I prefer black appliances to stainless. With 3 kids, stainless is harder to keep clean. What are your cabinet handles? If they are black, with those, and the black flecks, the black appliances would be fine.

Here is a photo we found which features Black Appliances with White Cabinets. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the picture! I like it & it even has the style of doors I want & nickel pulls. That helps with the visualization I needed. Besides the kitchen remodel, we are putting in hardwood floors throughout the whole house, painting every room, and replacing missing and outdated light fixtures, faucets & vanities. It's a 30 year old house that had been foreclosed on so it needs a lot of TLC. I am trying to save money anywhere I can. This combo will help a lot.

Sounds like you have a great plan and your in the right place since Houzz will give your great inspiration. Please let us know if you ever need help selecting the right appliances. We are always here to help. Best of Luck! http://www.plessers.com/

If you are going after the "country" style, reconsider black appliances. They are the ultimate contrast to white and bring a more transitional or contemporary feel to the kitchen. Either white or stainless steel would blend better in the country style. White appliances with white cabinets can be tricky because the whites can be off just enough to throw the color combination off kilter.

Since you are buying a complete kitchen, you will have negotiating power to ask for stainless steel at the black price. Or consider a frig (GE Profile or Kitchenaid Architect Series) and DW that takes wood panels. You don't have to do the entire cabinet door profile since you have flat recessed panels on your cabinet doors. Then go with a slide-in or drop-in (no backsplash with controls) stainless stove, hood and microwave.

I think since you are remodeling most of the house and it sounds like a large investment, I would really go with stainless steel. Black, while cheaper, looks cheaper and will date a kitchen. Stainless appliances can be found with more traditional arched pulls, etc and really compliment an elegant country kitchen. Choose stainless country knobs, and you can still go with a granite your describing and a more country backsplash.

Thanks to all for the comments. It gives me things to think about which is good. I don't want to get it all assembled & not like it when I'm done. I'm trying to get what I want lined up because we have been waiting for what seems like forever for the bank to finish the paperwork. When they are done, I know I'll have a lot of decisions & I don't like making them quickly. My pick with money not being a problem would be shaker style honey hickory cabinets with brushed nickel pulls and a tin backsplash. I'm sure the stainless appliances would look best with that option since I would already have the pulls and backsplash in that color. Thanks Scott Design for saying I could negotiate the price of appliances. I hadn't thought of doing that although I know some places that will price match plus 10% more off. I'm going to have some places price me the white vs the hickory cabinets & also appliances before I make my final decisions. I'll probably go with hickory if the price is not a lot higher.

I'm not exactly sure what type of counter tops I want either. I really like the look of the seamless sinks that go with an acrylic counter. The thought of not having to clean around the edges of an insert sink sounds wonderful to me! I have seen these tops in show rooms & they look good. They have a granite type look with the colors they come in. Does anyone have this type of counter & can tell me how durable it is? I'm not a big fan of actual granite for a couple of reasons: 1-It can contain radon which is not worth the risk, 2-You have to seal it occasionally. I'm all about low maintenance! What other options do I have for counters that I wouldn't have to seal & they would not stain? Can I get a seamless sink with any other top? I don't want tile or concrete counters. I'm liking the acrylic unless someone tells me horror stories. Is laminate just out of the question anymore?

I can't speak to laminate, but quartz is pretty much zero maintenance. With a zero reveal undermount sink you are not going to have issues with cleaning around the sink and you can just brush crumbs right off the counter into the sink. I have silestone and am happy with it.
P.S. I agree with the above comments to go with stainless. It is more neutral and will look more updated.

How much maintenance is silestone and does it stain? I like having lots of options.

Silestone is the same as engineered quartz, which as sam0705 notes, is basically zero maintenance. It isn't supposed to stain, though I can't vouch for that personally.

There is no maintenance or sealing. I just clean it with 409. Mine is white and I have had no issues with staining. I've only had some hard water marks around the sink but I think that would be the case with any counter. Using trivets is suggested for hot pans and crock pots.

Nice. I'll put that on my list of options.

Don't like the black appliances pic above.... had em... went with Stainless commercial built in appliances, Timeless.

looking for the black refridgerator which is textured and shows no fingerprints also a black kit sink any ideas?

I have black appliances now & I actually like them. I know stainless will look better in a new kitchen though. Another problem with stainless, and its small, is that you can't put magnets on them. We put all of our sports & work schedules on the frig so we will see them. I guess I will just have to incorporate a bulletin board somewhere.

Hi there - we did a simple upgrade to our kitchen a few years ago and chose white cabinets and black granite because we had a white refridgerator that we didn't need to replace. Other appliances are stainless with black knobs. (Years ago many stainless appliance had a lot of black parts and I like that look coated to solid stainless.) Depending on the size of your kitchen and the lighting, you might consider white.

Here are some pictures to see what we have to work with. We originally thought we would just paint the cabinets again, get a new counter top and appliances and be done. We had already decided to lay gunstock oak throughout the whole upper floor. (I'm very set on this so that will not change.) We took another look at the cabinets & decided they needed replaced. They are old 80's dark brown laminate material that has been painted white. I haven't actually got any estimates yet but that will happen soon.The lighting in there is very good. The double window over the sink lets in a lot of light. There's a window centered on the end of the house that is more in the living area and there are french doors opposite the kitchen in the living room. We have decided to knock down the wall between the kitchen and living room so its one big open room. We will replace it with a peninsula with bar stools on the living room side because we will have to put a support beam and post there. I like peninsulas and the support post will look good at the end of it. (I've looked at a lot of kitchen books!) I'm not real sure of the rest of the layout yet. I will have to change it some because of adding the peninsula. The sink and dishwasher spot really can't be moved because the basement ceiling is finished & we are not cutting into it. I like where it is anyway. The refrigerator will have to have a new spot. I know some people put the stove on their island, but I don't like that. I want it as a work surface for myself & the kids for homework and breakfast. Changing the layout to make it work and trying to keep cost down as much as possible are my main problems. We are doing a lot of the work ourselves because we are not in a huge hurry & we have talented friends and family to help. We should be able to start work on it in a couple of weeks & hope to be in it by the end of September. We are doing a lot of painting too. If anyone has any more suggestions, I would love to hear them. The more options I have, the better I feel about making decisions.

Sorry about the sideway pic. It is saved the right way. Here's a couple more pics.

The last of the 4 pictures and the first of the 2 pictures show the wall that we're taking down. Its the one with all yellow paint & the white chair rail going down the middle of it, not the one with the gold & yellow paint. That's an outside wall.

white kitchens with stainless appliances look clean, modern and very put together, where as the black seems a little too harsh and outdated. black can also be too much of a contrast.

Do you have a Sears Outlet store near you? Sometimes you can get great deals on appliances there..not just Sears brand. I'm not crazy about stainless myself...I get "shadowing" on my fridge which to me isn't "stainless" and stainless needs to be cleaned constantly. . Black appliances will show a lot of fingerprints too. I have a black gas cooktop with a black glass top and it drives me crazy...constant cleaning. I agree with an earlier poster that white is more country.

I like those pictures NIcole. I'm now leaning toward the stainless. I've seen where you can get refrigerators that don't show fingerprints now. I'll look into that. My mom has stainless and I've tried cleaning the refrigerator. I just doesn't come clean. I'm really trying to decide the frig location now & how to make a peninsula transition smoothly into the corner that once had a frig in it. Can't picture that. Ideas?

Sketch a floor plan with dimensions and window/door locations in dark ink. Take a picture of it and attach to this thread. We can take a look.

I don't have my measurements with me today but I will try to post them tomorrow. Thanks!

Black is nice, just fine, as appliances, and counter with texture in it. With the shaker, or mission style cabinets of warm colored, or cherry colored wood, it could give it an 'Asian' look, and feel... very nice!..

Can I see kitchens with black stainless appliances

Hi Suemarie47,

I found a nice picture of a kitchen featuring black stainless steel appliances with white cabinets and another picture with a modern twist.

What do you think? What color are your cabinets?