I would do stainless or brushed nickel. White with your colors would call too much attention to the air switch, and could stain or discolor over time. Or you could do what we did and select a batch disposal, which has the "switch" in the stopper. Nothing else to match, buy, & put a hole in your countertop. We have the Insinkerator Evolution in both our main cleanup sink & island prep sink. Its stopper is stainless & has three positions: pushed down to hold water, set with a gap to let water & small bits drain, or you give it a quarter turn either way to run the disposal. We also park the stopper on the sink grid or on the ledge just above the drain. There's no gunky flap around the drain to mess with either.

I went with the steel Optik HG spout and the insinkerator stainless brushed hot spout (forget the exact finish name) and it looks great. I had to go with insinkerator because we were not replacing our hot water heater, just the spout. I'm really happy with it. Actuallu, I think it's called brushed chrome. As I recall, the satin nickel was quite yellow and wouldn't have have matched the steel Optik. Good luck!

Thank you SO much everyone! Being short on time at this moment I'll just start responding to as many replies as I can at this moment - even if not in order as my thoughts are flying - and hopefully can finish my replies soon! :) But I just want to thank you for now. I really appreciate the time you each took to give me some thoughtful feedback. I see now what Johnliu meant by curved appliances cause I stopped at Sears today since I was one store away and I saw exactly how they look modern. Chicagoans - Sadly, we don't have gas, and the electric stoves are BUTT UGLY. But it doesn't really matter right now either way since I'm not in the market for a stove yet. As for the same sheen as the counter: the typical stainless fridge (some sheen) is close enough to the counter which is your basic polished stainless (at least it isn't brushed/matte). I'm not sure I could afford a paneled DW but I'll definitely look into it. The thing is, I don't know what our lower cabinets will eventually look like. For now, they're cheap flat things, though solid wood, w/ no detail - no molding. I think they were put in in the '50's or so. Marcolo - The upper ones are the original ones and no of course I wouldn't replace them! I think they're great! I don't know if their doors were originally below or not (never stopped to measure). Palimpsest - I've seen those colorful fridges before but never pursued because I have specifics I need in a fridge (e.g. size, and maybe ice and water or at least on the inside) and I assumed these retro ones would be pretty limited in those ways - particularly size. I also prefer the freezer on the bottom. The old fridge is presently standing right next to one of the doorways into the kitchen, with nothing near it besides the servant's stairs that go up to yet another door. One of the original cabinets is above it, though I had to remove the door and cut the cabinet bottom off (!) in order to fit the fridge there originally. I think the fridge's new location will be on the wall opposite the counter/sink, and it will stand just to the left of a chimney that sticks annoying out into the room and which isn't coming down anytime soon (chimney's plastered over and painted same color as kitchen walls). The only way to make the fridge look built in there would be to get a counter-depth one and even then the chimney only comes out of the wall 25" so with the back grill things and the doors of the fridge, I'm guessing the fridge would stick out a few more inches if getting counter-depth. I didn't want that but maybe it's worth it (the Samsung has a 23 cu. ft. CD french door fridge). Not sure what to do there but the nice 29 cu. ft. fridges would REALLY stick out. Covingtoncat - I like appliances that have some stainless and then either white or black. I wanted to find a fridge that was white w/ stainless handles but none of the reputable ones offered that. altagirl - your link to your "almost done" pics showed it's an empty album (?) so I didn't get to see any examples of old style kitchen w/ new style appliances. :( But I agree w/ the general idea. Like I said, period within reason. Thanks again!

I agonized over this when we did our kitchen 3 yrs ago, and again this past winter when we finally updated the refrigerator. (We had kept the glaring white one when we remodeled because it was only 3 yrs old at the time.) I ended up going with everything stainless. I have 2 kids (6 yrs old & 11 yrs old) and a messy husband. The hardest appliance to keep looking good is the dishwasher. It is just touched/handled so many times and stuff just drips. I was surprised with the stainless refrig (with water & ice to the door) that it stays looking pretty good. I had a "training session" for everyone when it arrived and we all try to use the handles. Nonetheless, about once every 2 - 3 weeks, I end up using a SS spray and wiping everything clean. (I drape old towels over the adjacent cabinets and on the floor because of overspray.) In between times, I can usually lessen smudges by a slightly damp miracle cloth. So, if I had to do it again, I would definitely keep the SS stove and range because of the "restaurant look" from a design standpoint. I would try to do a cabinet-covered dishwasher and refrigerator though. Good luck. (BTW, since I already had all the other appliances in place when I shopped for the new refrig, I didn't go with a ss look-alike because I didn't think it would match closely enough to the stainless that I already had.) --DJ