One thing I tell u. Recently I moved out of my old apartment and honestly didn't clean the kitchen that often. There were layer-years of crud on the range from repeat spills. Some ajax on a wet steel wool and some elbow grease and the traditional enamel top was cleaned! Now b4r I buy a stainless steel, which I like aesthetically, I WILL find out if they are as ez to clean!

:::giggle::: When I saw the title I thought your dishwasher had changed its mind! (Mine did--it went on strike!)

It sounds like you and your DW need to find a good compromise. IF you're planning to sell your house within five years, it might be worth choosing something a buyer might like. Otherwise, why remodel a kitchen if you're not going to get what you (both of you) want?

How about aubergine (eggplant)? It's an awesome color. It has the richness and warmth of red, but it's not as in your face. Or go French and get a light blue, especially if it's on the turquoise side. Throw a little retro comfort in.

hah...you're right! didn't occur to me that "DW" also = dishwasher.

we don't know what the Good Lord has in store for us: we may sell, we may not.

our kitchen is only 15x10 and my wife thinks a red range stands out too much in a kitchen that small. of course, i disagree...

Oh no!! I think that's kind of sad - that appliance guy messed up your vision! I don't think you should buy with resale in mind unless you've been talking seriously about moving. Even if you decide to move in 5 years, who knows what the trend will be then and a potential buyer would probably want to put in a new range anyhow. I'm with pillog, if she thinks the red is too much maybe tone it down and do a maroon, or burgundy and/or just look at some of the other colors? You could even do a neutral like one of the lighter greens, grays, or beiges. Good luck!!

Considering that the useful life of an appliance is 10-15 years, personally I would look ahead more than 5 years if considering resale value.

That said, if I'm buying a new home, having red appliances won't be a deal breaker as long as it fits in with the rest of the kitchen.

Go order the red range and be done with it. Don't overthink it. Tell the salesman to shut his trap.

Get the red range. I did - RAL 3003 Ruby Red. I think it's an understated red but there are so many more to choose from. I think it will look great with your other kitchen choices.

You can pull off the door and get it repainted pretty easily if your mind changes. Red isn't forever.

I am one of those mind-changers. I have to first see all of the choices, then try them all on for awhile... thinking about the pros and cons of each, all the while knowing what I really love! And, I tend to like neutrals alot...like white and black and grey and cream.
But, I love blue, have always loved blue, and probably always will. If I got a range in blue, I would probably never tire of it. If I was planning to move, however, I would probably get stainless.
If I bought a home with a beautiful kitchen and a red range, I could definitely live with it. (You should have only seen my before kitchen!) But, from day one, I would be planning on the day to change it. I say if she loves the color red, and you plan on staying in the house, go for it.
Or if she even likes the color red and you love it, maybe she will be happy too. Because if my DH and I bought a home with a red range and he loved it, well, I would probably live with it because he loved it and find some other room to paint blue!
What about her color choices for clothes? I used to have one red shirt, but I gave it away. I have one pair of red shoes, but rarely wear them. Maybe her clothing or other decorating choices will give you a hint if she would like the red long term.

Get what you like. I do. Sometimes I'm happy for a long time, other times, well, I just repainted over a magenta accent wall in the living room. LOL!

But my kitchen is about the same size as yours and I can't imagine a red range in it. That's just me. Now a blue range, might be another story! LOL!

hm. would it look weird to do a compromise by getting a stainless hood (like katieob's) over a red range? would it look like one or the other was an afterthought since they're not coordinated? i'd rather do a red hood over a red range but we can't seem to come to a consensus anymore.

dedtired - i wish i COULD tell the salesman to shut his trap!

":::giggle::: When I saw the title I thought your dishwasher had changed its mind! (Mine did--it went on strike!) "

lol! i knew it was DW, not dw - caps you know...lol!

oh - go eggplant! I love it! lol! I'll oooh and aaahhh when you post pics of it!

It gladdens my heart to read about others going through this process because I am too --"we read to know we're not alone . . ." Who said that?

Anyway, it is a big enough design issue that you might consider taking the time to get some cardboard, either some red matte board, or paint some white board your chosen color (s) and put them up in the kitchen and let a few days go by. Doing mock ups of things really does help . . .

I agree that SS has become plebeian and ubiquitous. Even so, if you are doing a pro/industrial look kitchen, then it's hard to NOT use SS. (Wolf only comes in SS.) I think cream colored cabinets are far from pro look kitchen. Pro look for me means that you are trying to emulate a restaurant kitchen with SS cabinets or coutnertop, industrial looking design etc.
I think if you use a range with color, it does connotate "custom" range, whatever that means. If you put in a range in a color that you love, you will not tire of it. However, it does make decorating around it difficult since the colors can be bold and your wall colors are determined by the range.
I personally prefer stunning colored range over SS, especially in a 1911 arts and crafts home.

I think using the stainless hood is fine. I think only a few people have matched their hood with the range. The red or any other color is on the lower portion of the range (oven door and lower) and the top portion with the knobs, etc. is stainless. I think a stainless hood is a great compromise.

Well, I bet you know what I'm going to say! :-) It's not like I don't understand your wife's hesitation, though. Red is one of those strong, bold, warm-hot, statement colors. IMHO, you've got to be able to feel it in your soul in order to live with it. As for me, there's no question that I'm a red hot dame. LOL! So besides that red range and hood (a choice I've never regretted), I also have red-walled dining room, red winter coat, red umbrella . . . and so on so forth.

I don't know the size of your kitchen, but mine is only an 11" x 14" galley -- a pretty small space, I think. However, that red range and hood don't make the room look any smaller. If anything, with such a strong focal point, I think my "ladies in red" are such a significant focal point, that they actually work to trick the eye into seeing the room as bigger than it really is. Of course, it probably helps that all my cabinetry is white, the appliances are paneled and I have a wall of glass uppers on one side of the galley. OTOH, you may also want to take a look at Redrange's kitchen in the FKB. Her kitchen (which was my inspiration btw), is also not very big and, in fact, she has a red range and hood with colored cabinetry that works incredibly well.

As for mixing a red range with something other than the red hood, of course you could do that. And, in fact, I initially thought about going that route. Since I was firm about not wanting any stainless appliances in my kitchen, my first plan was to order a mantle type hood from the cab manufacturer. However, as I was struggling over a hood design -- and getting nowhere -- it suddenly occurred to me that I could get a hood I loved from Modernaire whose color could be custom matched with the claret red of the Aga. The rest is history.

BTW, if DW is not ready to go all the way with red, I agree with those who think aubergine could also be a very hot/ very cool color! :-)

Since when do real esta te agents and appliance salesmen dictate interior design? Where did they get their degrees? How long did they study color theory? Since it takes relatively little to no education to work in either job, I would like to know.

In fact, while buyers may shy away from designs that are truly bizarre or simply don't work, blending in with a sea of bland, boring identical kitch ens is hardly a way to stand out in the market.

thanks to everyone for your responses. still thinking/debating...

never heard of aubergine appliances...anyone have any pics?

Well as you know I did a Blue Bluestar range with stainless hood - and the French Vanilla cabs....I debated matching the hood to the range but in the end I am so glad I did stainless hood as I think all blue would have been too overwhelming for my kitchen and would have taken over the rest of the decor....Also, worst case scenario and I ever replace the range then the stainless hood will be reusable. It is much easier to change out a range than a hood. I have a suggestion which I almost wonder if I should have done. You could order the Bluestar in stainless and then get the color kit for the front/door (you are doing Bluestar, right?). That way you could have color and if you sell you could switch out the colored door/front for stainless. I already had to have my oven door inside replaced and it seems to be extremely quick and simple to change out the front colored panel.

I'd buy a house with a red range in a heartbeat. In fact, when I bought this one the first thing I did was change out the newish stainless Maytag Gemini stove for a large vintage enamelled white and yellow beast that definitely dominates the focal point.

My kitchen is smaller than yours, at 11 x 12, and I love love love the colorful range in it. I don't think you'll regret it -- but you might regret a stainless stove that screams 2000's and is so much harder to keep looking clean of streaks and drips...

Just sayin'. :-)

buffalotina - what is the color kit? the colored door can be swapped out for stainless? i don't see any mention of this on their web site. what exactly is it? how much does it cost?

If the room is well designed so the red stove is part of the colour scheme then go for it. If the stove is the focal point without any other supporting elements in the room then it may jump out too much. I see the argument of colour stove signal "custom" to the buyers. But I can also see people's reluctance with colour appliances, avocado, anyone?
Would I buy a house with red stove? Yes, absolutely, but then red is my favourite colour. But say if I buy a house with a green BlueStar, I don't think I would be too excited with the idea. Personally, I am tired with SS appliances.
All of this saying is go for it if your design call for it, people can make arguments either way.

I don't know if all dealers can get the color kit but I am sure I have seen Trevor (Eurostoves) mention it on this forum before. Also, as I said, the colored panel was taken off my door to replace the inside because it was chipped. It is a simple affair to disassemble and reassemble. Of course it would be extra but you could have the best of both worlds and even if you got fed up with the color you could go back to stainless... I think that's how it would work.

I'll call Eurostoves tomorrow and see what they say about that color kit. The dealers in my area never heard of it.

DW doesn't really have a favorite color; we do like red on the stove but it's not like she has red shoes, red clothes, red colored bedroom, not even red lipstick! Basically, we like it b/c it's a cheerful color. We saw the RAL 3003 Ruby Red BlueStar, Apple Red Viking and the brick red Aga Legacy and thought the red looked nice. None of the other colors made as much of an impression, except the black b/c black seems to connote vintage, which would be appropriate in our old home.

So at this point, DW is letting me pick what I want although she says she's afraid of red b/c it's too bold for her and she says she's not a risk-taker. I dislike the ubiquitous SS so I'm leaning black since she's no longer comfortable with red. And I'm leaning SS hood, since some of you have made helpful comments about the hood not needing to match. Well, that's where I'm at right now. Who knows when I wake up in the morning???

I'd wager very few people actually like black appliances. I know some do, but go through the FKB or the threads here and you'll seldom see a black appliance. So if you're at all thinking about resale, I wouldn't go with black. If you don't care about resale, and need only satisfy yourself and wife, then go with your first choice. Was it black? Or was it red, aubergine, cream, etc? Anyway, I wouldn't do a strong color like black (or red) simply because it's not stainless. I'd want to love the color for it's own sake. Otherwise, I'd go with neutral. Oh, what model range are you buying? I think colors might look better on some models than others.

OK, here's a quick pic on photobucket - my kitchen is in process and it has cherry cabinets but the RAL3003 red range is to the right in the pic. It's not fully pushed back so you will eventually see less from the side. I think this is a great color - it's a little more bordeaux/burgandy in real life. Yours will stand out more because of the cream cabinets but I think it will still be great. I will try to get a better picture later - off to glazing windows today.

I think a red range is beautiful and the few that have done proves it is. Of course this is coming from someone that had new cabs painted barn red.

Hard to tell from a monitor, but aubergine is probably RAL4007. I love aubergine & wanted it for my dining room before I even knew it was color that was about to trend "hot". For a dining room, it is only paint & purple was always my Grammy's and my favorite color. But, unless y'all have loved purple from infancy, I would be careful with aubergine because it will look dated when pampelmousse is the new "hot" color (just making that up; I have no foreknowledge of color trends.)

We will have cream cabinets & red oak floors. If we go with Bluestar, we're likely to do RAL5002 or slightly darker. This is because we want a black and cream granite which has a strong blue undertone so we want to bring that out. When we thought we were doing granite with garnets in it, we were going to do a deep red to pick up on the garnets.

With soapstone, you probably have more flexibility. The designers on this board can chime in better than I, but what about a British Racing Green (close to RAL6005)to pull on the green that your soapstone might have?

Good luck & enjoy it. I'm sure an autobody shop could repaint it if the red turns out to be a pure disaster.

johnliu - we're doing a BlueStar range. What do you consider to be neutral range colors?

bostonpam - thanks for the pic. Your kitchen looks beautiful, btw! That doorway trim on the left is pretty unique too. So you're saying the ruby red looks darker in person??

we briefly considered ral6005 but just weren't feeling it. DW isn't hot for black...thinks it looks depressing and makes the stove look smaller.

we're now leaning towards a darker red (burgundy) or cream. but we (again) disagree on the cream. she says the cream hood & range should match the cabinets (dunno if we can do it exactly but we can get really close); i say get it a shade darker to make it stand out a little. why is this so tough???

i called trevor at eurostoves and he confirmed that you can buy an extra kickplate and doorskin for bluestar for between $550-650! it's not called a color kit; just an extra kickplate & doorskin. he said people have bought these for different purposes...some just are in the mood for a different color, others buy a stainless kickplate/doorskin for resale purposes, etc. and he confirmed it's pretty simple...takes about 20 minutes to swap it out. Yes, it's not exactly cheap, but for couples like DW & me who can't come to a consensus, it's still a fantastic way to make both of us happy! MAJOR props to buffalotina for the tip!!!