Buying a new fridge - stainless steel or the new black SSteel/slate?

[YaelAldrich]

The fridge I have now is dying and I have to get a new one.  I have a red oak hardwood floor, similarly stained Ikea cabinets and butcher block counters.  In other words a lot of warm wood color (which I love).  The walls are white tile (which I hate).  I currently have stainless steel appliances.  The dishwasher will probably die soon and who knows about the oven.  Shoudl I change over to the black stainess steel/slate or stick with stainless steel?

Thanks!!

[Pen]

It sounds like 3 choices?

Stainless would match best now and be easiest to find new items to match even if different manufacturers that would match.  It also may help reflect light and brighten your room

Slate, from what I have seen in pictures, is a nice, warmer feeling color, and probably would be fine for fridge even if nothing else matches.  (Our fridge came in Stainless only, for example, no choice.) 

Black Stainless...  I don’t know.  It might be too much darkness in room? And has similar issues of less probably available to match if you want future replacements to match.   But if you love it and would be happy with it go for it.  Black at least seems fairly neutral as a color.

[Selkie]

We have a slate fridge and love it. It goes well with our gray stone countertops and white cabinets. I think it is so much more attractive than stainless, and it doesn't get smudged and covered in fingerprints like stainless, either.

[Janeway]

We got the black steel look. I like it a lot. I don't think it shows the finger prints as much.

[matrips]

1 hour ago, YaelAldrich said:

The fridge I have now is dying and I have to get a new one.  I have a red oak hardwood floor, similarly stained Ikea cabinets and butcher block counters.  In other words a lot of warm wood color (which I love).  The walls are white tile (which I hate).  I currently have stainless steel appliances.  The dishwasher will probably die soon and who knows about the oven.  Shoudl I change over to the black stainess steel/slate or stick with stainless steel?

Thanks!!

I would stick with the stainless.  It’s easier to match, and I was told (when I was shopping for a new fridge), that the slate and black when they get scratched have the paint scratched off.  So they look nice in the beginning but don’t wear as well. The coating can come off.

[matrips]

Adding- looking for the smudge proof stainless steel.  Many more manufacturers are making them fingerprint resistant.

[Carol in Cal.]

I faced this decision a couple of years ago and ended up ordering and paying a little extra for white.

What it came down to is that I didn’t want a big dark expanse in that particular spot.  Fringe benefit is that the white is that old fashioned finish that is very easy to wipe off and that doesn’t get fingerprint marks unless someone’s hands are markedly dirty.  Although I have a black dishwasher, I’m really glad that I did this.  The kitchen cabinetry is maple from Ikea but there are white accepts here and there, and the countertops are white square tiles, which are so old that they are trending again so it looks great.

[Pippen]

I have the GE slate fridge and dishwasher and I totally love the color. I'm shopping for a new range and would go with the slate, but I'm not falling for the GE ranges so I'm still shopping. 

[YaelAldrich]

I'm going for the ginormous fridge with the ice maker in the freezer but no water dispenser.  We have one of those - it's called a sink.  LOL  I'm getting it in Stainless Steel as Bosch doesn't do these other finishes and I have read in numerous places they scratch easily and cannot be repaired.  Thank you everyone!

ETA: I mentioned Bosch because my dishwasher is not in great health and I will need to get one sooner than later and it will be a Bosch.

GE 27.0CuFt French-Door Refrigerator with Spill-Proof Shelves

Edited December 24, 2019 by YaelAldrich
Clarity, Yael, clarity.

[Selkie]

The finish on our GE slate fridge is pretty tough. We've had it 1.5 years and not a single scratch, despite heavy use, a dh and kids who are careless about such things, and a pack of dogs who like to hover around in the kitchen.

[Sneezyone]

We went with a ginormous 28+ cubic ft. French door, Samsung fridge with a extra flex drawer (Fridge or freezer) in stainless to match the other appliances.  No regrets. That extra space (the old one was 24-25 cubic feet) is priceless at this time of year. I was skeptical about the two-part door on the right but LOVE it. All of the lunch supplies stay in the middle drawer and the fruit/veggie drawers are the biggest and most functional of all the models we saw. We don’t use the water pitcher on the inside but it’s totally unobtrusive in practice. We got ours in October out of necessity. The dark stainless look costs more and offered no addl. style bennies or functionality. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Samsung-Food-Showcase-28-cu-ft-4-Door-French-Door-Refrigerator-with-Ice-Maker-and-Door-within-Door-Fingerprint-Resistant-Black-Stainless-Steel-ENERGY-STAR/1000854746?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-app-_-google-_-lia-_-118-_-refrigerators-_-1000854746-_-0&store_code=439&placeholder=null&gclid=Cj0KCQiA6IHwBRCJARIsALNjViX3skNHENjKO1m2mInv58r40LyyF65FnGaKJcDVXv4AXZPW-R4emdgaAo-AEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Edited December 24, 2019 by Sneezyone

[BeachGal]

12 minutes ago, Sneezyone said:

We went with a ginormous 28+ cubic ft. French door, Samsung fridge with a extra flex drawer (Fridge or freezer) in stainless to match the other appliances.  No regrets. That extra space (the old one was 24-25 cubic feet) is priceless at this time of year. I was skeptical about the two-part door on the right but LOVE it. All of the lunch supplied stay in the middle drawer and the fruit/veggie drawers are the biggest abs most functional of all the models we saw. We don’t use the water pitcher on the inside but it’s totally unobtrusive in practice. We got ours in October out of necessity. The dark stainless look costs more and offered no addl. style bennies o functionality. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Samsung-Food-Showcase-28-cu-ft-4-Door-French-Door-Refrigerator-with-Ice-Maker-and-Door-within-Door-Fingerprint-Resistant-Black-Stainless-Steel-ENERGY-STAR/1000854746?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-app-_-google-_-lia-_-118-_-refrigerators-_-1000854746-_-0&store_code=439&placeholder=null&gclid=Cj0KCQiA6IHwBRCJARIsALNjViX3skNHENjKO1m2mInv58r40LyyF65FnGaKJcDVXv4AXZPW-R4emdgaAo-AEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

Our Samsung French door fridge has the pooling water/ice problem under the veggie drawers. Dh tried to fix it but it didn’t work. Are the new ones better? 

I’m on the hunt for a new fridge too. This is what I want but I can’t see dh springing for it. He thinks all fridges cost about $500 bucks. Even Subzeros. LOL

https://www.appliancesconnection.com/monogram-zik30gnhii.html?ref=froogle&matchtype=&205416134&11823819614&t&38939790134&&&1o39&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIj5WznLjN5gIVBdvACh0SKAeGEAQYJyABEgK-mvD_BwE

[Sneezyone]

16 minutes ago, BeachGal said:

 

Our Samsung French door fridge has the pooling water/ice problem under the veggie drawers. Dh tried to fix it but it didn’t work. Are the new ones better? 

I’m on the hunt for a new fridge too. This is what I want but I can’t see dh springing for it. He thinks all fridges cost about $500 bucks. Even Subzeros. LOL

https://www.appliancesconnection.com/monogram-zik30gnhii.html?ref=froogle&matchtype=&205416134&11823819614&t&38939790134&&&1o39&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIj5WznLjN5gIVBdvACh0SKAeGEAQYJyABEgK-mvD_BwE

We had one like that. That’s, literally, why we got a new one, and replaced it with this one. So far, no issues. It came with the house and I was sick of the water leaks/ice. We looked at a TON of fridges but this is the only one we could agree on in terms of size and function. The monogram is VERY nice too. Have you seen them in person?

Edited December 24, 2019 by Sneezyone

[Carol in Cal.]

The white fridge I got was a Samsung top freezer model with a Flexzone.  I ordered it without any water handling, because it seems like that is what goes wrong the fastest, and ice makers are always noisy.  

Pros:  

The flexzone in the freezer compartment meant that they had no built in unavoidable ice making equipment to take up space.

We can make that compartment a freezer or a fridge one.  That means that when it’s empty I can arrive with a big bag of food, stuff it in the top, set it on fridge, and deal with it in the morning.

It has a power freeze and a power cool setting for the freezer and the fridge compartments respectively so that you can blast in cold air hard to cool things off efficiently.  That’s great for when we have, say, a pot of spaghetti sauce to cool down fast, or a bunch of ice cube trays to freeze all at once. 

The whole thing is the quietest fridge I have ever had, and it was not over the top expensive.

I could get it in white, which is less common than it used to be.

Cons:

It’s underpowered.  Normal operation does not keep the fridge as cold as I am used to, particularly with a warm surrounding room in the summer.  Power cool helps with this, but it’s annoying that I have to fuss with it just to have it get to temperature.

It’s electronic so i assume it’s sensitive to power surges, and we have short but not infrequent little power outages here.  We have it on a surge protector, but it’s weird to have to worry about this.  However, I could not find a quiet fridge that was not electronic.

I know I would have trouble getting it serviced.  I bought the extended warranty and plan to insist on a new one if this one breaks and can’t be fixed.  Reports on it indicate that when it fails it fails very badly, but i am optimistic that this one is not a lemon as it has lasted us 2 years so far.  

I wanted one of those flexzone drawers that are the full width of the appliance, but they didn’t come without other stuff I was avoiding, like ice making.  In order to use the freezer compartment as a fridge area, it has to be empty of frozen stuff.  This has not been my habitual mode, but since we have a chest freezer in the basement that keeps things colder during those wildfire avoidance power outages, I’m switching to keep almost all of our frozen food down there, and just using the upstairs one for making ice or for fresh homemade ice cream.  It’s not that hard to cart one container of ice cream to the basement while unloading the car, so I think I will be using the flexzone as a fridge more often going forward.

Edited December 24, 2019 by Carol in Cal.

[Scarlett]

11 hours ago, YaelAldrich said:

I'm going for the ginormous fridge with the ice maker in the freezer but no water dispenser.  We have one of those - it's called a sink.  LOL  I'm getting it in Stainless Steel as Bosch doesn't do these other finishes and I have read in numerous places they scratch easily and cannot be repaired.  Thank you everyone!

 

GE 27.0CuFt French-Door Refrigerator with Spill-Proof Shelves

We just bought the SS whirlpool. 25.2 cf.  no water or ice in the door.  It has an ice maker though.  

[Pen]

13 hours ago, YaelAldrich said:

I'm going for the ginormous fridge with the ice maker in the freezer but no water dispenser.  We have one of those - it's called a sink.  LOL  I'm getting it in Stainless Steel as Bosch doesn't do these other finishes and I have read in numerous places they scratch easily and cannot be repaired.  Thank you everyone!

ETA: I mentioned Bosch because my dishwasher is not in great health and I will need to get one sooner than later and it will be a Bosch.

GE 27.0CuFt French-Door Refrigerator with Spill-Proof Shelves

 

As my 25 yo fridge is possibly slowly dying and in any case is in garage which is getting harder and harder as I get older and with health issues, I found an 11cu feet GE (no ice maker) fridge that would fit freestanding (blocks a window, but was one of few models other than office/dorm room fridges that would fit at all) in the little kitchen of our little old bungalow (built before electric came to this rural area and no space was made for having a fridge inside kitchen).  It was chosen mostly for ability to fit at all.  And was highest rated of small real refrigerators other than maybe some $$$$$ European imports.

I  think my model is possibly like the little sibling of the one you’re looking at.

 I love it.  As the old one is 25 yo, I don’t have lots of comparison to other modern fridges, nonetheless, this compact GE seems wonderful to me.  I would think that a similar one with over twice the space and some added features would be really terrific. (Actually, if I had over twice the space, and could afford it, I’d get two of the same model I got. More ability to organize, and if one wasn’t working well, presumably the other still would be .) 

Edited December 24, 2019 by Pen

[Selkie]

15 hours ago, BeachGal said:

 

Our Samsung French door fridge has the pooling water/ice problem under the veggie drawers. Dh tried to fix it but it didn’t work. Are the new ones better? 

I’m on the hunt for a new fridge too. This is what I want but I can’t see dh springing for it. He thinks all fridges cost about $500 bucks. Even Subzeros. LOL

https://www.appliancesconnection.com/monogram-zik30gnhii.html?ref=froogle&matchtype=&205416134&11823819614&t&38939790134&&&1o39&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIj5WznLjN5gIVBdvACh0SKAeGEAQYJyABEgK-mvD_BwE

We had a Samsung with that problem, too. Between that and the flimsy shelves that broke and had to be duct taped together, I cursed that fridge at least ten times a day!