Thanks, everyone, for chiming in. ;-) For the record, I like my white fridge. In fact, I've always liked white appliances although I have to say that SS has grown on me. I wouldn't want a SS fridge because I don't want to deal with fingerprints and I don't want to give up the magnetized pad of paper that we use for our grocery list. The KA badge on the fridge has SS (or SS coloring) in it so it's already got a little bit of SS and white going on. Your comments got me wondering, though. A fridge is not a built-in appliance, unlike a DW or an oven, so maybe it's not included in the sale of a home. When we sold our first home, we took our fridge with us to our newly constructed home. I don't remember the contract being written to specifically exclude our fridge from the sale but that was 20 years ago so I can't be sure. Anyway, if fridges aren't generally included in a home's sale, I'm not going to worry about it and I'll go with SS ovens and hood. Sure would like to find more inspiration pics, though. The handles are through KA - they are replacement parts - so perhaps I could find them cheaper elsewhere. However, I think I may have confused you about the cost. $325 buys us 3 handles (it's a French door fridge with a bottom freezer); the per handle price is $108.11. rmiriam, I thought about painting the handles - heck, I thought about painting the whole fridge - but I'm worried about how good a job I could do. Badly painted handles would be worse than white handles. I'm great at painting rooms but spray painting is a whole different skill set.

jellytoast - I'm glad to hear you like your dishwasher. I like your suggestion of ordering a flush dishwasher but really like the Pro Line. It's pretty :-) KA doesn't seem to offer a flush lip for the trash compactor anymore. I just called the store and the appliance salesman suggested getting the "panel ready" trash compactor instead of stainless, so we can have a panel made to match the cabinets (which will be painted off-white) and won't need to use an appliance handle. I like the idea but DH thinks a light painted cabinet face is not a good choice for a trash compactor, with kids in the house. I don't know if it would be a problem. We don't usually get food on the front of the trash compactor now (just fingerprints) and it would still be cleanable. lynn2006 - thank you for posting the links! nini - you have my dream kitchen. It's gorgeous! Definitely going in my inspiration file for my eventual major remodel. I didn't even notice that the handles were different in the pictures until I went back to check. If both of you like the look and function of the Pro Line handles, can you get replacement handles for your appliances through KitchenAid? The specs on the Architect and Pro Line appliances I'm looking at are the same, so I'm thinking the handle is the only difference.

Hi Patricia, pretty much all stainless matches. I have 5 different brands in my kitchen and they all blend. The latest addition was an Electrolux fridge (which I hate!).

Buying a single brand is a way for builder to cut cost. There usually are substantial discounts when buying a "package" of appliances. On the other hand, there is not a single appliance brand that has consistently good quality for all types of appliances. They might have a great stove, but then their fridge is rather lacking; or vice versa. This frequently but not always is the result of them only designing a small number of appliances in house, and the rest is bought from third parties and has their own logo slapped onto a slightly modified face. This is less likely to happen with high-end brands (Wolf, Miele, ...), but it even happens with those at times (e.g. Wolf's combination steam oven is a V-Zug, if I recall correctly). So, if you care about a highly functional kitchen, you have to buy from different brands. If you care about cheapest cost, you should buy a package from a single brand. If you care about resale, then all bets are off and it depends on your local market.