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whirlcool

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Bronze!
Last night I was watching the 2006 Kitchen & Bath show on television and it contained a lot of views of the new appliances, of course a lot of them were Miele, but the manucfacturers are now adding a new color that they hope will replace stainless steel, Bronze. What is it? Think dark Coppertone Stainless Steel.

Wasn't it just a few months ago that there was a topic here indicating that Stainless steel and granite are going the way of the dodo bird? Go in any appliance store and they are still stocked to the rafters in Stainless.

Will we soon be seeing Stainless Appliances sitting at the curb because someone wanted to upgrade to bronze?

Also, glass tile is on the upswing for kitchens, give a nice jeweled effct.
 
granite counter tops

I have started to notice people selling or giving away on Craigslist used granite counter tops.
Those awful, overly expensive, cold to the touch, impractical to install, high maintenance black(?) countertops.
I'm surprised because you would think that they would crack. Perhaps the ones I have seen were the ones that survived.
Now I have installed laminate counter tops, very affordable to upgrade and I know for a fact that if you drop laminate, it won't break. You have to cut it if you want it in pieces. Unpainted metal (stainless steel) appliances, lol, the "show all finger prints" and "tough as metal for your ego" special features. What were they thinking?
I call these 2 "specials" republican ugly because a major effort to push this "stuff" in the last 6 years. And we know how successful republicans have been.
 
We have Corian for our countertops and we love them. They are a simple almond color. Strangely enough, when this house was built 10 years ago, the appliances were almond color but the dishwasher and oven door was black. We actually like almond or bisque or whatever it's called now. But since it is no longer available, looks like when we do our kitchen remodel next year we'll go with white. Almost always in fashion. We don't want to spend the rest of our lives beign slaves to stainless. Our black dishwasher is bad enough, with three large dogs we are always wiping nose prints off of it. Besides, we are practial people. We keep our appliances until they just won't go anymore.

I was watching one of those "Sell Your House" television programs a few weeks ago and they had a house with Corian counter tops. The woman reviewing the house said that they "had to go! They smack of middle class!" Ugh!
 
While it's always nice to see appliances in new colors, I think white and stainless steel are timeless and always stylish. Coppertone, pink, avocado, almond, mint green, yellow, blue and harvest gold will pass in and out of fashion, but white is a constant.
 
Jason, I can't tell from the picture if your Oasis pair are spaced slightly apart or touching. I'd suggest NOT having them touch each other. I did that years ago with the 1976 Whirlpool pair, and vibrations over time scratched the sides.
 
Nice

Wow blue. Wasn't there a blue in the early 60 for a short time similar to this?
And a window in the washer door. Is that a window in the dryer door as well or is that a black panel? I am guessing that windows in doors like this came about because of this group. Am I right. I mean why else would they do it.
I like the the lite green walls. I remember as a teen painting my room that color.
Is that 2 washer connection points I see in the back round?
 
Yes, I'd heard bronze was gonna be the next "SS". I"m not sure now, but at one time, Jenn-Aire as gonna come out with a line that color.
 
I like the Pacific Blue there Jason, that's definitely a nice color. I also like the Poppy red seen back in the sixties as well. I think it would do the appliance manufacturers, and the buyers some good to add some different color styles out there again.

The thing about stainless steel these days is that it invokes thougts of "professional grade" and "heavy duty". I imagine much of this comes from the fact that a typical commercial kitchen or laundry center has stainless steel or some other type of unpainted metal finish on their machinery and other surfaces. Much of this I imagine can be sort of an "SUV effect". People buy these big trucks not because they need a big burly truck for towing, hauling, and going off the paved road, but because they want a vehicle that is built strong and durable, and they hope will give them an element of reliability using it for such light-duty chores as picking up kids at the school and grocery-getting. Of course, there's the people out there that also don't want to be seen driving around in a station wagon or mini-van because it doesn't look tough enough, even though those vehicles will get the same transportation job done just as well, if not better. There are many people out there that buy professional grade kitchen appliances simply for their appearance, but never turn them on. Just like automobile builders have recently started building ordinary cars with the likeness of their big, burly SUV toughness, household appliance manufacturers have also followed suit, giving people ordinary appliances that have a professional appearance but without the professional price, upkeep, and inefficiency. I, personally enjoy the look of stainless steel myself, but try not to read into it too much, and just choose to enjoy it for simply what it is...a neat way to spice up an otherwise bland white box!

Bronze though, I have mixed feelings about that. I don't really care for that look too much, but it is better than the plain white that is way too common nowadays. I guess it sort of goes with the "mediterranean garden" look that has become the latest kitchen apperance fad. It's a look I'm not all too crazy for. I didn't care for the 80's "country kitchen" fad either. I prefer the sixties "space-age kitchen" look, that has long since been a fad and popular, but I still find totally fun!
 
It makes sense that an "Oasis" machine must be blue. Invoking a feeling of calm and cool. Yes, that's 2 washer hookups built into the house. The cedar chest to the left of the Oasis will move because something vintage is going there... in less than two weeks.
 
Another Brown Decade

Bronze has already established itself as a finish for more expensive kitchen and bath faucets. This "new" finish will probably do well for Jenn-Air and other manufactures especially as many of their customers are too young to remember all the drab bronze finishes that were around in the 1970’s.

Dark bronze and walnut – so easily approximated (from the average consumer’s viewpoint) with anodized aluminum and wood grain plastic laminate. Actually this was a repeat of the finish tones of the Jacobean look so popular in the 1920's.
I guess it is time for it to come around again.

All this is of course sour grapes from someone who has always delighted in silver and grey and light blonde wood.
 
Sounds like Jason's getting a new addition to the family.

Our neighbor had a bronze-ish stove in the early 70s' It had the oven over the range. It was bronze not coffe like in the late 70s'. definately metalic. that was very 1960's i think. She also had a carpeted kitchen. Ah fond memories. Remmember carpet in the kitchen?
 
Why bring back the 1970s?

Yuk, copper or bronze is right up there with the avocado, both 70's colors. When did almond or biscuit get disontinued? I bought almond in 1984 and got the biscuit (same thing) in 2003. It was still available in most appliances this year, got that color microwave. I prefer it to white and will never pick another color that will go out of style. My appliances are here for the long haul.
 
Biscuit is not discontinued. Though if you go to home depot or Best Buy or something you would think it was. with few displays.
It is like a morgue with all that chinzy Unpainted metal-stainless steel, and yes, fake stainless steel. lol. I have seen plastic panels with a metalic finish. As if the real stuff wasn't bad enough. lol.

"My appliances are here for the long haul." Well you have made a prudent choice, and a good one at that. White or Bisque will go with most anything. And I have thought that way too.
Still though. the fun of having things from the past. A coffee colored GE built in Dishwasher from the mid 70s, Avacodo GE stove from 1969 with P-7 oven cleaning my first apartment, a harvest gold single door ge standard defrost refrig from 1972, harvest gold Kenmore MOL washer and dryer 1981.

And you know the Morgue look (cold dark granite counter tops, ss. appliances, cold floor, tall ceilings, pewter hardware and lites, cheap cabinets, huge refrigerator) has been done to death, pardon the pun.
Look in the realestate classifieds, Even for apartments for rent. You see this ugly theme. The Uglification of America push has made its mark.
 
Stainless steel has become so expensive that it is driving up the cost of ss appliances to where people cannot afford them. There was some news story about this a month or more ago. That's why GE advertises the Metaltone (or some other invented term)refrigerators. Has anyone tried wiping the door or front surfaces with a slight amount of baby oil? When you leave the slightest film on the metal, finger prints slide off with a swipe of the cloth.
 
I talked to a couple of reps at Both Whirlpool and Maytag have said that they know of no plans to discontinue Bisque. One guy at Whirlpool said that he heard other customer calling about that "rumor" is just that.

Wipe your refrig with Baby Oil? Ewwe baby, sexy, Can I get it to dance on the counter as well.
I don't think that that is very sanitary. high maintenance

There is probly a greater chance of the Black colored appliances being discontinued. As that is a drastic fashion statement, according to Maytag. Still I would rather have Black appliance over something ss anyday.
 
Whew, I am glad to hear that the bisque or biscuit will still be around for awhile.
Now since our laundry area is in the kitchen do any front loader machines come in this color?

Remember not too awful long ago, we were advised to paint over our paneling in the den and paint our wood cabinets in the kitchen white? The look of wood was overwith? I'm thinking mid 90's.
Well, the wood look is back. I wonder how many people are now going to be scraping the paint off of their painted walls? Personally, I think that the look of wood is very rich. Amd we love the look of dark cherry/walnut with stainless handles!
 
I see these home decorating shows like Trading spaces and such where they paint over woodwork and brick trim and stuff. That is totally sinful. In fact, I've seen them recommend doing that on HGTV to make the house sell faster. ACK! Why in the heck would that make the house sell faster??? You have taken what was once an attractive, maintaince free element of the home and turned it into something that will now need attention ever few years. Not to mention it's sort of like circumcision...one's it's done, you can't go back! Seeing painted-over materials like this would probably shy me away from a home.

These home shows also have recommended doing things like removing original tilework and such in the name of a quick sale. I don't like that either. Why remove a high-quality element from a home and replace it with some cheap, junk modern equivalent??? It just doesn't make sense.

Anybody who touches my woodwork or brickwork with a paintbrush will be staring down the barrel of my Ruger!!!
 
My wife wanted stainless

and so we went for it. I am disappointed how much water staining this material has, and must be scrubbed clean often with a cleaner (at least the dishwasher).

Personally, I prefer painted surfaces, and lively colors.
 
Our Sub-Zero and Tappan are stainless, but it's the older kind of stainless that doesn't seem to show stains and finger prints so much.

As far as cabinets go, ours are wood and have never been painted. At first I thought it would be too dark, but it is actually quite nice. They do need refinished, however, and that is one the schedule for one of these decades.

We have tile counters which are original to the house. They will stay because of that, but I would prefer Formica. John would like Corian, but I think it's too dark, especially with the cabinets. I spend too much time in the kitchen for that, and like a little more pizzazz. :-)
 
Poppy red

I wish that poppy red appliances would come back even though they were never very popular. When I was in high school, my folks had a house that was done in poppy red. The kitchen appliances, sink, toaster, coffee maker, and canister set were poppy. The washer, dryer, and furnace were poppy (I wonder if poppy water heaters were available.) The bathroom fixtures were poppy. Even the front door was painted red. I haven't seen the house since 1980, but I suspect that the poppy red has aged much more gracefully than shaded avocado or harvest gold would have. Poppy red was obscure enough that today many people might not even realize that it was a 1970's color. Does anybody know if aqua colored appliances aged very well?
 
I suppose it like everything that goes through time.
In the 50s people loathed the victorian era and the buildings because of the blatant repressiveness the area represented, (and with good reason).
They altered these homes by tearing off the pointlessly overly complicated porches, paneled the insides, lowered the ceilings, they painted the vivid colors all white to neutralize, then converted victorian mansions to rentable rooming houses, went as far as abandoning the brittle timber boxes or leveling them to make room for parking lots and the like. (Now that was great)

We've all heard the stories of those who have bought an old house and ripped away the years of adjustments to reality. So they could "restore" some of the original "charm". Blah, Blah, Blah. Apparently some kind of challenge? or escape?
I'm all for revitalizing old buildings so as not to waste materials, but trying to "restore" a building exactly the way it was for the sake of restoring to exactly the way it was, not so much. For a museum, ok. But we've moved on.

And god knows I have done my share of time wasted on frivolous home projects. There are many more important issues in our society, now more than ever, that need to be addressed.

Just as republican biased fox "news" (propaganda) and other such outlets are merely talking heads for a minority extremist group that has cheated it's way into the white house. So is alot of the programming on channels such as HGTV biased to serve the benefit of Home Depot, Lowes, Menards and the like and it's suppliers. Perhaps with less criminal intent though. lol.
But lord it must be a crime when these shows that do "Before and After" shots leaves you wanting the room the way it was Before. Even with the purposefully shaded pictures, split second views, negative dialogue, awkward angel shots, and other tricks that I am sure are hoped to make the set look undesireable. ;op
 
I think for the general public colors and styles will always ebb and flow, go in and out of style. Sometimes I think about how many times I could have reused some of my various wardrobes, had I had the room to store it all! I've cycled between liking and not so much liking various of these colors over the years, but I pretty much have an appreciation for all of them now, and see how you could have fun with them at any given place in time.

I think ss can be very nice if you do the rest of the kitchen tastefully around it. My boss bought ss fridges for the kitchens at the new office, and as I keep up the kitchens, I first thought "ugh". But, they're actually easier to keep up than I thought they would be, even with 35 people going in and out of them all day. However, this experience has solidified my disdain for side by side refrigerators, and I wouldn't want an ss fridge unless it were a subzero or was built in to the point that only the front is showing. I just think the ss doors and black sides...it just doesn't work for me. Either do ss or don't. Btw, we have Asko dishwashers that I do really like, and that really really new style of ISE disposal, which are REALLY quiet, even more than my 777. She did blonde IKEA cabinets with glass doors, and the countertops are also the wood color, with black floor and chairs and red accents. We have a snackbar in the shape of a surfboard with red chairs and red halogen lights above, which is perfect since our lunchroom has an ocean view. The tables are glass and metal with black chairs. It's actually really cool!

Flair range, I also really liked poppy, though we never had it in our home. I have a lot of red in my current home though which I really enjoy. We had aqua/turquoise for years. I always found it to be very soothing and timeless. I really liked and still like it.

For a long time I really despised those dark 70s kitchens (like the one in that harvest gold KA pic of the day with the mom and daughter and harvest gold dw), but I can see now where they can be stylish. Just don't ask me to carpet my kitchen! LOL I still prefer lighter wood, but I have more of an appreciation for darker and paneled surfaces again now than I did there for a while.
 
Like black appliances, the SS shows every scratch and fingerprint and anything that splatters during cooking. It just adds up to excessive cleaning times. Oh and the polishing---- a hassle.

Also, from a decorating standpoint, SS has all the warmth of the Medical Examiners Office.

IMO it is much better to have the warmth and earthy colors of copper or bronze, especially when trying to achieve the rich look of many European kitchens whether formal or country, Tuscany or Provence.

Combined with different shades of green,yellow,gold, and rich warm red hues, I'd much rather have bronze or copper to decorate with.

My two shekels.
 

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