How long will you be in the house? You have to go with what you love, otherwise you will hate it everytime you go in the kitchen.

It also depends on your target market. In a "high-end" neighborhood, white appliances won't cut it unless of course you are considering a white Lacanche, La Cornue, AGA, or even a Viking.

In a "regular" home in a "regular" neighborhood, some buyers will want SS just because it's trendy, others like you won't care. If you plan on staying more than a few years before selling, I agree with Adam, go with what YOU love!

I bought new white appliances when I moved in five years ago, but still have the original black dishwasher. Not sure why she put in a black dishwasher as the other appliances were white. It's a regular middle class neighborhood, and I will be here another 10 years or so.

I don't think its a deal breaker for most buyers IF the kitchen is current. If you have an already dated kitchen, white appliances will make it look even more so. To most buyer, this says that they will have to at some point replace the kitchen. To some this may mean a lower offer, to others this may make them pass altogether.

While Joe H is right, it's also true that there are buyers who want to do up the kitchen themselves and don't want your appliances even if they're brand new. They're looking for the house that needs a new kitchen because they don't wan to pay top dollar for your updates just to tear it out. Your house won't show well with one mismatched color appliance, unless it's a feature, like a blue fridge or a black French range, but you'll have plenty of time to correct that in ten years.

The truth is that in ten years, your kitchen will be considered old, and your appliances from this year will be considered very old. The trick to selling a ten year old kitchen without losing more than the cost of a basic update on the price is to make it a very nice old kitchen. Empty most of what's stored there into storage, leaving only a few dishes and today's pantry needs in the cupboards, clear every bit of clutter off the counter and walls, and empty any open storage (shelves, potracks, hooks, etc.). Put back one or two beautiful items for "staging" and "color". Then get a professional service in to clean it beyond your wildest dreams of cleanliness, including the back sides of freestanding appliances, and the little corners and crevices. Also, make sure all the knobs and handles are tight and clean, move any animals out of the house--you can leave a clean bowl to show that this is a good place to feed the dog, but move out the dog and the food--and don't cook anything. People want to see and smell CLEAN. Don't even bake cookies--have the neighbor do it, if you want people to smell hot cookies, but don't have any smell lingering around the oven.

What sells in an older kitchen, in an older home, is the idea that a buyer could happily use it for another 3-5 years, and the only way to do that with a 10-15 year old kitchen, is to make it look and smell CLEAN like brand new.

Which means it doesn't matter what color your appliances are, other than the mismatched DW, so long as they're not chipped or scratched, faded to yellow (which the plastic trim on white appliances can do, especially if exposed to sun), or downright ugly.

Sherri, I'm not willing to live with something I don't like ... which is why I have white appliances.

In some neighborhoods, you're supposed to have high end appliances, which happen to come in stainless most often. And as posted earlier, in that type of neighborhood people will be wanting to see a white Viking range, not a $1500 stainless Frigidaire package.

If that pertained to you, though, you'd know it. I've never lived in such a neighborhood (thank god) and don't plan to. There are so factors more important than appliances that will affect someone's experience in a home, most people really don't care. Plus if they don't like the appliances that are already there, it's one of the easiest parts of a house to change.

Also I would never let resale factor into any decision I made about my home unless I knew I'd be selling shortly.