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Please vote! all black appliances - 1 SS?

16 years ago

Here is the dilemma. I did a cheapie make over on my kitchen. When we first moved in we replaced the fridge and DW with black appliances to match the existing appliances.

A year later we redid the floors in the house including the kitchen and replaced the hardware and had the cabinets stained. Overall we are pretty happy with the redo now. All we have left to do is replace the sink and faucet, have a blind made for the window and fill in the gaping whole left by removing the ugly dirty gross trash compactor.

Kitchen before:

Now: (well at christmas. :) )

We need extra fridge space since ours main one is a side by side and we already have an extra freezer in the garage.

They are way more than I would like to spend but I am tired of looking at the whole, even if the cats do love running behind the lazy susan.

Here are my choices:

Option 1 - I like that it has a glass door. I have had a glass door refrigerator before and loved it. Problem is the piece surrounding the glass only comes in SS. It is $200 cheaper than option 2 (including shipping)

Option 2 - no glass door, more expensive, but matches the rest of the appliances:

{{!gwi}}

Which one would you get?

Comments (17)

  • 16 years ago

    Its such a small amount of ss with a black interior and you have a ss sink, so I would get the one with the glass door if thats what you like.

  • 16 years ago

    Even without the price difference I'd go with option one. If you feel you need more stainless than get a stainless sink. If not, it looks as though your hardware is already stainless or at least so in color. I think it will look great! Go for it.
    I wanted all stainless appliances, but the downdraft cook top I wanted only came in white or black, so we went with black in it, the wall oven and dishwasher, with just the side by side in stainless. I love the look.

  • 16 years ago

    I like option #1 much more. It looks more expensive and well made and you can tell at a glance what your inventory is. I don't think to have a mixture of SS and black appliances looks out of place. Actually, I like the look. Our wine cooler is similar in looks to your option #1 and we have bisque appliances. Get the one you like.

  • 16 years ago

    well you can't go wrong with what you like... but I'd pick 2 I like things to match, plus I wouldn't want people seeing inside my fridge I'm not that neat:) Pretty kitchen

  • 16 years ago

    I'm with kjmama, though I do agree that the glass door one looks more expensive. But not only is my fridge a mess, I wouldn't want to keep a glass door clean if it was on doggie level.

    I LOVE what you have done to your kitchen. What kind of flooring is that?

  • 16 years ago

    Yes, definitely go with the SS. I think it not only gives a good counter point to the black, but with so much glass it hardly comes across as a SS appliance, which there would be nothing wrong with that if it only came in that. But the glass door option is so "fun" and new that it will be the focus.

  • 16 years ago

    Wow - thanks all for the responses so quickly! I hadn't thought about it, but the first one does look more upscale.

    The hardware in the kitchen is actually ORB with a cream colored middle. I could not decide for anything what to get and finally was down to the last minute. I like that it matches our counters. I can't seem to find a picture on line. They may have stopped making it.

    I do have a SS sink now, but I HATE it. The plan was to get an almond or bisque one to match the counters and an ORB faucet. I have never liked SS sinks and they alway look dirty to me. I am sure it is in my head, I just like to scrub my sink with Comet. :)

    I am not too worried about the mess, it will be just for drinks so we can free up space in the main fridge.

    This will really be the ONLY SS thing in the room for now which is why I am concerned. Next appliance to be replaced someday will be the cook top. I suppose we could get SS for that if we need some more in the room.

    The floors are prefinished distressed walnut that we had put in to match all the doors, windows and trim in the house. I can't remember the brand, but if you would like it I can ask DH. :)

  • 16 years ago

    Is it an engineered or solid wood? I think what I like about it is the distressed look - and the color.

  • 16 years ago

    I like #1. I think the clear glass makes it look upscale and I don't think it's prominent enough with enough stainless to worry about that.

  • 16 years ago

    I think either one would be fine. However, I don't see where it would go. If it would be next to the DW or close and in line when you look at something straight on I think I would prefer them to match.

    One thing I remember from working in a restaurant is the glass is really nice to be able to see in, but it will get condensation on it when opened a lot. That part would deter me from the glass.

  • 16 years ago

    Thanks Marti8a. THey are somerest floors - I remembered. :) They are solid wood. We have been very happy with them.

    There is not black on the part where the beverage fridge would go. The DW is on the little island part. It is near it, but not on the same row if that makes sense.

    We never had condensation issue with the last glass door fridge we had. I hadn't thought of that. I dont think it will be used all that much though.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Somerset floors

  • 16 years ago

    When they show those appliance pics they normally backlight the glass door items so you can see easily inside what "fits" and plan that while you purchase. In reality, glass front fridges tend to look like a black glossy hole (I don't mean that in a bad way LOL). So what I'm trying to say is that the first will read (design wise) as a black appliance with ss trim.

    As you upgrade or change out other items, I'd shoot for the same look, a bit of SS with black. The black looks great with your cabinets and floor (they sort of disapear). I rarely say this...but I think SS might sort of pop out too much if you had all of your appliance surfaces in 100% stainless.

    I personally would look to something with a bit more black and silver (SS) for that range top when you change it. It disapears a bit too much in the countertop IMO right now. A little relief to the long expanse of cream would be a nice thing.

    I love what you've done with the existing kitchen. It's so warm and rich. So many people shy away from dark colors, especially in a kitchen. I think your kitchen is a great example of how well rich and deep tones can work to make a space inviting. It's really lovely.

  • 16 years ago

    I, too, think you should go with #1 for the reasons others have said.

    I've done almost the opposite in my kitchen. I have stainless steel appliances EXCEPT for the microwave. I didn't want to spend the money on stainless for a microwave so I got black.

    It sits on a shelf separate from other appliances in the kitchen, similar to what you're doing with your refrigerator. I think it looks just fine and I'm happy with my decision.

  • 16 years ago

    boopadaboo, I'd look into a solid surface sink like Silestone. One day I'd like to replace our stainless with silestone. Our counters are Silestone. Right now they don't have our color in the sinks though. Black would be nice, but they don't have that either. (cry)

    Here is a link that might be useful: Silestone sink

  • 16 years ago

    Thanks everyone! I did some digging and found the first one $50 cheaper, which makes it $250 cheaper than the all black on.

    Thanks for the kind words Igloo, I agree, with mixing the black/SS I am sure once the next appliance breaks it would probably be pretty easy to do that!

    I think we are going to go for the first one.

    I don't know why I am hestitant to get one of those integrated sinks. I will have to check out the pricing. They do look nicer when comparing to the drop in sinks.

  • 16 years ago

    I'm late to the party, but I agree with the consensus - #1. When we renovated our kitchen, we needed all new appliances except for a dishwasher. We kept the black dishwasher, and added stainless fridge, range and microwave. I think they look great together. Besides, the glass door saves energy if you have any family members afflicted with "male refrigerator blindness".

    Here is a link that might be useful: MRB

  • 16 years ago

    boopadaboo, you can get those kinds of sinks that drop in too. That's what I'll get. I could have had a "free" undermount when we purchased our counters but the extra cost for them to polish the edge around the sink turned me off. I hate when "free" means spending close to five hundred dollars more than you would have without the "free" sink.