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Existing apartment - replacing refrigerator, and the one that will fit is either stainless or white. The cabinets are honey pine type wood (think typical apartment type construction). The existing stove is bisque with a black glass oven front. The counters are light cream/beige with cabinets above and below, so that is what you see directly next to refrigerator. Floor is medium maple (laminate "hardwood") Nearest walls are beige and a dark green accent wall with honey pine trim. Microwave is silver with a black front.

I am leaning toward stainless, but white is available at the same price. Thoughts on which will look best?

Stainless. It does show fingerprints, however--but then, so does white...

Stainless, all the way.

I like white, it lightens up a room and for me, looks "clean". We replaced a black dishwasher with a white one (and an "in wall" microwave also), and it made a huge difference in the lighting effect. We just put in a new cast iron enamal sink and used bisque for that (thought white would show staining/aging too easily). When I get up the nerve to replace the refridgerator (this one has lasted for 20 years. . . ), it will be white also (it's almond, the next darker/tannish color after bisque). I like stainless, but prefer it against a white background, otherwise I find it a light "sink". We have a dark brown tile floor in the kitchen, oakish cabinets, and a tan/brown countertop. We're also in the Pac NW where it is cloudy for a good deal of the year, so light worship is a common affliction. . . For me it would depend on what the lighting is like in the room and what level of that you prefer, at least.

NOT white. Black or stainless.

With the color scheme you describe, I would not go with white.

I would go with stainless only because of the current color scheme. I bought stainless appliances last year and what a PITA to keep clean. I wish almond/bisque were back in vogue.

I just have white. Stainless always looks grungy to me. But then, for me a kitchen is a place to prepare my simple meals, and it doesn't need to look fancy.

I love my almost year old, almost paid for , stainless freezer on bottom fridge. I don't find it shows prints much. I wipe it everyday. I now have a black dishwasher (which you can't see from outside the kitchen, black over stove micro and white (hated) range which is too new to replace unless I get a major windfall. Then I would get black and stainless to tie it all together.

This is what white looks like here (although the white tones are not quite right due to lights/flash), but I suspect this is a very different effect (rereading your description) from what you have:



Excuse the mess, I should be cooking dinner, not playing on DDBB. . . . .

I went white cause its cheaper and easier to clean - stainless is sooooo 2000

Do yourself a favor and go with white.

Figgy wrote:I went white cause its cheaper and easier to clean - stainless is sooooo 2000

As an owner of white appliances (including a new fridge this spring), I was going to say go with white until I read your description. I'd go with black to tie in with the other appliances unless the stove is also due to be replaced soon.

White all the way. I don't care about what is "in". I do not like stainless at all. Even the new finishes on stainless that are not supposed to show fingerprints don't seem to work well. Also more $$$$ for stainless. Thanks, I will save my money. Plus...you can't put your refrigerator magnets on them .

Susan

Perhaps I'm just a dirty handed person, but I had to replace the handles on my white refrigerator because they were becoming discolored. Now the whole refrigerator color looks a little off compared to the new handles. For this reason, I cannot wait to replace it with a stainless refrigerator, but the white one is a million years old and will likely never die.

I can't believe how many people in this thread are voting "white"!

I had to fight like a cornered cat to get my white appliances. I HATE stainless steel. I like white. It was MY appliances. So sue me! I had to argue with my family (not the ones that were actually going to live with the decision), my friends, the builder, the appliance store salesperson....omg. I did, of course, end up with said white appliances and I'm quite happy.

I just hate stainless steel. I think it's super ugly. But hey, it's popular, and plus SS is usually more expensive than white, so maybe the SS is a better for you.

Looking at Koolkat's photo, I probably should have gone with white, but they had the stainless in stock and the white would have required some wait, so I went stainless. Hopefully it will look ok, it's bigger than my old one and I'm a bit concerned it will dominate the kitchen, but we'll see. At least my food will stay cold now! (the seal on the former refrigerator went bad and could not hold a cold temperature).

My old one was a smaller "freezer on top" type. I had one for 15 years that was great but eventually broke, so I got a new one same size and brand. Then the new one went bad within just a couple years. So this time, I went with a freezer on the bottom type, hoping to avoid that issue. One person told me it was the brand and not the freezer on top style in general, but to me, it looks like they are probably all made at the same plant and they just put a different nameplate on it, but I'm not sure if that is true between the major brands or not....

Of course, I know people who bought very nice expensive refrigerators and had to replace them after five years or so.... so maybe they just don't make them like they used to.