Oak kitchen appliance color

10 years ago

My husband and I are under contract on a new to us house. The kitchen is stuck In the 80's and has those wonderful oak cabinets. The spindles along the top are especially nice ;). We'll cut those off, but will be out money for any major kitchen renovations as we'll be spending money on some replacement windows and siding. The home is a foreclosure and the bank put in a new, very basic, dishwasher and range. They didn't purchase a refrigerator. I'm torn on what to do with the appliances. My husband says the easiest and most cost effective solution is to buy a black refrigerator and be done with it. We'd have all matching appliances. I really don't want a cheapo (it isn't even self-cleaning) electric stove though (I enjoy cooking) and would prefer selling it new on craigslist. I also always assumed I would choose stainless appliance, if given the chance. I guess I see us as having 3 options.

1) Go my husband's route and just buy a black fridge

2) Sell the stove and buy a stainless gas range, and stainless fridge. Both of which are likely to have some black on them and could tie-in the black dishwasher. At some point I could look into buying a stainless panel for the dishwasher.

3) Keep the dishwasher and stove, and buy a stainless fridge. Hope the appliances they bought are cheap enough that they will die soon!

My eye for design/ability to envision "what could be" is really far worse than I would like. Any opinions on what would actually look better with the oak cabinets? Would stainless further date the space? I've never liked black fridges --- they always seem to just look like huge black boxes to me, but if that would look best, I'm open to it. As for future plans, I think at some point we will paint the trim in the rest of the space. The backsplash will be going at some point. Even further out, when the finish is beyond help and I no longer have toddlers to work around, I think we might consider painting the cabinets. I don't want to count on that though.

Sorry the picture is rough - it's from the listing and I don't have a better one.

If this was your space, and major renovation was out of the question, what appliances do you think best fit now, and leave room for future options?

This post was edited by megs1082 on Mon, Feb 10, 14 at 18:03

Comments (9)

LCaroline12
10 years ago
Hi, I'm new but just thought I'd give my two cents... Personally I don't mind the black, but if it really bothers you, now's your chance to sell them on CL and buy the appliances you really want. Maybe it would be better to sell them while they're new and get more money out of them. Otherwise, this is a great space, and I can see lots of potential here for a beautiful kitchen in the future!
debrak2008
10 years ago
This thread may be helpful.

Its about working with oak cabinets.

Here is a link that might be useful: DAT keeping the golden oak
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I had a similar dilemma - lake house vs. beach house though and we were just doing some minor updates - counters, appliances, ceiling - keeping cabinets and floor. I have light oak cabinets and oak floor and prefer ivory shades of things vs. white. So white appliances didn't work and black seemed so big and black and stainless seemed so big and industrial. In the end I went with stainless - DH wanted a stainless range. We kept our old black dishwasher (actually upgraded to the old dishwasher from our kitchen at home). So I picked microwave and fridge that had as much black trim as possible - to tone down the silver. The range is pretty much stainless. If almond were still readily available I probably would have gotten that - if DH hadn't been rather stuck on the stainless range idea.
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Greetings, hope you can provide some advise. My current appliances are bisque with some black in them, oak kitchen cabinets, and light tan (looks like marble)porcelain floors. I want to do a dark countertop on the cabinets (not sure if I am gonna do granite or something else). I have slab of black marble that hubby got for the nook area. We can't afford black marble countertops. Someone at work is getting rid of their ubatuba countertop at a very very low price (not sure how it would look with the appliance selection and black marble) I am going for a vintage type kitchen (subway tile, schoolhouse light fixtures, oak cabs, eastlake hardware). This is in keeping with the arts & crafts (a touch of victorian) of the house. The problem is I can't decide on appliances since that will play a role in the countertop we end up choosing. I was thinking of getting an all white vintage stove. But should the d/w and frig be white or SS? Will ubatuba look ok with the white stove? I know it looks good with SS based on other pics I've seen. My mom would be willing to give me her vintage stove which is white and the top of it is all black. But then do I get the d/w and frig white, black or SS? Another option is get new SS or black appliances and dithc the vintage stove ;o). I haven't been sleeping these nights just thinking about it. Does anyone have a vintage stove? Any pics to share. Hopefully they'll inspire me. Oh, me and DH will be doing most of the work ourselves, so it may be a while before we get finished. Your thoughts are greatly apppreciated.
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The new lighting could effect the wall color and the color of the wood - so definitely do that first. Do some research into the lasting effects of gel stain - I've heard both good things and bad things. Here are just some unasked for thoughts- if I was working with this kitchen on a budget, I would possibly remove the upper trim piece and the small wood piece over the windows. I might remove the entire cabinet to the left of the farthest left window and replace with some shelves. I would remove the over the range microwave, which being short I could not even use, and replace with a stand alone vent. You could do a stainless vent for a more modern look. It is more expensive, but you could stain an unfinished wood hood with insert for a more farmhouse look. You have so much lower storage I actually would be tempted to remove all of the upper cabinetry - especially if there is a pantry cabinet - I was wondering where the fridge is - is there a pantry cabinet next to it? As far a curtains - I do like the softness and color window treatments add, though tis is a person style choice. This vent is a little larger than you would want: Less uppers - pretty window treatment: Rustic shelves: If you like a bit of country / farmhouse, beadboard makes an inexpensive backsplash and works well with shelves - rather than tiling, which might possibly need to be redone if you got new counters down the road. This is my basement kitchenette - done very economically with some of my original cabinets (refinished), shelving and beadboard - though in this case I used the beadboard wallpaper to save money - might replace with the real thing in time: https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~65270573 My main kitchen is also oak and in my "my pics" idea book - if you want some possible ideas for counters/ backsplash / farm sink - but it is done in a vintage style.
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Peke
10 years ago
Are there matching spindles on the light fixture?

I have stainless steel fridge, dishwasher, oven, warming drawer, and microwave drawer. Most of them have black on them. The fridge and freezer looks like black on the top and bottom when really it is the air gaps in the grates.

I think you can get a SS fridge. Then replace other appliances when you can.

Lucky you! Your island has lots of room to enlarge if you want.
M V
Original Author
10 years ago
Here's another pic I found.

Yes, those are matching spindles on the fixture. Someone really had a thing for the spindles. Thanks for the link and thoughts. The more I look at the pictures, the more confused I become as to what would look best. I think one hand, the black might actually look best because it creates some contrast. The countertops, cabinets and floor etc, seem to just blend together, currently. I think what's getting me is I never thought I would "choose" black.

So, aside from my usual preference for ss, what do you all think would actually look the best? Should I just start another thread without all the info and ask which finish goes best?
texasgal47
10 years ago
I vote for option #2. There is no natural light in that kitchen area. SS would help to lighten it up whereas black sucks up the light. It should be easy to find used SS appliances on CL for very little additional money, and you can easily sell yours on CL.
bellsmom
10 years ago
Potentially wonderful kitchen. Congratulations. I agree with Peke: Someday you may want to enlarge the island.

Another vote for option 2. No question about that if it were mine.

If I couldn't quite swing a range immediately, I'd still go SS for fridge and plan to replace range later with a SS gas one. I could live with a black range and a SS fridge for a few months or even a year or so if I knew I would get what I wanted eventually.

I agree you probably will get the biggest $$ for the range if you sell it as new before you you move in, so that is the best choice if you have the $$$ to do it immediately.

You will soon make the kitchen look wonderful with a few accessories (and a vanishing top rail).
pricklypearcactus
10 years ago
First of all, congratulations on your new house. The kitchen space looks really fantastic. It has a lovely island and it looks to be open to a living space with a beautiful fireplace. If it were me, I would choose stainless steel range and fridge and either try to sell the dishwasher as well, or wait out it's death before replacing. My oak kitchen (darker, not golden) had bisque appliances and I slowly replaced them with stainless steel. I really like the crisp, cool, contemporary look of stainless with oak. But I also think black or white can be successful. Your kitchen has a lot of warm neutral tones, so I think the stainless would look great, and it sounds like you prefer that as well. Don't be afraid to take your time making your new house fit into your style. It's ok to have one (or more) mismatched appliances while you're saving up or waiting for its demise.
annkh_nd
10 years ago
I agree with prickly - we bought a SS dishwasher a few years ago, and kept the old white fridge and range until we remodeled the kitchen last summer. It wasn't the end of the world - especially knowing it was temporary.

I like the look of SS with oak - as long as you can find one that doesn't show every little fingerprint. My DW does - and I hate it. I wish we had gotten black, for the fingerprint/streak issue, but DH doesn't ask for a whole lot so I let him have his way on this one.
ineffablespace
10 years ago
You could get this stuff for the DW

Here is a link that might be useful: Fauxsteel

Oak kitchen appliance color

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LCaroline12

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Peke

M V
Original Author

texasgal47

bellsmom

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Oak kitchen appliance color

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