I'm thinking the question is about appliances. I was just cruising the kitchen reveals and may have lovely white cabinets with stainless and sometimes a white fridge. A freestanding white fridge is not as integrated usually...'usually, not always'.if it is of the old fashioned pebble- textured/freezer on top variety. That sticks out and does not fit the opening properly. (like my moms). And mine from the previous owners when we first moved in... I have original teak cabinets from '62 so the dated white visible from the dining/liv rm was a sour sight. Now we have more choices of modern integrated, french door, etc. Sleek handle styles without the clashing curves and bubble fronts. The other issue is the whites often do not match. Cabinet is warmer white and the fridge a bluer cold white. Even stainless has many faces. Different brands look so different side by side. Every kitchen has stainless accents from trim to silver ware/ knives, bowls, etc. I have witnessed success with white but built-in and paneled is often preferred... It is often a headache to visualize the final outcome. Here is a blog post discussing white appliances. http://vignettedesign.blogspot.com/2012/05/stainless-steel-vs-white-appliances.html

My husband (tho we dont' live 2gether) has all GE monogram appliances except for his Miele built in espresso unit. His kitchen is very nice - 6 burner stove, griddle, side oven, etc. BUT HE DOESN'T COOK.... He feels I should have all my appliances match in my new home. I feel function is more important, as I do cook. I do use my kitchen and liking my appliances is more important than how they "look" to visitors. But, I would match my range/stove to my hood. Only because they seem like 1 appliance. So far I have picked a Bosch slide in range, hood custom from cabinet maker, Samsung cabinet depth frig, Sharp mw drawer, and I'm leaning towards a Kitchenaid dw. A Bosch dw would match nice, but since it's smaller than the KA, I prefer the KA. My frig and stove are on the same wall. mw on island, and diswasher on another wall. While I would like the handles to be pretty similar or if KA had thier new dw without a handle (that would be perfect - they don't) but, I don't think it's gonna look "god awful" not being matchy-matchy. I'm heading to Lowes today, just to compare before I finalize on my dw. All other appliances are purchased, and I can't return them. I'm hoping guests look more at my cabinets and counters than my appliances. Good Luck in your choices

I have the KA French door with no water or ice on door as we just didn't ever use it and on our last ancient fridge it was the first thing to break although after many years. I don't mind going into the drawer for the ice at all because they provide a nice scoop and you can just quickly scoop a big amount of ice and be done with it. There is ice water spout inside the fridge on the side wall. I didn't want to sacrifice fridge space to have it on the door but everyone has different needs and wants. I have been happy with my KA and have had it for about two years plus. It's stainless and once I got the hang of how to keep it looking good I love it. I have stayed in condos on vacation that have all GE and I was very impressed with the appliances. The dishwashers did a great job and I liked the washer and dryer so much I sold my Bravos Maytag set that I loathed and got a GE front load that I love : ) My sister did a huge kitchen reno and has the GE ovens and she is happy with them. I have to tell you there really isn't that much difference in appliances unless you get up in the stratosphere of price and even then they all keep food cold, freeze ice, cook food. If you have a limited budget just stay in a price range that works for you and don't get too caught up in worrying about this that and the other thing. I admire you for trying to keep it in the 3K range but I don't see how you are going to be able to do that with the number of appliances you need and the brands you are looking at. I am wishing you all the best and absolutely YES I would say that the counter depth is definitely worth it. It made such a difference in my kitchen with not sticking out in the pathway and gave us so much more room and utility. We have a small fridge in the basement for overflow and still since our family is small I have plenty of room. Sometimes the freezer can be a problem but with the extra space in the other fridge it's workable.

I am of zero help, but happened to be walking through Lowes the other day and walked past a black dishwasher that was in a matte looking finish, it was the first I have seen that before. I liked it! I haven't looked at black appliances, maybe they have been around forever (the matte finish vs a shinier finish) but it was a first for me :)