I think it depends on what look you are going for in your kitchen. If you have a more country-style kitchen, or white cabinets, that might look really nice. Personally I loathe white appliances as it does look dated to me, not to mention I have a scribbling toddler running amok. But in the right context they can fit right in and look quite nice, so if you love them, keep them!

I would do white appliances if I could get metal handles instead of white plastic. This is starting to be available again, but limited. I still think white is a great fit for certain styles.

Personally I think white appliances are timeless unlike the golds, greens and bronzes in our past. It's all in the look you are trying to achieve.

FWIW, I see that apartment therapy is proclaiming white to be "the new stainless steel".

Here is a link that might be useful: white, the new stainless

I think if you use white appliances you have to really consider them in all your other design choices, they are not as neutral or flexible as stainless. If you do that they can look great. Otherwise they can look like you cheaped out. We have a fairly new condo around the corner and when you see the white appliances you know the owners just didn't\couldn't spring for the stainless package. I'm planning to stay with white.

What I've noticed is that white doesn't stay white. When you replace a white appliance it really shows up the age of the other white appliances. I've seen this on the forum and in the homes of friends.

We bought white appliances for our reno. We also bought stainless and black though, lol.... Our fridge, freezer, and stove are all white. I did not like the white choices for wall ovens, so got ss. We got a black dw. Our vent is ss because it is a chimney style over our island and the ss is more available and shows up less noticeably. Our cabs are white and our other colors are gray and black (plus some lavender), so mixing colors worked for our scheme. We wanted a very casual retro homey look. All matching would have been ok, but this gives a more eclectic vibe.

Hi, I think you are fine going with white, just stay away from plastic surfaces and handles. They don't age well and look cheap (like mine). White handles are hard to clean. I made the mistake of getting white when we needed to replace ours; or maybe it is just that ours is textured and plastic. The sting of that cheap purchase lasted longer then the sweet feeling of saving money on the lesser appliance! I think if it was metal it would look fine and I would not want to change it now. I would either do ss or white metal (with metal handles).

> I made the mistake of getting white when we needed to replace ours; or maybe it is just that ours is textured and plastic.

That to me is the problem with many white appliances. I infinitely prefer white to stainless, but it's so hard to find good white finishes these days.

I think white is timeless. I am old enough to go through the bronze, gold, green, etc....and I think SS will fall into this before too long. Fingerprints and dents show so much more in the SS than white.

On HGTV, they did a new kitchen in white appliances...and with wooden cabinets...looked great. I do think we will be bringing back the white and I hope it does come out with more metal handles....because the textured white ones are hard to keep clean, but "magic erasers" do the trick.

We are planning a new build and are going to use white appliances...I like the clean look and not the industrial look of SS.

I agree about the look of white being timeless. The problem is that there aren't as many high end choices available in white, and even when they are available, since they're a "designed" look, rather than a popular one, they aren't often chosen. White plastic can yellow over time and look really bad. It was the move from white coated heavy steel with black trim to white plastic with plastic trim that made white unpopular. I do know of one person who fairly recently had a white powder coated door made for her SubZero, and it's a gorgeous kitchen, but stainless would have been cheaper. :)

Why can't you paint appliances to match your cabinets? Do they still offer dishwasher front 'inserts'? Why not ovens and fridges?

My fridge and dishdrawers are paneled to match the cabinets, but that leaves the wall ovens. I chose white by default. I don't like 'gray' (Stainless reads gray.), and at least the white matches something: the sinks.

We haven't really started our kitchen renovation, but we did buy new white appliances knowing a renovation is ahead. I plan on white cabinets and thought white appliances would look fine in that context. I did select appliances that are smooth-front, though - not that pebbly texture you used to always see. I didn't just cheap out and buy the least expensive model I could find. Instead, the money I saved by NOT doing stainless was put towards upgraded features that I wanted. For example, for the same price as a basic stainless steel fridge, I bought a white French door; I got convection in the range; the dishwasher is the kind with hidden controls. They're not from the same company, either. The fridge is Samsung, and the range and dishwasher are Frigidaire Gallery. I did the research and learned which brands were good at which appliances. Samsung refrigerators are the best, but their ranges are a little lacking, so I went with the brand with a better range.

The reason the white appliances are not popular is because they look cheap. They look cheap because they use plastic white handles that yellow over time and textured white plastic that gets/looks tacky over time. Been there and done that!

My mom had bisque (remember the color) powder coated appliances that looked great over many years. No plastic handles!

There are plenty of SS appliances that look cheap when you look at it. Even though there are cheap/tacky looking SS appliances, it does not seem to deter people from picking them whereas white cheap ones are forsaken... Go figure.

There are white appliances that use powder coated white panels and nicer handles. Big Chill, Hartland, Elmira, Viking Custom colors are a few that come to mind regarding powder coated white frigs. Jennair makes floating glass white which looks super cool and not cheap looking.

I have white appliances and white cast iron sinks. I don't think I would have bought stainless even if I had not kept my old appliances. No high-end products in our economic bracket but doesn't really matter to me. I've just gone at the design process with the assumption that white is a design element in the kitchen. Our dishwasher is yellowed, I suppose, but I don't think about it much. It works fine and my ego could care less about its aging. There are more important considerations in my world. I do regret that I couldn't locate a moderately priced white induction range.

I work in a appliance store in Europe. We sell Siemens and Bosch.
All the high end appl. come in white, black and stainless. Here the trend is high gloss in cabinets and people that are buying appliances for these kitchens buy white. My kitchen is about 3 years old and I have high gloss kitchen with white oven and white french door fridge . all the other appliances are integrated. My white oven is as white as the day I bought it. and so is my LG fridge. I would have bought siemens fridge ,but they don�t make french door nor white side by side once. I think that if you buy top of the line appliances the white will not yellow, My oven has glass over the white,
I would never buy a stainless appliance. I hate to clean them, it is enough that I need to wipe them down at work,
Svava

I have a stainless fridge, stainless exhaust hood, panelled DW and white range. The white range is the BEST! Because of how easy it is to clean. I even have had people over for dinner who have seen me clean my range (spritz with Formula409, wipe, finished), and they have exclaimed how easy that is compared to their stainless cooktop/range. I never have to deal with streaks, scratches, "wiping with the grain", or polishing. For the DW, I panelled it because that is the appliance most prone to drips. For the fridge, I chose stainless because the fridge is the appliance most prone to have a plasticky-y look when white, and the most prone to yellowing if white. My stainless hood looks awesome over the white range.

So my recommendation is to mix and match. The white range makes my kitchen look cozier than if I had done all stainless. But really, the quick cleaning time....priceless.

A lot of the kitchens I liked with white appliances were very informal and relaxed so the presence of inexpensive white appliances didn't hurt them. I don't think an attractive kitchen needs to look "expensive" in fact I'll go as far as to say I think the appearance of being "expensive" isn't one that attracts me to a kitchen.

We have a 33" wide white french-door refrigerator that has the smooth finish and long white metal handles. I didn't want white plastic handles or that textured finish, like our older fridge has. Our newer fridge fits in perfectly with the "vibe" we have going on in our kitchen. I thought about replacing the white metal handles with stainless, but it is cost prohibitive at this point and really not necessary for us.

We have a stainless wall oven, warming drawer, microwave, and hood, and a white gas cooktop that is a breeze (as shannonplus2 explains so well) to clean. I decided on the white cooktop because it just looked so fresh and crisp to me. We only briefly considered a stainless fridge--we always wanted white. Our dishwasher is paneled.

To me, the mix of stainless and white looks very clean and fresh.

I love white appliances and haven't had trouble with yellowing with good brands like KitchenAid or Whirlpool. I need a counter depth in my new house because of window sight lines and am thrilled that KitchenAid makes a french door counter depth in white, stainless, and black. I am getting the white. Nowadays appliances don't seem to function long enough for the parts to yellow.

I do not fault those that love stainless. My son loves it in his kitchen. I feel it is cold looking, but that is me and I am a country vintage type of person.I also can't be bothered trying to keep stainless appliances looking clean. I will dote over my cast iron cookware because I love it, but an appliance should be easy to clean in my opinion, as in run a damp cloth over it and I'm done.

I raised five children, among them many scribblers and sticky fingered rascals, and still my white appliances looked good.

So yes, there are some of us who are building quality new homes, with high end finishes, that love white appliances. I think if someone doesn't mind "mis-matched", white and stainless go together just fine, and can be very nice looking and pulled together, particularly if your kitchen has zones.

Sandy

Does anyone recognize that sleek beauty of a white French door in the photo in the Apartment Therapy piece?

Thanks in advance.

If I had a white kitchen I would be happy to buy some beautiful white appliances. I like stainless too, I myself have stainless. I think it depends on the kitchen, which also depends on your house and your style.

To be candid I have seen a few white appliance, white cabinetry kitchens that I thought were a miss. The linked kitchen from Apartment Therapy features a lovely rich cream\beige colour on the cabinetry so you don't get the white on white effect (which doesn't always work in my opinion). You'll also note that the white is brought in again on the back splash behind the stove (which isn't white). Integrating a single white appliance (like say a vintage stove) isn't as tricky in terms of design as having 3 white appliances to contend with - this becomes a much more pronounced design element. Great thing about white appliances is they do work great with both saturated and pale colours. The key is getting enough white to make it an element in the design but not so much you lose all the contrast (some folks like what I call "white out" kitchens but I'm not a fan).

I love our white appliances. We recently bought our relatively Whirlpool Gold white french door fridge and a Bosch dishwasher. The house came with a GE Profile white range...they all have have a glassy finish that is very easy to clean and does not show greasy prints. They are light and bright, helping to reflect light around the room, which is great since the kitchen only has north-facing windows with no windows on the west wall and a covered porch off the east wall.

My kitchen is probably a 50s addition to an 1870s house, so I suppose they go with the vintage-y/cottage-y/country casual vibe I feel fits with the house, but I've seen more high end appliances in white in more high end kitchens as of late.

As Palimpsest referenced, I tried to find white appliances with stainless handles, but couldn't in my price range. However, I am looking into simply purchasing separate handles from the appliance company or even finding a metal worker who can craft some in a brass finish.

Being older gives one the advantage of recognizing turquoise, white, Harvest Gold, coppertone, bisque, stainless, etc., as just a series of looks that come in and out. I've always liked stainless a lot but a long perspective helps one understand that white could never be in bad style even if an entire generation of people has now been mislead into thinking it is. Great for the landfill business, though.

I remember bisque--I still have it, and I'm contemplating buying a new bisque fridge, even though they are mostly special order, with a few weeks lead-time. Our DIY vintage-style kitchen remodel/facelift is craigslist, ebay and yard sale salvage, but I like new appliances--on my budget they are low-end. The cabinets are cream (adobe white) and green, with black counters (or, will be), so to me the appliances read white until one takes a closer look.

I agree it depends on the overall style and cost of the kitchen. Linked is a pic of one of my favorite kitchens--vintage/craftsman style, and I have to admit that I was surprised to see a 'plain old white stove.'

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

mama goose~

I have a friend who just built a beautiful new home....and she put all bisque appliances in it. The salesperson told her she was dating it already.....she told him she did not care...it was her house....and she happened to like that color!...so it is bisque that she has and loves it and it looks great with her stained wood cabinets~

Personally, I really wish they would start making it more again or a creme or some shade that tones down the bright white...I think it would look better with the wood tones of the stained cabinets.

I also do not care for the stainless...to me it belongs in a restaurant and not in a home because to me, it doesn't give the warm feeling that I like....but if someone likes, it for heaven's sake, use it. IMHO, I am getting rather tired of seeing all of the cookie cutter kitchens...stainless and granite...but to each their own~~

Unless they start making affordable kitchen appliances in sky blue, I'll stick with bright white, can't tolerate the industrial look of stainless and black is too hard to keep looking nice. Besides, white goes with everything.

I'm seriously thinking of bisque. Really limits your choices in appliances, but I think that is the color that will go best....

Honorbiltkit - can you provide a link. I don't know what you mean by "the Apartment Therapy piece".

shannonplus2, see the link I posted earlier in this thread. That's the Apartment Therapy article.

As Palimpsest referenced, I tried to find white appliances with stainless handles, but couldn't in my price range.

I saw a white fridge with stainless handles at IKEA a couple of months ago. I can't recall exactly what the front looked like, but it was smooth (I remember that much because I noticed the textured sides). No idea who makes it or if it's still available. I noticed it at the time because it's also counter-depth. Now if it were only a bottom-freezer instead of sxs...

Here is a link that might be useful: IKEA fridge

Maybe they're coming back...I could have sworn that Jenn-Air made them a few years back. I definitely wanted a full-sized french door, bottom freezer...I like to be able to defrost an entire turkey in the fridge, so CD wouldn't work. I'm going to be hopefully wrapping the fridge in cabinetry and pulling forward the adjacent cabs to make it appear CD.

I also have to say that to my eye, white has it's place, as does black...I think stainless is a bit more versatile, especially if you can hide the black sides or afford a higher end fridge. For the craftsman kitchen posted above, I would have chosen a black or stainless range instead of a white one. I don't particularly like white appliances with mid-dark wood tones.

My kitchen currently has blue painted cabs and white painted trim in the room (so no wood tones), so I think the white works, IMHO.

>.I could have sworn that Jenn-Air made them a few years back

Yes, Jenn-Air has had a beautiful white floating glass finish for some time. I wish more brands had it, but they and ikea are the only ones I know about.

I personally dislike stainless refrigerators, DW, etc. I got a white frig. It was excruciating decision but I'm fine with it. My range is a red BS and my DW and undercounter frig is paneled. I have cherry cabinets. I think it looks fine.

Ditto the white with metal handles, the plastic ones tend to discolor and look dingy. Remember the faux wood ones from years gone by?

As labor starts to eat into my budget, I've contemplated going with a white dishwasher. I'd originally wanted a fancy panelled one, but I'll need to save up. Someday... In the mean time, the much cheaper white one has a SS brother in the same model. I am contemplating buying the SS handle from the manufacturer and swapping it out.