Should I update my white appliances

That’s the answer I have been looking for. I honestly just wanted to know if other people found they were getting fewer listings or if it has been complained about for not being updated.

I appreciate your feedback.

I consider myself well-informed and do care a lot about home aesthetics and, honestly, white appliances are considered “classic”. I know SS is popular right now but it’s the one that is likely to be outdated at some point as it’s a trend and I think pretty soon - there are a ton of articles on getting SS appliances powder-coated and even people selling “skins” to cover SS appliances already. I know this because we got a fridge that fit all of our wish-list for a great deal but it was only the SS model on sale so we got a SS fridge that I’ve been looking into painting or covering somehow (our personal fridge).

Personally I’m not a huge fan of the SS because I worked in restaurants for a good chunk of my life (13-25) and so I don’t have any romantic notions about an industrial kitchen. Just saying ‘industrial kitchen’ brings back bad smell and slippery floor memories (I also have bad smell memories with subway tiles too because I lived in NYC :laughing:). The reason that industrial things are stainless is that they don’t need to be pretty so there’s no reason to put extra effort and cost into applying enamel to them. Maybe I know too much but I think they look kind of cheap. However, if you just love SS then you should always get what you like but I don’t think you can lose with white and you already have them. Now, if your appliances were bisque or avocado green, that’s a whole nother issue ,)

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When I got married in 1979 I quasi did the traditonal things with flatware, stemware, dishes etc. But I got a brushed finish (like SS) when shiny was popular. I asked for pewter instead of silver serving items. My stoneware was a plain light brown with darker ring. It’s gone in and out of style. I’ve liked it all just the same through the years. When I got my counter I got granite which I wanted for 30+ years. I love natural stuff and my millions of years old counter can go out of style all it wants. LOL.

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I am also in the camp of white being timeless. In my listing I have been slowly replacing the appliances with new, white ones. I still have an older stove in there (almond/ivory colored) but it is an older home so I am not too stressed that they do not match.

You can see my kitchen in my listing photos if you want to see how much it would bother you. I couldn’t tell you if I have had guests pass over my listing because of the appliance color, but I suspect that type of guest is not in my target audience anyway. I am usually fully booked.

A higher end listing would have different needs from my comfortable, sixty year old home.

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if your fridge does affect your amount of bookings, I imagine it would be negligible

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The only reason I was thinking of replacing my fridge (either white or SS, depending on what I choose to do) was because of some reviews I read about lack of ice makers.

Someone in this thread pointed out ice makers are the number one call of things to get fixed. UGH!

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if your washing machine does affect your amount of bookings, I imagine it would be negligible

Always had an ice maker in the UK, various Samsung models, and only issue we ever had was ice “clumping” in the dispenser unit when not used for a bit.

Now in Spain with regular 40c+ temps and no ice maker. Fridges with them are available, but the additional cost makes them very expensive. Initially I wondered how I would manage as I hate trays and can’t be arsed with the fill up polythene bags.

Such a simple answer :slight_smile: every local shop sells large bags of ice. About a euro for enough to do a couple of weeks in the summer.

Guests here for peak periods, when it’s hot, get a bag of ice. Some use it, some don’t.

Oh you child :stuck_out_tongue:

Kiddin.

JF

I agree that ice makers can be great but can also be a problem.

Ours works (although the ice does clump a bit—but we’re here to free it). The issue for us is really the ice dispenser through the door. It also works beautifully on demand. You push the level and it dispenses ice. (The water dispenser works perfectly, by the way.)

But using the ice dispenser causes the mechanism to think it’s free, at some later time, to spit out ice on its own. A bit of a floor hazard. And, because we have a hardwood floor in our kitchen, really not great.

We don’t use our ice dispenser, although we use the ice maker all the time. We ask our guests not to use the dispenser, either. Of course we’re here to oversee a lot of what goes on.

Would I have an ice maker in a location I couldn’t supervise. Maybe not.

Ah… spitting out unwanted ice could be an issue. The Samsung models are gravity fed, eliminating that issue but going some way towards causing clumping when not used regularly.

JF

Re: ice makers. I don’t think guests care if there is an ice maker…only that there is ice. In my town 10 lb bags of ice are $1 at the same container kiosk where I buy filtered water. So if bagged ice is easily available that’s a great addition to a beach rental. Many bottom freezer fridges have ice makers but not dispensers. Given that the tap water here isn’t a great taste and I don’t use it, if I got a new fridge it won’t have the in door dispenser.

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I agree 100% on this one!!! I ran out of hearts to give for the next 6 hours though…

Ice makers are critical in Florida. Fridge-based or as an add-on. SO important that my last guests have talked about it because my ice maker couldn’t keep up with their demand - and it’s a good one!
If you’re replacing the fridge and it’s not going to be white, then replace everything so they match - brand names and style. If you can get a white fridge that goes with the rest of the appliances, then keep them. You can always upgrade everything later and someone will buy your old ones.

It really does depend on what kitchen cabinets you have installed, including colour of the fronts. SS works with ultra modern units in black, white works with ultra modern units in white or pastel, and so forth.

SS doesn’t work with Shaker et al in any measure.

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Would they be buying them in order to help offset the cost of you buying all new replacements? If so, for how much?

I got a free bag this summer when I bought a case of beer, and put it upstairs in the freezer of the B&B fridge. No one ever opened it. But if guests were drinking it was usually beer from our local craft brewery, except for the guy that drank an entire 12-pack of Budweiser in a night (and never made a sound).

All three of my fridges have ice and water in the door. All of those fridges have water filters in them. Do they sell fridges that dispense water but don’t have filters? Or is the local water so bad the filters won’t help?

In my local Florida market, if the house doesn’t have an ice maker it would be mentioned in many a review. In some places I’ve traveled ice makers are very rare. It depends on your local market whether an ice maker is a plus or not.

It’s perfectly safe and it’s okay tasting. But not okay enough that I want to drink it. As long as I have the money and strength to fill my 3 gal. dispenser bottles and load them onto the cooler, I’m going to use that water. I would imagine that all the fridges have filters now. Of course those aren’t free and they need to be changed often.

I suppose people exist who prefer an ice maker to bagged ice. Those are the people who get labeled “nit picky” and will find other things to complain about anyway.

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Another thought: clean them then give them a nice coat of metallic paint from Rustoleum. Totally dresses them up. Figure 4-5 cans at $6-7 each.

Cabinets also don’t necessarily need to be replaced. New Knobs and a nice coat of Grey or White paint can totally redo a kitchen.

30 years ago I got an avocado green fridge and painted it myself in Almond epoxy. I was able to sell it for more than I paid for it when I upgraded to a new one. But given the time involved in taking the doors off, removing all the seals and inserts, masking, setting up the spray area, etc. it was a big investment. Back then I had more time than money. Also, many people just don’t have the skill set, basic as it is.