It looks like, in your AI rendering you are considering a chocolate wood cabinet. I LOVE black stainless with chocolate brown cabinetry. I brought home a cherry cabinet slab sample stained truffle which looks a lot like a Hershey chocolate bar to me. I was testing it with my cocoa and grey travertine floor sample, but it was next to my black stainless stove and it just spoke to me. To be fair, I was also impressed by how the panel looked with my stainless refrigerator. Dark reddish chocolate just looks so much better with any color stainless than a more yellow stained wood... to me. I don't think panels are even needed when the wood stain is more red and not orange or caramel. With a caramel or orange wood (honey oak?) cabinetry, my experience is that black enamel appliances look best. Gold and black are a natural pairing and black brings out whatever grain you have.

I think this may be a case of AI attempts to mimic AI?

What is the feel you are wanting....?

Is it a somewhat rustic, somewhat industrial? a bit organic ...a hit of GLAM in the pendants?

What is the actual cabinet material and stain? Are you using Hickory with a dark stain? Where is your actual flooring and what is it?

Why, in your layout, ( second pic ) are you hemming the range in?

Kitchens are layout, finishes, lighting all. Your message and intent and even use, seem muddled, muddy and a bit unclear.

Skip the AI for a bit comeback with a few realities.: ) the fridge is not the problem

Looking at your two versions side by side, the darker fridge does recede, but I wouldn't let the finish decide whether you keep the combi steam oven you actually want. The shiny fridge reads as one bright rectangle against the warm wood; an AI rendering can exaggerate that contrast and isn't a reliable preview of the real finish. Before ordering, look at the exact refrigerator finish in person with your cabinet and counter samples, in daylight and evening light. If stainless still feels too prominent, ask your cabinet designer whether the surrounding side panels and upper cabinet can make a cleaner frame around it while maintaining the fridge maker's required clearances. I'd settle the real cabinet stain and flooring first, then judge the appliance finish against those—not against the render alone.

The thing about trendy colors in appliances is that they often go out of fashion. Dishwashers last about 10 years. In 10 years, you'll almost certainly be able to get a new stainless steel DW, will you be able to get a new black stainless one? I'd say the chances are 50-50.

I don't find my stainless steel fridge to be too shiny and AI always shines/glows up everything. I will note that in the pic with the stainles fridge, there's a cabinet in the corner and very little counter space beside the stove.

Also, the fridges have different proportions in the two pics and I doubt that they both exist in real life. You should check all the measurements of your space and the cabs and appliances you plan to put in, because the pretty pictures may be quite off.

Thanks for the spending the time to give feedback on the question I asked. The AI rendering is not to design my kitchen, just to give me a quick visual of a problem I am trying to figure out-1) how to choose appliances when a combi steam oven doesn't necessarily match the other choices. 2) Are there other options to tone down how stainless is so shiny and bright next to wood cabinets? My flooring is white oak. Cabinets will be walnut with soapstone counters. I am working with a custom cabinet maker that does plans by hand-no visualization software. I appreciate the feedback that the fact that the dimensions are WAY off (note the 36 fridge looks twice as wide as the 36 range) is making the issue more glaring than it may be in real life. My next iteration I will try to render from a scaled elevation rather than altering a current photo of the actual space.

Your fridge, DW and range do not have to be the same finish.

You can easily do a black stainless fridge and dishwasher and make you range regular stainless as long as there is some separation between them. Use the range as the brighter star of the show and let the darker fridge fade to the background.

Use some stainless - faucet, lighting, knobs or pulls to relate to the range.

Ever see a kitchen with a red range? Could easily be overkill if they did all the appliances in red.

hard to find pictures, but these both mix black stainless and stainless.