Really? What's happening? I love my stainless, I have two young kids and find it very easy. Just a wipe with a hot microfiber cloth followed by a dry one. When I used the special stainless products they were always streaky.Once I switched to water and microfiber it was so much easier.

What brand are they? Mine are kitchenaid, maybe other brands are not so easy. Sorry to hear your not happy with it.

I haven't had black appliances with a smooth finish on appliances, but it may not be easier than stainless to keep spotless. Have you talked to people you have had this finish? I agree that a wet rag followed by a microfiber cloth is best for stainless appliances - avoid polishes and sprays. White appliances are best of all but aren't appropriate for every situtation.

I think that stainless is looking very passe now. It is everywhere and while I don't mind the look, I think it is getting somewhat over blown. I saw an ad when I was in New York city recently advertising a service which would paint your stainless steel appliances a color, which I think points to stainless being on it's way out. That said, I notice that high end apartments and such still advertise stainless steel and granite, so I think the market must still be there. I would recommend buying what you like. I had black in my previous kitchen, with black countertops and a medium tone maple cabinet, and it looked great and was not hard to keep clean. Black does show any slight scratch or dent though, so it may not age gracefully. We are redoing our kitchen and not having any stainless steel at all except for the sink.

Still love stainless :)

Black appliances always looked like a blackhole to me. Just big gaps in a kitchen.
White appliances ended up looking yellowed.

Stainless, still the best..

Love stainless and since I've had it for a year, finding it surprisingly easy to take care of. (Of course I don't have kids touching it with sticky fingers.)

The part I'm finding harder to maintain is the shiny black top of my stainless range - it shows every spec of dust and I'm constantly having to wipe it down, even when I haven't done any cooking. For that reason, I will *never* go with black appliances.

Colored appliances are fun, but I think they'll get dated-looking very quickly.

I went with stainless and I'm very glad. I like the reflective quality in my kitchen. I also use the hot microfiber cloth method of cleaning so I don't have the streaks. However, the dishwasher will get nasty with water streaks if you don't keep after it.

All that being said, I frankly think you should put in whatever you think you would like to see in your kitchen and not worry about resale value unless you're planning to sell your house in the near future in a very specific market.

I never did care for it though I got a stainless range and cooktop since there were more options in stainless than anything else at the time (five years ago). I have cabinetry on the fridge and dishwasher so the stainless is pretty limited. I always kind of liked colored appliances but for the fact you could never get the same color when you needed to replace one.

I had smooth black at my weekend lake place and I will attest to the fact it isn't any easier to keep smear free than stainless. Overall though I'd say I probably like black better as long as cabinets aren't really dark.

Though stainless appliances have been around a long time they do come and go in terms of popularity. I think they're about due to fade out again for a while. People just get tired of looking at the same thing after so long.

I hate stainless and would never buy a home with SS appliances unless I also had the money to replace them, so there is a market out there for both SS and black. If you're planning on selling soon, then I would talk to a realtor to find out what sells in your area. If you're going to be in this house for a while, then just buy what you like.

I think white looks better than black.

I had a smooth black refrigerator and it was not at all easy to keep clean compared to the textured black, stainless, or white that I have also had. My sister decided she did not want black after seeing mine.

Black glossy/glass is more difficult to keep clean than SS...speaking from experience here! Every speck of dust as well as every water spot, drip, scratch, etc. shows. If you're OK with that, then get the black.

Large black appliances can look like a black hole if you're not careful.

White is a little better, but my white refrigerator & range handles always looked grungy in my old kitchen, no matter how often I cleaned them.

No, SS is not passe...it's been around for decades! Colors come & go but SS (and white) keep on going!

My current kitchen has a stainless cooktop and dishwasher. And a black oven which shows every piece of dust that comes anywhere near it. My new kitchen will be all stainless. It is so much easier to keep clean than the black is.

I had a glossy black cooktop that I could never make look nice. It was always clean, but it only looked nice when my housekeeper did it. I think she polished it or something. It's easy making my new black glass induction cooktop look nice.

The old fashioned crinkly textured metal never showed anything. Sigh.

Some stainless is easy. Some gets smeary really easily.

Get the look you like best and make it look good. There might be a few like Warmfridge for whom the color of the appliances really matters, but most buyers are looking for location (x3), layout, storage, cleanliness and pleasant decor that they can put their things into without a lot of redecorating.

We had a black glass cooktop in our former kitchen, and it was a real pain to keep clean. The ovens were black glass & looked like black holes.

We bought a lakehouse 12 years ago with white appliances that were then 10 years old. The whites have yellowed. We need to replace the dishwasher. If we get white, it's going to be really noticeable.

Our 3 YO kitchen has either stainless or wood-panelled appliances, plus stainless countertop in the hot & cleanup zones, stainless hood, & stainless sinks. We LOVE our stainless. The color is neutral, the material is sanitary, easy to keep looking nice, patinas well, & we don't have to worry about hot pots on it.

I think you make a good point about the black tending to just disappear...

This is a place I'm buying and doing a minor kitchen makeover. Since it was a foreclosure, all the appliances are gone except for the dishwasher and that is broken. It just seems to me that stainless is everywhere and that it might overwhelm the small kitchen.

It also doesn't hurt that the black appliances cost about a grand less for the exact same models.