<p>Our 15 year old refrigerator has been having issues and is not going to be with us much longer. It is white, the same as our other appliances and while I’m not wild about stainless steel, but I’m afraid that having white appliances makes our kitchen look dated. I’m not sure that stainless steel goes with the rest of our kitchen, but it probably goes with everything. We’d have to replace our brass cabinet pulls at the very least. I don’t want to replace all of our appliances just yet, but that day is probably coming sooner rather than late. </p>
<p>So what do you do in this situation? Is it odd to change over your appliances as they fail and have a mish-mash in the meantime? I suppose we could bite the bullet and replace them all. Just wondering what people do. There’s a part of me that thinks I’ll just get a new white refrigerator and be done with it, but I’m not sure.</p>
<p>We recently replaced our white range, dishwasher, and fridge with white ones. We like stainless in other peoples homes, but actually prefer white for ourselves. Our sink is a white solid surface sink. Our granite is very light.</p>
<p>The next owners can get stainless if they want it! :)</p>
<p>I just saw a show the other day (Sarah 101, I think) and she replaced all the appliances white and they were very, very nice! Still had a updated, modern look - I think she shopped for them at Ikea - I would consider the ones she used if I was having to replace appliances.</p>
<p>When I went shopping for my appliances this year, there were PLENTY of white options to choose from. I bought some of mine from sears appliances, and the rest from a local appliance store. I looked at Best Buy, Home Depot, and three different local appliance stores in addition to wheeee I made my purchases.</p>
<p>ALL had good selections of white appliances.</p>
<p>My point about Ikea was just that their appliances didn’t look “dated” as OP mentioned wanting to avoid…not saying that the other big box stores DO just that the Ikea ones were more modern and appealing to me than what I have seen recently - unless looking at more high end appliances.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. Our floor and counters are very light (almost white) and our cabinets are dark. White appliances look good in our kitchen and 15 years ago when we designed it they were the best choice. Stainless steel was still new and much more expensive. My comment about white looking dated, wasn’t so much about the style of the appliances, but that stainless steel is the “thing” right now. We aren’t prepared to re-do the entire kitchen, but I would like to update a little.</p>
<p>When we switched from Almond to Black, the first appliance that needed to be replaced was the microwave. The black made it recede into the cherry cabinets so it really wasn’t that noticeable. As the other appliances needed replacing, we bought them in black. It probably covered a span of 3-5 years.</p>
<p>Only buy stainless steel appliances if you like them, not because you feel you must.</p>
<p>We chose an updated style (French door) for our new white fridge. And a full door height dishwasher also white. The free standing white stove fits right in.</p>
<p>Get what YOU like and what suits you. If the next owners want stainless, they can get it. This kitchen is for YOU.</p>
<p>The finger prints on stainless drive me nuts.</p>
<p>Ours works with magnets and it doesn’t show fingerprints (maybe because it has a brushed finish?). That said, stainless is so ubiquitous now that it’s probably on its way out. Maybe white will be the latest trend! I agree with thumper: get what you like, not what you think other people will want.</p>
<p>If your stainless holds magnets…it is NOT stainless steel, which does NOT hold magnets. There are stainless “finish” fridges that are finished to look like stainless.</p>
<p>Everyone I know with stainless comments on the fingerprint issue.</p>
<p>We had the same dilemma a few years ago. I loved the look of our bright white appliances but was not sure if we’d transition to stainless down the road. Then I looked around and realized that my “white” stove is really white with black trim. And the dishwasher is all black. So we opted for a black (matte, not glossy) side-by-side. It was highly rated by Consumers and on holiday sale at Lowes it was under $800. A small dent in an area not seen saved us another 10%. Problem solved, budget kept in check. </p>
<p>In the future I can opt for stainless/black appliances, and they will look fine with the black fridge. If we renovate and opt for a new stainless fridge, I won’t feel bad replacing our budget black model.</p>
<p>Our fridge doesn’t hold magnets on the front, but does on the sides. I love it!</p>
<p>I think white will be the next trend, personally. It goes well with the clean, modern look (as does black, but I think black is too polarizing to become the next big thing.) But that’s just me :)</p>
<p>We have a black glass cooktop, stainless and black oven, white dishwasher, white fridge, white washer and dryer and stainless sink and counters to go with the corian nearly which counters. The walls and cabinets are painted white. I think everything looks fine together, as does H & the kids.</p>
<p>If you go to Houzz.com (it is a decorating idea website) and do a search for white appliances you can find lots of lovely new kitchens with white appliances and they look good.</p>
<p>Get what you like would be my advice -unless you are thinking of selling soon</p>