For those of you who remember the house that you grew up in, or your grandparents (yikes!) house, or great-grandparents (SUPER-yikes!!) house, it was a myriad of textures, colors, and ornaments that are part of that by-gone era. Grandfather clocks that chimed and bonged every 15 minutes, tiled bathroom walls that reflected the pink vanity and matching toilet, shag carpeting in Harvest Gold and Olive Green, dark narrow hallways, and sewing or drying rooms are, for the most part, not seen in today’s modern times. This is something we should be thankful for. Brown carpeting, jade green tile, cement laundry tubs, subterranean pantries…Wow! I’m back in my grandmother’s home just thinking about it! In a previous blog, I mentioned her dark brown kitchen appliances. In her basement, where the subterranean pantry was, she had a 2nd kitchen that included a pink 40” range and a pink refrigerator that had lazy Susan type shelves…it was round swing out metal shelving that you could bring out at the push of a button.
Pink, brown, coppertone, avocado, turquoise, and harvest gold were just a few of the many colors brightening up kitchens of the 50’s and 60’s. The 70’s ushered in almond, black, and the ever-trendy white! Whirlpool tried a couple colors called Toast and Platinum (light brown and grey for the sake of your color palette), but they didn’t stand the test of time either. Biscuit replaced almond, causing all sorts of issues with people trying to replace their almond appliances, but I guess that’s why we have a job, right?
As the buying public’s interest of experimenting with colors waned, appliance manufacturers had swiped the palette clean through the years, making stainless steel, white, and black the majority of appliance finishes. Stainless steel made a huge impact over the past 25 years, so much so, that “anti-stainless” (fingerprint proof, stainless-look, matte finishes) emerged as options as people objected to cleaning stainless finishes. Dating myself again, but that’s like faux fur, in my humble opinion.
Today, finally, colors are making a comeback! Stainless, black, and white are still great finishes, but companies like GE are playing with textures and metal colors (matte white w/copper accents, matte black with brass accents, glass over stainless, black slate, black stainless), Whirlpool (Black Stainless), Viking (Matte black with Rose Gold trim, appliances in 7 classic and 14 contemporary colors) and others have really responded to consumers’ desires to individualize their kitchens.
Then, there’s the old adage that, “what was old is new again”. Brands like SMEG, Chambers, and Big Chill are offering the opportunity to be big and bold with bright…really bright…colors like cherry red and bright orange, or to retro colors like Jadeite Green, Beach Blue, and Buttercup Yellow, among others. The product is really good quality and the finishes are outstanding. They even allow you to call your own shot and pick a custom color off the RAL color chart and individualize your appliances the way you want…even a different color on the upper door and lower door, so if you want your refrigerator to match your old ‘57 Chevy Bel Air, you’re in business! This is one of the upsides of current technology as well as peoples desires to differentiate themselves. Your choices of colors on some of these items are simply amazing and quite frankly overwhelming. The RAL color chart, alone, has 210 colors.
Choices, that’s what it’s all about, choices. We didn’t even touch on custom wood or custom painted metal finishes, or some refrigerators that can take laminated finishes – I’ve seen refrigerator fronts with laminated old world maps on them, or finishes like a chalkboard, or so many other options, but the choice is all yours. It all comes down to overall satisfaction enhancement…whatever makes your kitchen sing, there’s an appliance out there to carry the tune. To date myself one last time, I promise, you just need to “Name that Tune”! If you have trouble with that tune, any one of our helpful Metropolitan Appliance associates can help you narrow down those choices and get the color one for you.