fan-of-fans
Well-known member
I was thinking recently seeing an old commercial about just how long stainless steel appliances have been in vogue. I had forgotten that the current craze over stainless steel has lasted nearly two decades seeing an old Lowes commercial from 2002. While stainless has kinda always been around at the high end, I think they really started becoming more mainstream popular in the very late 90s (ala GE Profile and Viking, Five Star other high end brands in these finishes) and then more mainstream popular (like your basic BOL/mid range GE, Frigidaire, Whirlpool, Kenmore appliances being available in it) during the mid-late 2000s.
I do wonder what, if any, finish will replace them as the next big thing.
Another thing I've noticed is while say 10 years ago you could get high end appliances with all the bells and whistles in white or black, these days most of the TOL stuff tends to come ONLY in stainless or some variation thereof, but not so much black or white. Or in the laundry room, some space age color like gray, blue or red.
And come to think of it, I haven't seen bisque much as an option either, and certainly not anything other than barely above BOL.
Given how often colors have changed - think pastels like robin's egg blue and yellow in the early 60s, giving way to avocado, harvest and coppertone in the late 60s and then the late 70s/early 80s giving way to more mellow versions like almond, coffee and harvest wheat, and then quickly almond replacing all those by the mid 80s, it's surprising to me how long stainless has been king.
I know in the mid 80s almond was big, then at the end of the 80s and most of the 90s white-on-white or all black being were the high end finishes.
I know some finishes like black stainless steel and a more bronze toned stainless have come up here and there but they don't seem to have really caught on as well. So the biggest change I've seen since the early/mid 2000s is stainless steel with black plastic trim and handles has gone way to shiny silver metal trim like handles, etc. Which to me looks better. Not to mention on white appliances, smooth metal painted handles are so much better than textured white plastic (but I digress).
You see those home buying shows and the prospective buyers are all giddy because the house has granite and stainless. I personally could not care less about them. I actually liked last week when I watched one of these shows and the kitchen had white appliances and oak cabinets and the buyers said "the kitchen looks nice and updated." I couldn't imagine someone on these shows was happy about a non-up-to the-minute kitchen. LOL
I do wonder what, if any, finish will replace them as the next big thing.
Another thing I've noticed is while say 10 years ago you could get high end appliances with all the bells and whistles in white or black, these days most of the TOL stuff tends to come ONLY in stainless or some variation thereof, but not so much black or white. Or in the laundry room, some space age color like gray, blue or red.
And come to think of it, I haven't seen bisque much as an option either, and certainly not anything other than barely above BOL.
Given how often colors have changed - think pastels like robin's egg blue and yellow in the early 60s, giving way to avocado, harvest and coppertone in the late 60s and then the late 70s/early 80s giving way to more mellow versions like almond, coffee and harvest wheat, and then quickly almond replacing all those by the mid 80s, it's surprising to me how long stainless has been king.
I know in the mid 80s almond was big, then at the end of the 80s and most of the 90s white-on-white or all black being were the high end finishes.
I know some finishes like black stainless steel and a more bronze toned stainless have come up here and there but they don't seem to have really caught on as well. So the biggest change I've seen since the early/mid 2000s is stainless steel with black plastic trim and handles has gone way to shiny silver metal trim like handles, etc. Which to me looks better. Not to mention on white appliances, smooth metal painted handles are so much better than textured white plastic (but I digress).
You see those home buying shows and the prospective buyers are all giddy because the house has granite and stainless. I personally could not care less about them. I actually liked last week when I watched one of these shows and the kitchen had white appliances and oak cabinets and the buyers said "the kitchen looks nice and updated." I couldn't imagine someone on these shows was happy about a non-up-to the-minute kitchen. LOL
