Stainless Steel Appliances
 

do you get much return on that investment?! i'm looking to put in a new stove/oven, refrigerator, microwave and dishwasher. it's stainless vs. black... i'm also thinking about sanding, staining and putting new "jewelry" on the cabinets. spending 3-4k for all those things. my guess is the appliances aren't big equity builders and just re-surfacing the cabinetry won't add a ton of value, but it will be more aesthetically pleasing to the eye..

my guess the majority response will be, dude, you just moved in, if putting in stainless steel appliances and re-surfacing the cabinets make you happy, just do it.

thank you.

In regards to actual Value it will help a little but not a ton, in regards to aesthetics in the long run it will help when you decide to sell this house. I have stainless steel throughout my house, the only problem is that they are hard to keep clean. Finger prints galore.

SS appliances won't add equity to your home. However, it does create a perception of newness, being remodeled, etc. which will help you sell your home as CJ pointed out.

One thing to be sure of though is to get matching appliances what ever you do. I used to have an account with GE when I built homes. I like GE appliances personally. In 50 homes built I never had a warranty issue with any of the appliances from them. Be careful matching SS if you pick and choose from different brands. Lots of people do this looking for the best deal but not all SS is the same. In fact go to Sears and you will see that Kenmore is often a re-badged version of some other brand and within the Kenmore line you can get varying shades of SS.

Yeah I was going to say the same thing. Every time you tap something it leaves a smudge.

For whatever reason, the fingerprints have not been too bad on our stainless. I have different brands on all of my appliances as well. One thing to note though is surfah is absolutely correct...the stainless can vary a bit among different brands. If you want to keep it close in appearance, compare the different appliances with each other. If your appliances are far away from each other, it is not as big of a deal.

Stainless will help when you try and sell but since you just bought, that may not be as important right now. They do have a high gloss (mirror like) black on the market right now for some appliances that looks cool...but I still like the stainless the best. Good luck.

Isn't that just because they are the trend right now? I mean, there could be something else better or more popular by the time he sells, right?

Stainless steel has been around in kitchens for decades and will continue to be so...it may not be a necessity like it is viewed as today, but it probably won't go 'out of style.' Black and white are the same. The problem that you get is when you go out and get that beautiful brown or lime green appliance. Anyway, just my opinion.

I am not a designer, but I have been in construction now for 12 years. I can't help but wonder if the popularity of stainless steel has aproached it's peak and in 5 years people will look back at it and think of ss as they think of avacado appliances today.

I think that you hit it on the head - just put in whatever you like best if you are going to be there for a while.

Personaly, I think that black has more of a timeless quality to it - it won't go out of style any time soon.

Also, I don't know what price level your property is at but past a certain level(200k or so) I hear that most people who are looking want new appliances - whether they put them in themselves or they are put in by the seller.

Something that will increase the value is granite countertops, if you don't have them already. But if you have to install them, you're only going to get your money back if the selling price is north of 200k.

If you think that you're going to be there for a while get whatever you want(the look that you want) and worry about appliances and the like when you are getting ready to sell.

I think we are going to go with the black oven and refrigerator... it already has a black dish washer. my parents have stainless and my mom said she'd never do it again.. they look nice, but they take a lot of cleaning. the house already has granite so we don't have to do anything there... thanks for the advice and helping me make up my mind!