We could use some input from the experience of those of you who read our blog. On Monday, Steve and I will be shopping for our appliances. We are choosing between stainless steel and black. Either would look good in our kitchen. We would go with stainless steel except for everyone saying that they are hard to keep clean, and they would never want them with a large family.
For those who have stainless steel, what do you think of them? How do they look on a daily basis? How often do you clean them and with what?
What about those same questions for those with black appliances?
Has anyone had both colors and had a basis of comparison between the two?
As we prayerfully make this decision, we could be grateful for whatever we could glean from your personal experience with black and stainless steel appliances.
Trusting Jesus,
Teri
You know, cleaning is just part of this fallen world. No dust, dirt, fingerprints, or toilets in heaven. Can I get an amen?
That said, I discovered that the Mr. Clean sponges (and the cheaper knock-offs) work great for a quick wipedown of appliances and don’t streak! We have black and white appliances and lots of little hands, which means I’ll keep those sponge makers in business for a while.
So excited on your new home. I know you are so blessed to be near moving day.
We have a black stove top which I find hard to get ‘non-streaky’. Our fridge and oven front however are BRUSHED NICKEL. This give a clean stainless look but resists little finger prints! I love it!
God Bless your purchase!
Mrs. B
Stainless steel gets my vote! I know you have had numerous comments, so I don’t want to echo too much. Both will show fingerprints, so for that reason it doesn’t really matter. The stainless steel is easy enough to clean, there is a special cleaner to get it really shiny and on a daily basis, I just wipe the fingerprints off the handles and such when I clean the kitchen after a meal. Not a major thing. Personally I really love the look of stainless steel and they are very durable and long lasting. We opted to not install a microwave and instead have double ovens and a warming drawer. We are only a family of six, but we have loved that option. Great for baking bread and keeping dishes warm when preparing a meal. Blessings as you choose the best options for your family.
We LOVE our stainless steel appliances. We have six children and don’t find the maintenance to be difficult. Here is the trick:WD-40. If you wipe the frig down with WD-40 weekly or every two weeks, “stuff” doesn’t stick to it as easily. I wipe off anything that it stuck to the surface and then wipe it down with WD-40. We also love the look of stainless. Have fun picking out your appliances.
Hi Maxwells! Wow – who knew we’d all have an opinion on this! We have a Subzero SS fridge and a black Bosch dishwasher. The fidge we got a really good deal on at Sam’s 9 years ago, so the doors were not our choice because we wanted a really good appliance. We LOVE the Subzero, but with all these little ones the doors do look finger printy. It cleans up beautifully with ss cleaner, but I don’t like to smell the fumes (pregnant). So, I use water and baking soda and a microfiber cloth. It cleans up pretty well. We weren’t willing to pay the extra $100 for ss in the Bosch, so we got the black. I’m very happy with it, it cleans up perfectly with just water, or water in vinegar if something especially sticky is on it. Hope this helps – I find the black easier. 🙂 Happy shopping!
Have you considered all white appliances?
Also…since you asked about appliances, I have a gas oven that I love because it has a food warmer selection on it. That means the temperatures can be set as low as 100 degrees and works so well for bread dough rising…I set it at 130 degrees for this. It’s so wonderful to get dough to rise consistently and quickly. I think you would really like this feature!
But I digress from the topic at hand…I have had both stainless and black. Now that I have all white, I defnitely prefer it in terms of the cleaning and upkeep. But stainless is attractive!
May I suggest AVOCATO! It’s making a comeback! 🙂
Good Morning,
Just a note, we have a large family with plenty of fingerprints ready for our stainless steel appliances–and our black wall oven as well 😉 Just a quick tip for stainless steel–use dusting polish to clean it. It works lovely–gets all the streaks off without any scrubbing at all and takes about 1 sec to clean! You don’t need to buy a special cleaner–I’ve been using my dusting polish for 2 years now and it has saved me endless money in “special” products and the refridgerator looks fab! The black appliances tend to get dusty really quickly and show very easy as well–when we can, our wall oven will become stainless as well! I’m leading your “Homeschooling With a Meek & Quiet Spirit” for a group of homeschool moms and we just thank you for this wonderful study. It is touching hearts everywhere!
In Christ,
Jill
I really enjoy our black appliances. I use a slightly damp, soft cloth to wipe them off on occassion…and they look shiny and new after four years of use. Blessings to you.
I won’t weigh in on the fingerprint issues (I wipe down all appliances daily, and we’ve lived in 12 places in the last 5 years, so we’ve had everything) except to say that microfiber works on everything!
For resale (though you might not be concerned with that right now), white is the best choice for mid-priced homes. Stainless is more popular for upper-price point homes, and custom for the higher-end (although SubZero fridges and I don’t get along!). Black comes in behind white as a choice nationally, although that does cary from region to region.
I’m in this dillema as well. 12 year old house with original white appliances— needed new fridge, DW, and OTR microwave. So, I thought that maybe I should “upgrade” to another color since I was replacing 3 appliances at once. My faucet, light fixtures and door hardware are all oil rubbed bronze, so I didn’t think that silver stainless steele would look right (maybe I’m wrong?) but I seriously considered black because I have a lot of black in the kitchen already (kitchen table legs and chairs, black painted hutch, clock, picture frames, various wrought iron accessories). But, with 3 kids and pets, I ended up sticking with white after hearing how hard black and SS are to keep clean. WELL, now that the appliances are in, I am seriously wondering if I made a huge mistake. The refrigerator can be seen from family room, and it is a very bright, shiny white, much brighter than my old white fridge and also whiter than the painted trim throughout the house, including the pantry door 4 feet away. To me, it looks off, being such a stark white color, and I think that black might have been a better choice. Cabinets are a light maple, and counter tops are grey formica (for now— hope to do granite soon). I have 90 days to return them if I wish, and I am trying to decide if I should do it. I’m actually not all that thrilled with usable space of the french door style we chose either, so I would be able to exchange it for maybe a sise-by-side instead. Hmm, what do do…?
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I wonder if you would become happier with your new white appliances as you become more used to them. We have been quite happy with our stainless steel, but at first I thought they were pretty bright looking. The GE stainless steel appliances haven’t been difficult to clean as it sounded like they could be. All I need to do is wipe them with a slightly damp dish towel.
We bought a side by side and had 30 days to exchange it. We didn’t like it at all. The usable space was so broken up, and we were always moving one item to get to another. We sent it back, and got a French door with bottom freeze. We have liked it much better.
Trusting Jesus,
Teri
HELP!! I”m askingthe same question! I have new, black appliances of everything and need help! Any advice?
Hi,
We have had both black appliances before and our last house we updated and had all stainless installed (what a hastle because we thought everything had to match at a cost of 8,000 just for the appliances. We are now buying a new fridge and our counter tops are black granite, light wood cabinets and all black appliances, and yes your guessed it we are getting a new black french door style fridge. We honestly don’t want to deal with stainless ever again. The black is sleek and easy to clean, and it looks elegant.
Nobody has mentioned having bisque color appliances. That’s what I have now and love them. I know this color isn’t the topic of the question, but may be an option for some people. My appliances don’t show streaks, fingerprints or dust. This color is getting more difficult to find, though, so I’m trying to decide whether to replace with this color again or go black or ss. After reading all the comments I think I will stick with bisque – I hate to wipe down appliances! What are your opinions on bisque?