Not your average kitchen appliance

Are you frustrated by the limited color options out there for kitchen appliances? Not into stainless steel, white or black? Join the club. Reader Denise wrote to me, asking for some advice:

I'm getting ready to buy all new kitchen appliances; hooray! The trouble is, my kitchen is very open into my family room, and my house is quite colorful, with lots of Mexican and abstract influences--and lots and lots of color. To me, stainless-steel (or, God forbid, black) appliances would look terrible in my house--too sterile in the case of the stainless steel, and too dark in the case of the black.

Although my preference for the appliance color is bisque (of the limited options), I'm trying to think ahead to the eventual resale of my home, too. Is there an up-and-coming appliance color that I should consider? Everything I see in model homes is stainless steel or black, both of which leave me (you guessed it) COLD!

Can you help me?
Denise

Rachel's humble kitchen

(We rent, so I didn't have anything to do with the design choices. I will say that white appliances are a pain to keep clean!)

To help tackle Denise's appliance quandary, I brought in the help of the very talented and knowledgeable kitchen designer, Susan Serra, author of the blog The Kitchen Designer.
Take it away Susan!

Colored Appliances, it's all the rage now. Color is in our lives as never before, and has entered our kitchens, often with gusto! And, why not? We are loving our strong, pro, appliances and often want to showcase them in an equally strong way, or, for that matter, in a whimsical way. The rules for blending and matching color have been continually redefined, and not by the "experts" but by you. Individual expression now trumps "safe!"

Jen-Air oil-rubbed bronze series

Appliance manufacturers have gone color-crazy! We have purples, we have bronzes, many colors of blue and on and on.

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I consider Viking to be a leader of color appliances, going back quite a few years now. Viking has only expanded their colors for their appliances year after year.

Aga, always into color, brought in a soft purple, called heather.

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note: AGA discontinued the yellow and royal blue and added pillar box red which does not appear on their site

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And one sees lots of color in retro appliances, such as the very cool Big Chill line of appliances. I'm not a retro fan, but this line is awesome.

And, talk about color? What about Blue Star? Sit down for this one...190 colors!

You can even play around with how one of their stoves would look in a variety of colors

It's all good. Or, is it?

Of course, the appliance manufacturers would just love for you to buy a whole suite of appliances in the color of your choice. And, so, one will see this concept in manufacturer's advertising. But, wait, what happens if, down the road, one appliance needs to be replaced and that color is no longer available? Something to think about, to plan for.

Color CAN be done in a temporary way for your appliances. Dishwasher and Refrigerators can have panels of bold color, changeable as one desires.

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Or, another elegant way to incorporate color, short of an entire suite of color, is to choose one appliance, perhaps the range, which may be situated as a focal point, and select a color that will be picked up elsewhere in the kitchen. Thus, the color is isolated, yet, significant. Yet, another idea is to have an appliance painted locally, via a special process just for appliances.

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As the color story for 2008 moves toward nature, such as greens and blues, even elegant shades such as our old friends, black and white, take care not to follow trends solely because the colors look fresh and new. Appliances are not pillows...they may last you decades!

Here's my advice...follow your heart, keeping one foot solidly on the ground.

Added thanks to Danielle from Canton Kitchens for additional picture links