Carrie, your kitchen is looking so good!

We kept our white fridge when we remodeled even though we went with SS ovens (DW is paneled so doesn't affect things). Since it's only 6 yrs old, we decided not to go to the expense of replacing it. I have never found it to be a problem to keep it clean, likely because the doors are smooth and handles are metal. IME, the more plastic a white appliance has, the harder it is to keep them looking clean, especially if the handle is plastic, and the more likely it won't age well since plastic yellows with age.

I have a white refrigerator that is only a few years old, and the handle is already a different color than the body of the frig. I'm not a fan of that look, but other than that, it is very easy to keep clean. It is the smooth white, instead of the textured type. I think the smooth, shiny finish probably shows smudges and fingerprints more in the right light, but it is so easy to wipe down because the dirt doesn't get caught in the little raised bumps like the older ones.

Lol.. Carrie.. what does it say that I clicked the link.. started reading.. saw the pic and went, "that looks like Carrie's Tuscan door!" .. then scrolled up and saw you started the thread ;)

When ya have 2 kids, keeping anything clean is going to be hard, so not sure but for MY purpose, I just like SS vs white. To me.. too much white can be.. well.. too much. YOUR kitchen is beautiful though ;)

Russ

My Fisher & Paykel stacked dish drawers died this month (14 years old). I could have had them repaired -- and kept the cabinet fronts -- for $600.

I knew this day was coming, and I will *never* do cabinet fronts again on something that WILL fail and WILL be irreplaceable in the same configuration. (I'm trying to keep my cabinet-front fridge from knowing about the dishwasher!)

I asked the tech if the SS fronts are still a fingerprint problem. He said, "Not if you use enough polish on them." Hah! Appliances exist to serve ME, not the reverse! I have never in my life 'polished' the exterior of an appliance. Who even waxes a car these days?

I've ordered white fronts -- $1200 installed. I know they will look like an odd 'tooth' in the middle of my cream cabinets, but now I'm wondering if they are smooth or 'pebbled' finish. (Sinks, cooktop, oven are all white.)

I think that all appliance colors have some degree of issues. Black shows light dust. White shows dark dust. Stainless shows light dust and fingerprints :).

I had a white refrigerator with an orange peel finish along with white (brownish-white?) handles. I grew to hate those handles. Now I have stainless steel and I haven't had any issues with fingerprints. I live alone and if I had a family, they would understand the wrath of touching the stainless steel.

My stainless has a glaze of stainless steel conditioner.

I am very much a white kitchen person. So, my next kitchen I will be more open to white appliances. I realize that I may have to do a serious upgrade. I love the smooth fronts with the metal handles.

Lisa_a - interesting point about plastic handles. My old fridge had plastic handles, and they were the worst, especially the back sides and particularly in the narrow crotches (can I say that word here?) where they attached to the fridge. My new fridge and my new OTR micro have SS (or at least metal SS looking) handles. The oven door is white, not sure of the material, but at least it's shiny.

Russ - :) at least you've got the excuse of kids getting things dirty. I blame the cats as often as I can.

Chisue - good luck with the fridge. You secret is safe with me. :) I guess one benefit to being relatively low on the budget scale is stuff tends to be more easily replaceable & standard...

Michelle - I'm really loving my white kitchen & white appliances. I tend to love wood (as evident in my LR & being unwilling to give up four wood captains chairs, wood table, and wood floors, wood hutch, wood fireplace trim...) but needed something brighter for the kitchen. I also love color (as evidenced by the four different paint colors on the walls of my first floor (not including trim, cabinets & ceiling) too.

Speaking of the white fridge with SS (or something like that) handles: :)

I contemplated (and still am, truth be told) replacing our white fridge handles with SS handles. I checked and I can buy just the handles for around $300. Cheaper than replacing the fridge, especially since it's CD but I can't decide if it's worth the $$ to add SS handles.

As it is, I think my white fridge just kind of blends away. SS handles might make it stand out more. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Hmm. I was leaning towards not spending the money but then I saw your pretty white fridge with SS handles, Carrie. Durn you, lol.

Love the fridge art!

I prefer white appliances. Years ago when I bought my range I found the very last one available meeting my specifications clear across the county. It was just at the time DCS was bought out by F&P. I thought I would have to settle for the stainless at the time. (Ugh) So I convinced myself it would be fine. A few days after I placed the ordr I got a call. The dealer was very apologetic and siad he had "bad news" about my rage. Turned out the one in the warehouse was white. He was stunned that I was so happy at the "bad news". LOL

I recently got a new vent a hood. Struggled with whether to go white or stainless. Stove top and trim is stainless and so is the back splash. Finally decided on white with a stainless trim strip.

I think the reason people have trouble keeping white clean is because they are no longer using auto quality paint on appliances. Too many whites are simply a plasticky coating or white "glass". My range is auto factory white and the hood is a pretty good powder coat so I don't see issues. But I look at some of the appliances on the market today and the whites are cheap looking. I almost think it's purposely done to sell stainless. Ditto on the cheap plastic handles on so many non stainless appliances.I like the white on the Samsung fridges so I will most likely end up going with them. Will also pay to get replacement handles. Found some online for around 57.00 a handle.

Carrie B love what you've done with your narrow kitchen. I plan to replace a six foot window at the end of mine with a door. Nice to see what it will look like.

Carrie, remember proper staging requires a fruit bowl, flowers and pets if you want to meet Houzz standards, lol.

Chisue, I like white appliances in the right kitchen. They look great in Carrie B's, for example. But I decided to go with all SS appliances this time around and I'm so glad I did. I have never had fingerprints on them and I have never polished them with SS polish. I just wipe them with a wet rag when they're dirty and they dry just fine. No water spots left behind either and, no, I don't dry them. And my appliances weren't high end, either. Range is around a year old, the fridge is less than 6 months old, and the new DW is sitting in the new DW location for the last few weeks waiting for DH to plumb so maybe they have some kind of finish or polish on them I might need to renew sometime? I dunno. But, for now, they're easy-peasy to keep clean.

Oh, don't worry, I'm not without a DW right now. The old one is still working away in it's current, crappy prep area location, lol.

Funkycamper - can this count as my fruit AND my flowers?

I tend to like white because it blends more into the background with my white cabinets, and even the best looking appliances, to me, are not as attractive as trees, art or cats.

Carrie, I hope it's not from being dirty! Ack! No I know it's not. It's just the bracket that holds the handle; it is a yellowed color. And I know it didn't start out that way new! I tried to take a picture but my phone is acting up, camera frozen. It doesn't really bother me though. The metal handles on your appliances look great!

When I contemplate getting new appliances for a remodel, the refrigerator is the one that scares me the most to get stainless. My current white one is always covered with smudges and smeary marks that I can see when I look at it in a certain light, and I'm afraid I can't blame my kids, they're too small to use the frig!

Ok here's the pic. You really can't see the discoloration in this picture, but it's just the bracket part that holds the handle since it's a different material.

Nancyjwb - I can see it, but barely. And don't think it would bother me at all - but we're all so different about this stuff, right? The fact that my fridge and microwave handles are SS (or whatever) had no impact on me buying them. If it helps to keep them clean, though, I'm happy with that. As for the look, I don't think I really feel one way or the other about them. They're subtle enough that they don't stand out, and my pulls and faucet are metal (faucet is brushed nickel, pulls are satin nickel, or, and sink is SS... clearly I don't have a problem with mixing my metals.

I like white fridges! They seem more vintage (at least my version of it) and stainless steel just isn't me.

Our dishwasher is black....long story, ordering issues....but I like it! Makes the space seem more grounded and makes it easier to try the fabric under the sink. I need something to balance out that black! LOL

Nancy, I can't really see it in the photo but I know what you're talking about. Our former white fridge handles were that nubby-rough plastic, like teensy dimples in them, that would look like black dots. I would take scrub brush with cleanser and even bleach sometimes to them and they still never got completely white and clean looking again. Drove me batty.

I do wish there were more color choices out there. I don't understand why there isn't. Why not offer a broad range of colors with an upcharge for a choice of non-standard colors? I could even understand if there was a longer lead time to get them. Let's say the manufacturer offers Candy Apple Red but it costs an extra $100 and the wait could be 8-12 weeks to get it. Then they could wait until they have about 50 or 100 or 500 fridges ordered in that red and paint a batch at a time. Sure, if your fridge died today, you might not be able to wait for a red one but if someone is planning a remodel or building, they might be happy to order one ahead of time. With matching stove and DW, of course. I know I would be willing to spend a few hundred bucks for an upcharge for a great color and I bet I'm not the only one.

I have to be the exception here; I am one of those folks who sees a big difference between the tones of appliance white and most creamy/soft/warm cabinet whites, and doesn't like the pairing. It just bothers me! I can like cream and white together if it is the right white, but appliance white, to me, is just wrong.

In a kitchen with cool white or true white, or wood, or fun colors on the cabinets, I think white appliances are fine.

Carrie, after seeing your kitchen I've decided that I like white better than SS for white cabinets. I still prefer SS with wood or non-white painted cabinets though. I also like stoves in cool colors with anything ;)

The intensity and location of the lighting makes the difference in the whites between the cabinets and the appliances just fine or absolutely awful. For some kitchens the natural sunlight will just highlight any discrepancies in a way that will be unattractive for others it will hide everything.

It's the originally-white (then grey, yellow, or brown) soft-ish plastic handles which are the big problem with white appliances. Now that more are switching to white metal or silver metal handles, not so much of a problem.