I have a black fridge & DW. My countertop microwave is stainless, but the stove & hood remain white. I love the black appliances and want to change out my stove, too, but due to a gas line problem (moving would require major renos) it remains cream for now. I've got black burner covers, and since my stove is a push in, it's not really TOO noticeable.

My cabs are all cream with an antique glaze and I have ORB fixtures. It all works well for me!

We have stainless now but had black in our last house. We loved the black.

I like black appliances, but only with darker colored cabinets and/or counters.

My only problem with out black cooktop, wall oven, microwave and DW is fingerprints and grease (cooktop). Our side by side is stainless with textured black sides so there's a fingerprint problem there too. The grease and stainless were the hardest to find something to keep them looking clean. I've never buy a black cooktop again unless it was a glass top.

I am switching out black appliances for SS. Black would be fine in a refrigerator or DW, but I hated my black range. I had to wipe it down at least daily, more often if company was coming, even if I hadn't cooked a thing, because the flat surface would collect a visible layer of dust faster than anything in the house. It never stayed looking clean for long. Think of a shiny black car - high maintenance to keep it looking its best. Do yourself a favor and look for one with a black and grey speckled top and black sides rather an a solid black top so it isn't quite as noticeable. In order to look right with white cabinets, personally, I think you will really have to embrace a black and white theme and carry the black in other things as well so the appliances don't stick out. You might be able to add a third color to brighten things up, but you will be commiting to black and white for quite a while as your main theme. If you post on the kitchens forum you can probably find photos from people who have done it.

Sue

Maybe you should consider painting the lower cabinets a darker color to tie into the new appliances.
Diane

Well my black refrigerator was delivered today. I can't say that I love it yet, but I don't dislike it. I think it will just take some getting used to. I don't think it looks bad at all. I think it will look great with the painted cabs and knobs, etc. It goes fantastic with the blue green wall color

You'll need to post some photos, Jock! I have mostly black appliances. When we moved in, the Microwave was black, built-in oven black, DW and cooktop were almond. So when the micro went out, we replaced with black. When we did a small makeover in '06, we bought a stainless look frig with black sides, a black glass cooktop, and a black DW. It wasn't hard to make the decision on color, because we were trying to update while keeping costs down.
Right now, I'm thinking about a similar wall color in there........something that goes from soft green to blue to gray. My cabs are oak and I won't be painting them this time around, although that idea is not out of the question. Here is my Before...

The After (Budget Remodel)

I like mine quite well, but might do a stainless wall oven if I get to replace it soon. Of course, then, I would have to replace the microwave. I think we have to keep a balance between what looks good and what we can realistically afford to update.
And I HOPE that the wall color I want, similar to Jockewing, will work with the wood cabs, brown gold flooring, and black appliances.

Red

Looking for images, I found this one of a lady painting her kitchen in Halcyon Green. Real pretty.

Red

Here is a link that might be useful: photo

Before we moved I had black appliances for well over 12 years. Frig, cooktop, 2 ovens, compacter, dishwasher. I loved all of them.......except the sink. DH actually picked it out (not sure why I let that happen) but he's never been allowed to make any decisions for my kitchens since. LOL . Anyway, our hard water left a white film on it that was next to impossible to remove. No amount of waxing kept it free from that film. The only thing that came close to working was my bathroom shower cleaner which I sprayed on it faithfully every single night before heading to bed. It was horrible.

I love black appliances and I did have a mix of SS and black for about 3 weeks and did not mind it at all. In fact, I kind of liked it. My stainless steel solid surface electric cooktop is, of course, black and the sides of stainless fridge are black, my built-in microwave was black. The dishwasher was black. Dishwasher went out during our upgrade of countertop and backsplash, so that was easy to move to stainless and as fate would have it, three weeks after the upgrade was complete, the microwave went out and we replaced it with stainless and I had no aversion to going to a mix for the long haul, but as it worked out it was a short haul.

Personally, I prefer black over stainless just as I like other surfaces better than granite, but sometimes the man writing the check gets to pick some of the stuff.

I also did not like the black sink when I had it in another house in another life, and in this house even with the black appliances, we immediately changed to a stainless sink (which we had done in the former house) as well. I think black and stainless are a good mix and match whereas some colors just do not do that well.

Red, I love that Halcyon color and it will give your beautiful red kitchen a new look. (You have such great taste and that tile is to die for).

I loved my red kitchen too but now I am loving my dry sage kitchen just as well. I am sure one day I will tire of that and perhaps, if and when that happens, I can find a pretty wheat color that I will fall in love with.

I have black apps, and my walls are painted SW Grassland. The color is much like the Halcion. We love these colors, my H picked the green, we get so many compliments. As the daily light progresses,the tones in the paint change, a very soothing feeling. I use windex vinegar and never have a problem with fingerprints. Please don't flame me, this is not spam, just a suggestion.

The black appliances look great in red's kitchen because the cabinets are darker and the counters are very dark.

You are right, terriks. The black in the Tropical Brown granite pulls out the black in the appliances. That makes a difference....

Red