We’re gearing up for a big renovation of our home this spring, and we’re going to need all new appliances in the kitchen. White appliances. Not trendy stainless steel – white.
Now, you probably don’t know this about me, while I love helping my clients pick out fabrics and paint colors, I have a big problem picking out things for my own home. I think it’s because I know there are so many choices and different directions to go.
The one room in our house that I’m very clear about how I want to update it, is the kitchen. I want a white kitchen. I love white, it’s so clean and fresh looking.
I have a Kitchens board on Pinterest, and I’ve noticed most of the kitchens I’ve pinned are white. It’s harder to find pictures of white kitchens that have white appliances, most are stainless steel. Here’s one I love from Sarah Richardson Design (my all-time favorite designer).
I’ve always had white appliances in all of our houses. Here’s a picture of our kitchen in it’s current state. I really loved this kitchen when we built our house in the mid-ninety’s. (You can see I have always had a thing for white!)
A while back, I watched this video in which Sarah Richardson and her design team member, Tommy, are answering Facebook readers’ questions. The question was – “Will there ever be a place for gold or avacado appliances?” Tommy says no, except in period movies. Then he says that he thinks white appliances are coming back in style. Yay!
So, to answer my own question, I think it’s definitely OK to have white appliances. Actually, I think it’s OK to have whatever color makes YOU happy, whether it’s trendy or not. That goes for everything in your home.
What do you think? White appliances – yay or nay?
Sandal says
February 10, 2014 at 6:12 amYes! I think white appliances look fantastic in a white kitchen. I have a white kitchen and cannot imagine having stainless appliances. We just replaced our refrigerator and had to wait three weeks to get a white one because it needed to be special ordered. White it is for me!
Jann says
February 10, 2014 at 7:09 amSandal – glad to hear you love white appliances too! Yes, I’ve been told it will take a few weeks to get my white appliances too, but I can’t wait!
Elle says
February 8, 2018 at 5:49 pmWhere did you find white appliances? I saw Lowes had a stove but it was $2500… Too much!
Jann says
February 9, 2018 at 8:53 am4 years ago when we got new appliances, they at our local appliance stores.
Patty Virginia says
February 10, 2014 at 6:52 amGuess I’m an old fashioned girl because I love white appliances. And, to go a step further I love white cabinets, too. I love the clean look and brightness when cooking. It’s probably the only room that I would use white because for all the other rooms color dominates. I’ve never cared for stainless steel appliances, they fingerprint easily, look messy when touched, too much high maintenance for me. Think the stainless steel trend will fade out over time and we’ll see a resurgence in white once again. What goes around, come around.
Jann says
February 10, 2014 at 7:10 amPatty – I agree, I love the clean, fresh look of a white kitchen.
Nancy Hogan says
February 10, 2014 at 7:57 amJann, I’m with you! We remodeled our kitchen last year and YES, we did a WHITE kitchen with WHITE appliances! I also am not a fan of Stainless appliances. I LOVE my white kitchen! Still need to make my window treatments though! Of course in my case it’s “the cobblers children go barefoot”…I’ve had the fabric for about 8 months!
Jann says
February 10, 2014 at 9:25 amNancy, I’ll bet your kitchen turned out beautiful. I certainly understand about the cobblers children!
Bonnie Haugh says
February 10, 2014 at 7:32 amI am so relieved to see that someone else wants white appliances. We built our home 17 years ago and we installed dark cherry cabinets with white backsplash and appliances. It is fast approaching update time and, while I want to keep my cabinets, it is time to replace appliances. And I still want white! I have been hoping that white will never go the way of trendier colors. If Sarah Richardson likes them, that’s good enough for me!
Jann says
February 10, 2014 at 9:27 amBonnie, definitely go with white if you still love it!
Marcia says
February 10, 2014 at 10:09 amYes! I think white is the classic that will always be acceptable. Appliance “trends” come and go. I really do not like stainless. Our current home had them when we bought them, so I am stuck with them since they are almost new. BUT, the fridge in particular, while I really like the features (it is a bottom freezer French door, LOVE that), the finish drives me crazy. I think I have it clean and polished and the the sun shines on it, whoa. It looks beautiful when it is gleaming and no one has touched it. And I can only imagine how it would be if I had young children…
Jann says
February 10, 2014 at 2:24 pmMarcia, the fingerprints would drive me nuts too! I’m really surprised at the responses from people who like white too. I thought I would get some from stainless lovers also.
Connie sikora says
February 10, 2014 at 2:29 pmI have and love white appliances as
Well. Will you be painting your cabinets or going for a whole gut job? Your cabinets look perfect. Have fun, you know what a mess a kitchen remodel is!
Jann says
February 10, 2014 at 7:44 pmConnie, the cabinets are in good shape, so I’m going to paint them white soon. Yes, it will be a big mess for a while, but long overdue.
Jeanette Sampson says
February 10, 2014 at 3:09 pmI would love to hear everyone opinion on painting oak cabinets. Do you think we will be sorry someday that we painted them. By the way—I have stainless steel and like it. It does not smug that much. They have good cleaners out now that help with the fingerprints. I think what causes fingerprints is using oily products to clean them with. What I really dislike is the freezer on the bottom of my frig. Call me old fashion, I just like the freezer on top!
Jann says
February 10, 2014 at 7:53 pmHi Jeanette! Personally, for me, I am so tired of the orange oak I can’t wait to paint the cabinets. Interesting that you don’t like the freezer on the bottom. What don’t you like about it?
Jeanette Sampson says
February 10, 2014 at 8:16 pmI do not feel the freezer on the bottom is “user friendly”. What I mean by that is it is too hard to find things. When the freezer was on top, it was easy to look in the back and I could pack the freezer better. Even with the pull out baskets, I do not seem to be able to put as much in the bottom freezer compared to the top freezer. I still have my old frig out in the garage and there is SO much more in that freezer compared to the one in the house. I rely on buying ahead and freezing, so freezer space and convenience is important to me.
Merlyn Corcoran says
February 16, 2014 at 10:07 amI too like white appliances. However, choosing a paint color for the cabinets can be tricky. Most white appliances are stark white, no undertones, especially the new White Ice line by Whirlpool. Most of our favorite white paint options do have a slight cast to them – pink, yellow, green, etc. For example, this kitchen looks off to me because the cabinet color is off-white: http://www.mariakillam.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/image95.jpg
Super White by Benjamin Moore works with white appliances.
Jann says
February 16, 2014 at 8:59 pmMerlyn, I agree, it’s going to be tricky to pick the right white color. I’m going to paint some pieces of poster board, and I’ll give Super White a try!
It’s funny that you linked to Maria Killam’s blog. She’s one of my favorite bloggers, and I’m going to be featuring her in tomorrow’s post!
Jennifer Rees says
February 19, 2014 at 3:06 pmLast year at this time we were picking out new appliances. We completely gutted our kitchen and put in new everything. We did white cabinets, white with grey (almost marble like)quartz countertops, and stainless appliances. White appliances were an option, but in the end we choose stainless. This was partly because it offered more choices, partly because my husband had a strong opinion and mostly because my white KitchenAid mixer (with silver trim) was my inspiration piece for the project! I love the white kitchen, even with kids! It’s so fresh and bright.
Jann says
February 19, 2014 at 3:51 pmHey Jenn! I’ll bet your kitchen turned out beautiful! Luckily, my husband does not have a preference about the appliances. Though he does like that the white ones are usually less expensive than stainless.
Linda Southworth says
March 8, 2014 at 2:17 pmJann, I think its great! I keep looking on Pinterest and the HGTV shows and know that in the not so distant future a couple will be looking at a home to buy and referring the the “dated” appliances that will be all stainless. It just doesn’t last forever does it?
Jann says
March 8, 2014 at 5:02 pmLinda, you’re absolutely right, I keep thinking the same about stainless.
JUDY says
November 7, 2014 at 8:04 amI spent so much money on my SS appliances and I love the brands I bought but the Stainless is totally annoying. I always loved at the end of the day to leave the kitchen looking clean and neat for morning . Coffee set to brew and a good start to the day. Now, after doing all of the cleaning straightening, putting everything away-I have another really pain in the neck job of making the stainless look like it was just delivered. I wipe, I polish. Move to the next one and $%&* and why do I see a smear on the one I just did? Now I use a micro cloth to wash and one to dry and if it looks smeary I ignore it. I know its unimportant in the grand scheme of things but I would definitely trade them for White. I never had a problem making a white appliance look clean!
Washington State Kitchen & Bath says
July 16, 2015 at 10:04 amI have been working for this white kitchen since last month. We are renovating our kitchen at home and I am loving how the project is going. I love to see more of white in the favorite area of our house.