my crystal ball tells me black stainless is the harvest gold and avocado of the moment.

when you go to replace one, they wont match anymore anyway. just go stainless for everything. says me.

I get that view point but when it comes down to it, b.s. is still black, which is as timeless as stainless steel. Let's stick with the assumption that we'd be getting b.s. finish appliances - what about the range hood?

i guess i'd do stainless for the range hood because then it would match the first bs appliance that dies and is replaced with stainless.

that is said with no snark whatsoever. do i have a crystal ball? no. do i hear people complain that the finish scratches off of bs? yes. i think it wont last. i tell you the same thing i'd tell my daughter or best friend.

I appreciate that. But I still REALLY like this finish. Do you think it would look funny mixing it up? Maybe going with a black stainless wall oven and dishwasher and a stainless fridge and hood range?

You ask and we answer stick with plain old stainless you will never go wrong. IMO black stainless doesn’t even make sense and if you love it then live with the difficulty finding everything else in that finish. And if you black is timeless in appliances then go for it.

What finish are your cabinets? I'm not sure how to gauge appliance finishes in a vacuum.

a light gray finish with a white ice granite and TBD backsplash (probably a white subway tile). My husband is pushing for regular stainless but it seems so blah to me. I feel like I'm fighting an uphill battle though

What seems "blah" now usually ends up classic and timeless : ) .

I believe in picking appliances for function over form, so to me all matching, especially all appliances from one brand, tends to look bad. I prefer more "collected" or "curated" (gah, I hate that word lol) look to appliances in a kitchen.

Can you do a painted range hood cover with an insert?

We have a 20-month old grandson living with us. Switched from white to SS appliances to go with white cabinets during our renovation, several years before he was born. Needless to say, our appliances stay smudged but not just from him.

As to Black Stainless or Slate, I could care less if it is trendy. I have had two different products — a countertop finish and flooring — discontinued. My concern would be if the finish, in the brands I want, will have the staying power and be in production in 10-15 years. IMO anything not black, white or SS is a crapshoot, especially for range hoods and microwaves

I would get a decorative wood range hood to match cabinetry, one less thing to worry about.

I think you should look for a range hood in matching Black Stainless. But IMO regular Black appliances and accessories look perfectly fine mixed with Black Stainless. So a Black hood might be fine. A Stainless hood might also be OK provided your range has Stainless knobs or trim to tie things together,

If you like Black Stainless you should get it. It's your house.

And IMO Black Stainless is a little more versatile than White appliances. White only looks OK with more White. IMO Black Stainless can look fine mixed with Black, or for small accessories like a wine fridge it can even pair well enough with Stainless.

With your other elements being light, i would opt for regular stainless. Today’s appliances are only lasting 6-7 years. So i would NOT do the black stainless. As to hood do painted to match cabinets but add metal detail such as strips in metal that works with your appliance finish choice.

Here is example of hood with metal detail.

I think it would be helpful to get a mockup of your kitchen with all of the appliances in black stainless and also one with regular stainless and see what you think. For better or worse, regular stainless is rather invisible, whereas black and black stainless in a light grey kitchen say, "Hey, LOOK at ME!".

You want to avoid the "oh I didn't realize it would look like this" scenario.

I like the suggestion of the mock up; for our new build we went with SS appliances.

What about doing the range hood in wood to match the cabinets? Then you just need an insert. Or get a custom range hood in black stainless and regular stainless accents (like strapping). But then you are in the world of high pricing.

I was considering black stainless until the salesman showed me just how easily it scratches. I decided to play it safe and go with stainless.

We were warned away from black stainless by a salesperson before we even told him what we were looking for - he showed us all the scratching in the showroom and strongly recommended we stick with regular stainless (which was our goal anyway).

^ Do you remember which brands you saw scratched up? I've read some brands scratch more easily than others. I won't say which - I'm curious if you remember.

I don't recall all of the brands since we were looking for regular stainless. One was Samsung but there was at least one other.

When I was looking for months for appliances I did notice the Kitchenaid matte black stainless to be the most scratched. The shinier ones didn’t seem as bad to me. Also the Ge slate ones I didn’t see hardly any with scratches. If you have a Sears outlet store it’s a good way to see how they hold up. I saw a lot of really dented plain stainless too. I ended up with stainless.

Can you order a black stainless hood to match? That might be really pretty

Here is the same question [Which hood for our Black Stainless appliances[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/help-black-stainless-appliances-need-range-hood-dsvw-vd~3645398)

Or maybe do something with copper?

Thanks everyone for responses. We ended up purchasing a dishwasher and wall oven/micro combo in black stainless. The electric cooktop is black with stainless accent. And the hood will be stainless. Now what to do about the fridge? Even the stainless fridges have black accents. And the black stainless have stainless accents. As long as we stick with similar handle styles, can we get away with stainless? Or would a black stainless fridge look best? Thoughts?

I think Black Stainless plays well with both Black and Stainless Steel. But as many Black Stainless fridges are available why not get a matching set?

( I do think it's fine if you want a wine fridge somewhere to get a Stainless one as most of them only come in Stainless).

The fridges we like the most are not available in black stainless. And the biggest risk with black stainless is that they scratch and then reveal the stainless underneath. Now, of all the appliances, the fridge gets the most wear and tear. We think that since we're getting a stainless hood and the other appliances have stainless accents, we can get a stainless fridge without it looking unintentionally mismatched. But perhaps we're wrong....

Black stainless goes away with a scratch. It was nice for fingerprints, but we got a scratch and man was it noticeable! We will stick with stainless except for our new bluestar range... that we will get painted... because.. why not.