Stainless steel appliances: Is white the new stainless?

Did you just upgrade your kitchen appliances to stainless steel, because that's the hottest new trend? Sorry to tell you this, but the stainless trend may be on its way out.

After 15 years of stainless everything, manufactures are now moving on to new finishes.

Almost every new kitchen now stainless

If you remodeled your kitchen in the past decade, chances are you chose stainless steel for your fridge, dishwasher and stove.

Stainless looks professional, and shows you've "arrived." But The Wall Street Journal says if you just upgraded, you may have arrived late.

It says stainless steel is "on overtime," and reports "stainless fatigue." In addition, as every homeowner with young children knows, true stainless steel shows fingerprints like no other finish.

As evidence of the new trend, It cites Whirlpool's new Ice Collection, which calls white the "new stainless."  

Don't believe the report?  Check out the pictures on the Whirlpool Ice Collection website . No, it is not a webpage from 1993. Whirlpool's hot new look is white, as in the refrigerator you got rid of five years ago.

The Journal also points to GE, which is pushing a new line of metallic slate appliances.

Doesn't That Stink?
    
But from the "doesn't that stink?" file, the fact that kitchen looks have just a 10 to 15 year lifespan, on average, according to remodeling experts.

The 60s were the brown decade. The 70s, the gold and green decade. The 80s brought us black appliances, the 90s white, and the 2000s stainless steel.

If you upgrade your kitchen at the tail end of a trend, you may say "doesn't that stink?"

That also means your avocado fridge from 1975 is still out of style.  Way out of style.

Good news for homeowners

The Journal says that despite the push to new colors, consumers continue to buy stainless steel, and are even rejecting darker appliance colors like oiled bronze.

The response to the new "ice white" remains a question mark. Just to cover itself, Whirlpool is also offering the line in stainless.

So if you recently switched to stainless, you don't have to worry: It's still the most popular finish.  And for now it refuses to go away.

As always, don't waste your money.    
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