Appliance Colours You Wish Would Come Back, And Those You Hope Never Do.

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launderess

launderess

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Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage
Am so sick and tired of stainless steel, which shows every mark and is almost as bad as copper to keep polished. But on the other hand, white is too sanitary and boring.

So how about some colour!

Colours I want back:

Pink, not a pale Pepto-Bismol pink, but a nice rosy hue.

Coppertone, maybe cause it ws so much around when I was a wee thing, but if a nice deep colour, can be wonderful.

Poppy, think only Frigidarie did this one, but what a great colour. Nice for one accent appliance like the icebox. Then again if done well, the entire kitchen could feature appliances and or accents in the same colour.

Colours I Never Want To See Again:

Avocado - All one needs is a shag carpet.

Harvest Gold - Ditto, all those sitcoms from "The Brady Bunch" on had moms who did their kitchens in this ghastly colour.

L.
 
Pink

As in Pink Panther Pink.
My maternal grandparents had their new 1974 refrigerator painted pink specifically to match the rest of the kitchen.
Least desired: Avocado and "Harvest- or Smoked Anything".
Stainless works nicely with black and cobalt blue, but the upkeep is rather horrid.
Copper can be kewl, but stock up on the ketchup and salt, folks...
 
My vote

The Sunny Yellow is a must have

The Aqua is desierable

The Pink (rosey hue) is ok

The Coppertone could be in a pinch

The Avacodo, PUKE.

LOL,

My two cents
 
Turquoise . . .

is my favorite appliance color, and I would love to see it come back. One thing I would like to NEVER see again is a refrigerator with an imitation-leatherette grain stamped into the steel of the door. Yuck . . . why would anyone want their refrigerator to look as if it were covered in textured vinyl?

I really think we'll be seeing some high-end appliances in more colors soon, now that stainless steel kitchens have become common enough to be available at Home Depot and Sears. What those colors will be I don't know.
 
Turquose is really growing on me, as well as Pink

I never thought that I would like those colors, i love them now. I also happen to like white, a true classic. I grew up in a house with Harvest Gold. EWWWW!!! I grew to dis like that color. As well as Avacado green, double eww!! Copertone, well, a little too dark and really drab, maybe if I lived in a dungeon.
PS as far as forest green shag carpet, I came home from college 800 miles to help tear out this dastardly stuff-- that could hold small forgein countries hostage in its grip. I was so happy to see it go. Rather Delighted to say farwell!!!!!!!!
So to sumerize, Harvest Gold, no, Avacado Green,no, Mayfair Pink, yes, Turquose,yes,Copertone, no.White,yes, also notice the different variation of white in different brands of appliances, for that matter, what would they be for the differnt brands of vintage applainces? Maytag Gold VS Frigidaire Gold VS Whirpool or Kenmore Gold, etc
 
OK, i may be one in a million,
But i like Harvest Gold... Alot...
Also used to like Avacado Green, but then i think of tons of shag carpeting
 
The other color i like is another ickky color no one likes here: Almond..... OK it doesn't look right on a center dial Tag, but an Almond BD Kenmore or Almond Tag from the late 80's.. Hmmmm
 
My parents always had white appliances. Most of what I've owned has been white also, except for the 2nd hand center dial pair I got in harvest gold. They were garage machines the entire time I had them so I didn't care, but I'm NOT a harvest gold fan. Avocado is another one. I could maybe tolerate it in a small countertop appliance if it was a really kewl item and I wanted to celebrate it's 70's-ness, but would never want a fridge or a stove or dishwasher in that color. Plus, I've never seen an avacado that shade of green. It's more like pea soup, which is maybe why so many people have a Linda Blair reaction to anything in avocado.

I do have a stainless KA fridge that's a few years old. I wanted to buy one with "stainless look" that didn't show every last fingerprint, but the KA had the ice bin in the door like I wanted, and that was a priority for me. The "stainless look" finish is much easier to maintain and I wish more manufacturers used it. Even though stainless appliances have become common, I don't think they'll ever go out of style. Way back in the 70's and 80's before stainless was even on the modern home appliance radar, I remember seeing some orgasmically awesome bottom freezer stainless Coldspots from the 60's in thrift stores and wanted to grab one, but had no place for one. So I think stainless will always be an option, but maybe the "stainless look" finish will eventually win out based on maintenance.

Lately, fridges in white all look cheap to me, even the high end models. They look like they all came out of a vacu-form mold or something. No chrome handles or the slightest hint of bling. The white version of my current stainless fridge looks cheap and ugly. I felt that if I was going to have to look at this machine every day for the next 15 or so years (am I being too optimistic?) I couldn't tolerate the ugly white version so spent the extra $ on stainless and I'm happy with my decision even if it's a pain to keep the finish looking its best.
 
aqua and turquoise

Are also good choices.
There is a reason so much white looks cheap. About ten years ago, the Italians figured out a way to pre-paint sheet metal, prior to stamping.
The Europeans immediately bought into it, the US manufacturers are only now beginning to use it.
This is why you now see so many ugly rolled edges and cheap, blocky frames...even on good quality machines like Exploder's new faux-hydrowave. (Which he should take back and demand be replaced, if only for public hygiene. These in-duh-vi-duals at Home Depot need to learn their limits!)...where was I, oh, yeah. So, yup - whereas white used to be just another color, nowadays it can be the cheapest of the cheap.
Doesn't have to be that way, but, hey...
 
I like Almond, or Bisque as it was later called.

hydralique, I agree with you totally on the "textured" refrigerator exteriors. All that texture does is hold dirt and make the unit more difficult to clean. Plus it just doesn't look right.

As far as white refrigerators go, I never realized that it was the missing chrome that makes them look so cheap. They should bring that back, it definitely would make them look better.

Our last house had a Avacado GE kitchen. Never again! It was dismal to say the least. It was one of those things that made you think "What in the world were they thinking when they came out with that color!"

Anyone remember the Avacado carpet color rage? of the 60's?
 
Rather fond of the pastels color of the 50's & 60's. Especially "sunny yellow". The pastels seem so cheery & uplifting. How cool it would be to walk into a pastel appliance accented kitchen. I'm sure Unimatic smiles every time he walks into his. I'd love to see softer, less intense shades of pasteltones offered again.

Regarding pre-painted steel, Whirlpool and other domestic manufacturers have been fabricating refrigerator cabinets and to a lesser extent door panels since the 80's with prefinished steel. Both textured & smooth surfaced. Still painting most everything else.
 
Colors I wouldn't mind seeing again:
Sunshine Yellow - Not Harvest Gold
Poppy - Not Coppertone
Pank - Not Almond
Aqua - Not Turquoise (pronounced turk-waz)
White - Always in style

Ones that will probably be back some day, but not my faves right now:

Avocado & Harvest Gold: The "We must have been stoned" colors.
Coppertone - Would be ok if they hadn't made all those flying saucer light fixtures in the early 60's with it.
Almond - Banality defined-the one color I have never liked.
Turquoise - Perfect color for 1960's Cape Cod style homes with louvered doors between the dining room and kitchen and two different husbands named Darrin.
 
Well, it must be the California sunshine!

But I love Harvest Gold and Avocado Green!! I have a 1978 Frigidaire 1/18 in HG and I am desperately trying to find a dryer to match and I just picked up a 1979ish(?) Harvest Gold GE Filter Flo washer and dryer and I don't' really even care for GE!!

I think the only colors I really hope don't come back are almond and bisque! UGH!! Those were some drab appliances.

Have a gr8 long weekend everyone!-- James
 
Likes and Dislikes

I have to say I'm a fan of White- always in style, always capable of being matched when new appliances are purchased.

After that comes Turquoise, and then Yellow, both of which are cheerful and bright without being obnoxious. I'm not really a fan of Pink, though it sure was better than some of the colours that came later.

Coppertone is okay IF it's all from the same manufacturer and the same time frame. Coppertone was often different from manufacturer to manufacturer, and even year to year. The shaded edges were also problematic- some years they were wider than others. And then they were dropped completely, as in Sears' "Coffee" colour.

Harvest, Avocado, and Almond (a.k.a. Bisque- you don't fool me, Whirlpool!) are abominable. I especially hate Almond, a colour expressly designed to hide dirt and kitchen grease. I WANT dirt to show, so I can see it and then get the hell rid of it.

Stainless is for magazine photos, not houses where there are people. It shows every fingermark, and kids sure know how to leave 'em. So do a good many adults.

I agree with the comments here about textured cabinets. The idea was that textured surfaces don't show fingermarks. Unfortunately, dirt builds up in the texture (remember, you can't see most of it), and when it finally does show, you've got a two-fisted afternoon's work scrubbing schmutz out of the textured surface's crevices.
 

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