Yikes, I fell off the face of the earth on my own thread -- sorry! My cabinets will be book-matched cherry with slab style fronts and the countertop will be Caesarstone Oyster. I ended up going with the SS Kitchenaid wall oven, NOT because of the SS vs black thing, but because the KA had some great features that I will appreciate over the years (like easy to clean interior door -- just one big slab 'o glass! - and temp probe so i can stop guessing if the roast is done). I could have gotten the KA in black, but it really doesn't look as great as the black Whirlpool one I was considering, so I didn't see the point. (although I would have saved a few bucks). Hope I don't regret it -- I really like that Whirlpool oven in black -- my kitchen is small enough so you never stand back and say, wow, look at how the SS doesn't coordinate with the black (if you're standing that far back, you're outside!). Thank again, everyone for the advice.

Our sink fixtures are a mix of satin nickel and brushed SS and they look fine together. Our lights are pewter. Our drawer pulls and door knobs are antique iron. Our pantry door hardware is brushed nickel. They all look fine together. My personal preference is to have hardware and fixtures in the same color "family" - usually broken down into "silver" or "gold". However, you can mix them up if you're careful bow you do it.

I'm currently in the process of deciding on kitchen appliances. Cake decorating is my serious hobby, but aside from that, I'm an everyday scratch cook for a family of 5. I'm trying to decide between the Bluestar Rangetop with one electric oven (Bluestar, Wolf M Series, or even Kitchenaid) plus the Wolf Steam Convection, a different range top plus the aforementioned ovens or a Bluestar Range (w/ the gas convection) and a Wolf Steam Combi. In considering how I cook, I don't know that the broiler would be a huge difference maker for me. Are you still loving your Bluestar Electric and do you find it bakes quite evenly without rotating? Again, I sometimes bake cookies, but for the most part I use my oven for roasting and baking cakes. I would love to be more proficient with bread for the family, but I'm pretty paleo so it's not a high priority for me. I would love to hear your feedback regarding Bluestar. On another note, we're also looking at a 36" all refrigerator Sub Zero, Perlick undercounter freezer and Kitchenaid dishwasher. Any commentary positive or negative on your other kitchen appliances would be welcome. Thanks!

friedajune, the ice maker in the freezer failed at about the 2 year mark and it was approximately $800 to fix (I was lucky the warranty applied). With the fridge, there is a huge temperature difference between the top shelf and the bottom shelf.... about 12-14 degrees, so when the bottom shelf registers 38 degrees, the top shelf is well below freezing. They replaced everything over the course of 3 months or so and finally they replaced the fridge, but I have exactly the same problem. I'm not sure what my next steps will be. One of the other issues with the old fridge was that produce wasn't keeping very well (as in my Kenmore did a better job). I've only had the new fridge for a couple of weeks, so I'm still monitoring it.