When you’re searching for appliances for a new or remodeled kitchen, today you’ll find an array of new textures and colors. Let’s find the perfect appliance finishes for your dream kitchen.
Not your grandmother’s refrigerator
In recent years, stainless steel appliances put an end to the days when your color choices were essentially white or black (or avocado greenback in the 1970s!). Stainless appliances brought an elegant, neutral color to the kitchen that worked with any cabinet finish or countertop.
Today, however, appliance showrooms feature new textures, not to mention a whole palette of colors.
Appliance finish textures
Shiny surfaces are making way for matte-textured appliances, eliminating the fingerprints and smudges inherent with classic stainless steel. Choose one of these appliance finishes and you’ll spend less time wiping smudges off handles and door edges. Matte and satin-brushed finishes also draw out the colors of counters and cabinets, complementing rather than competing with them.
New colors
In addition to new textures, the latest appliances offer color choices you may not have seen before. Black enamel has been around for years, but the new rising star is black stainless steel. Combined with a matte finish, this color accentuates the color scheme of the kitchen without distracting from it. GE’s Black Slate is a prime example in this category.
Other color choices appearing in showrooms are muted grays, bisque or biscuit tones, and even bronze with a rose-gold tint. Kitchenaid offers appliances in its Signature Red and Cobalt Blue, both extensions of its classic stand mixer hues. Bold new colors bring flair to kitchen design.
You can also choose a wood-paneled appliance to blend with the design of your cabinets.
Appliance handles get a new look too!
Appliances manufacturers are also offering new color choices for handles and knobs. Picture a refrigerator with a matte black cabinet and burnished bronze handles, or a black stainless stove with copper knobs.
Criteria for choices
Decide if you want your appliances to match cabinet and counter colors, or blend with them. Do you want the overall look of the kitchen to be bold, or understated?
Dark colors such as black are best for spacious kitchens. A dark color in a small kitchen can accentuate the limited space.
If you are leaning toward innovative appliance colors, keep in mind that the bolder the look, the more likely it is to be a trend that becomes outdated in a few years. Bold cabinets can be repainted, but bold appliance colors cannot. Colors such as gray, black and slate will better stand the test of time.