 5′ tall, and I have to defrost it!!!! It is ancient! So I would really be happy with any kind of new refrigerator at this point.
I used to think stainless steel, but ever since our baby turned into a toddler, I’m thankful we have black appliances. One day though, I’m going to cover my fridge to match my kitchen: a la The Old Painted Cottage style. Seriously, check it out!
http://theoldpaintedcottage.blogspot.com/2009/08/cottage8-before-after-reveal.html
You have to scroll down until the kitchen part, but it’s worth it! Gorgeous!
We have a stainless w/ freezer on bottom. But we also have a 3 year old and so it seems perpetually dirty. But friends who have black say they deal with the same issue so ??
I LOVE the freezer on the bottom models!! I think its the best idea since sliced bread!! We just redid a bunch of cosmetic things in our kitchen (including painting our cabinets!!) and we inherited some decent white appliances, that I don’t mind right now. I think ideally the space would look super sharp with some black appliances though (our cabinets are white on top and black on the bottom).
I think the look of stainless steel is so worth cleaning smudges. I use stainless steel polish and it’s super easy peasy.
To answer your question — I have my dream fridge! Stainless steel LG with the freezer and ice maker (it’s inside, so no water dispenser) at the bottom and side by side doors at the top. I love it! I don’t know how I lived with, or why they still make, fridges with the fridge part at the bottom.
I’m currently lusting after the titanium LG fridge with freezer drawer on the bottom and french door fridge on top. We had one in a house we lived in a few years ago and it was amazing – everything was easily accessible and the food kept for much longer than it does in our current shoddy old fridge.
We are moving into our new house TOMORROW! And all of our kitchen appliances arrive TOMORROW! I am so excited. We opted for all stainless (I preferred black because of the fingerprint issue with two little ones but hubby wanted stainless and I wasn’t about to argue). We got the frig with the french doors, freezer on bottom and water dispenser. We also got a stand alone freezer to store most of our freezer items – it’s going in the garage.
We just purchased a cabinet-depth stainless steel french door with refrigerator. I definitely like having the freezer on the bottom, but I’m still playing around with how to best store the food when there are two doors and extra door shelves. Tough life :)
Oh how I dream of a french door fridge on top with freezer drawer on the bottom! I like white with darker cabinets for contrast.
Oh, my dream kitchen would have all stainless steel big appliances (fridge, dishwasher, oven) with black small appliances with slashes of red. I absolutely cannot wait to finish grad school, settle somewhere and buy a house!!
We are redoing an entire house and chose stainless appliances. As we aren’t living there yet, I don’t know if this was a good choice or not! Hope so. For the fridge, we went with the French on top, freezer drawer. I polled friends and family about the water/ice dispenser and only got one pro vote, so we didn’t get that.
We actually just bought a new fridge, and I absolutely adore it. It’s a black Samsung with double doors on top and one freezer drawer on the bottom. It’s large enough to chill sheet cakes or party platters on top, and the freezer on the bottom is awesome (you just open it and grab what you need). We have a toddler and the finger prints are hardly noticeable on the black finish, but I do wish that we had gotten one with a drawer lock since I’ve caught her in there a few times trying to get herself some ice!
Stainless, and the freezer has to be on the bottom! It’s so much easier for entertaining.
I agree with Katharine that I’m getting tired of stainless being the one true appliance finish. Some of the new whites look so much nicer than the old ones we remember. Sleek and shiny with more glass and less plastic. And no need to spray specialized chemicals to clean them (such as the stainless steel cleaner so many above mentioned). Our kitchen is small and doesn’t get much natural light, so we are doing an all-white look (cabinets and appliances) that will brighten things up.
Oh, I covet a stainless fridge with the freezer at the bottom. Sigh.
The one we actually have is stainless, freezer on top. But I’d love to have a side by side–just no room for one. Honestly, though, my dream refrigerator is the cute 50s style SMEG (http://smegusa.com/Catalogue/Fridges.aspx)…along with the oven that Brian Boitano has on his cooking show.
We have stainless steel and I’m a fan. We bought one of the french door bottom freezer fridges when we moved into our house and I love it. The only downside is that people have a hard time figuring out where the ice is, but we didn’t want to spend the extra cash for water and ice in the door.
Oops, my link went all weird. It’s http://smegusa.com/Catalogue/Fridges.aspx
I would have to say Black. I have animals that track in so much dirt and I am constantly cleaning up after them. So black would hide a lot for me.
I do like the oil rub bronze appliances also!
My ideal appliance finish would be the vintage Harvest Gold of my current refrig and cooktop. When we moved into our house, I wasn’t really feeling it, but we couldn’t afford new appliances. Now I LOVE the color, but they desperately need to be updated and we can’t find any line that makes that color. Any advice?
(You can take a peak at them here: http://shellblogshop.blogspot.com/2009/09/midweek-midcentury-5th-anniversary.html)
I’d go with stainless steel but my husband would pick white!! Say’s it’s easier to keep clean. :) When it comes to design I always liked the freezer-drawer-on-the-bottom until I saw it in person at my friends house. It’s nice on the outside but once you start putting stuff in it somethings just don’t work well so now I’d have to say a side by side one. :)
I like the European style that looks like cabinetry. I don’t like showing off appliances. If I have to, I prefer white or cream that matches white or cream cabinets. I’d rather the kitchen look like a cozy room than a work space. Now, if I only had the money to renovate our kitchen. Oh, maybe you would know a good solution for our kitchen. Our house was built in 1949. The kitchen cabinets are dark, flat-front laminate. Yuck. I’m not sure if I can paint them. I’m at a loss. Short of ripping the kitchen apart (which we can’t afford at the moment) I’m not sure what to do. Any thoughts?
I actually would love colorful appliances. The white, black, stainless steel varieties seem so bland. I love the colorful washer/dryers I’ve been seeing, so why not bring it into the kitchen?
My husband and I bought all new appliances last year. We bought the “stainless steel look” appliances and they look great. They have the look of stainless, but the fingerprint resistance of other finishes. Oh and have the price! They have black hardware and trim that give them a sleek modern look too.
sorry all, in my comment above I meant to say “half the price!” forgot to proof read :)
Great question! I actually have very strong opinions about this, much to my husband’s amusement. I prefer white – its so much more classic. Stainless steel has been incredibly overdone, much like cherry wood cabinets and dark granite. Plus the quality of the steel has gone downhill. Though, let me point out, for white, I much prefer the non-textured. The smooth white can be so gorgeous. (Now I just wish they made a quality looking stove in white.)
As for the set-up, I hate side-by-side. They are so incredibly unusable. Maybe its just b/c we eat waaay too much pizza, but if you can’t fit a frozen pizza box in the freezer, what’s the point? (And, no, turning it sideways doesn’t cut it since it makes all the toppings fall.) Again, side-by-side seems the rage, so its hard to find the freezer on top models which don’t look dated and cheap. So, I default to the french door style. Though, I wish the french-doors were a little better for drinks – the cartons are so difficult to fit.
If you can’t tell, I just bought a refrigerator, and it is a gorgeous french door w/ smooth white exterior. A thing of beauty! Ha, now I should really worry about more important things. :)
we had to buy a new dishwasher recently and we decided to go with stainless – so i’d like a stainless fridge so we have matching appliances. i will admit that a large part of that decision was for resale. we will probably be selling our house in a few years and people seem to be drawn to the stainless. i prefer lighter/brighter kitchens though so i rarely like black appliances.