They seem to be highly sought after, and I have heard that a house not having them could be a deal breaker when selling. Are they really that much better? Stainless can be more durable than regular steel, but the internal parts are going to matter a lot more for appliances than the outside shell. Is there an advantage at all besides the look?
For function probably not. For cleanability and appearance over time, maybe. For home appliances I think it’s mostly for appearance and external durability in abusive environments.
I was once offered a position at GE Appliance Park in Louisville and discussed this in interviews. Stainless was considered just another finish option versus painted panels for most models. Their most expensive series is only available in stainless and did have some better parts and certainly better functionality.
Commercial kitchen equipment is made with stainless for everyday sterilization. extreme washdown resistance, and a lifetime of 20 - 30 years in these conditions.
For reference, our 8 year old Kenmore refrigerator has bubbled-up paint (rust) under the ice dispenser. This couldn’t happen with stainless. We had a Whirlpool washer with stainless inner tub but the outer tub that holds the water was the standard enameled steel and I found rust spots when I once repaired it.
I’ve worked in an environment that demands the very, very highest standards of cleanliness and durability. Far, far beyond hospital requirements and the only option we ever consider for equipment housings and surfaces is fully passivated stainless steel.
That said, it can be overkill to demand it for a domestic situation but certainly it is a material that is robust and will stand up to harsh decontamination procedures. Go look at a commercial kitchen and it’ll more than likely be stainless (and I suspect that domestic kitchens that use stainless are going for the professional “look” as much as the material utility)
Many people perceive stainless steel appliances as being better, whether they are or not, and prefer them when looking for a house to buy. High end home buyers expect them. If you ever plan to sell your house for marketing reasons you might have them even though they cost more up front.
Purely esthetic*. It goes with a “modern” look. But many people prefer a more tradition look with wood panels on the fridge and dishwasher so they blend in with the rest of the cabinetry. (That can also be a “modern” look, but more often it’s a traditional one.)
*Although they do tend to be the more high-end type, so there might be some functional advantage. But people LIKE them for the looks.
It seems to me that unless you get a set of appliances from a single manufacturer, the greens, whites, and other colors will never quite match. But stainless steel is stainless steel. So if matching appliances is important to someone, they may demand stainless just because it is a finish that is easy to match across manufacturers.
Sure, they look nice, but I still think they got so popular because of all the cooking shows. People watched these shows decided that what they needed was appliances like the cooks on the shows. So they went out and redid their kitchens (or at least bought new appliances) for thousands and thousands of dollars. I’m sure many of them learned very quickly that your ability to cook doesn’t magically go up just because you’re working with a different colored stove and a nice goose neck faucet.
The only advantage I can think of is that you can’t fill them with fridge magnets. But for a fridge, diswasher, washer and dryer, it is the insides that will go bad.
People like the look. Stainless steel looks better than black or painted plastic, and in my experience it ages better. People buying a house also use it as a shortcut to determine the quality of the appliances or even your entire kitchen. If they don’t see stainless steel appliances, they assume you went cheap.
If you care about cleanliness and food safety, you’re far better off getting stainless steel countertops than worrying about what the front panel of your refrigerator is made of. When was the last time you prepared food on the outside of your oven anyway?
I don’t think it would actually be a deal-breaker in the sense that someone wouldn’t buy the house because it didn’t have stainless steel appliances. It might lower the offer if the buyer was planning to replace the existing appliances with stainless steel- but that’s going to happen with anything outdated. Even stainless steel when it’s no longer popular.( and it will go out of style someday, just like almond, avocado and harvest gold did. The only color that doesn’t get outdated is white.)
And stainless steel can cost more for the same features - I bought a new refrigerator last year, and for the same model ,stainless steel was about $800 more than white.
For a breif time in the early 80’s, there was a fad for ‘AEK’ All-Electric Kitchen.
You were actually expected to tear out your ‘old-fashioned’ gas stove and replace it with electric.
IIRC, there were also magazine article extolling the virtue of tearing out that unused bedroom and expanding your bath - and calling it a ‘solarium’.
The former lasted about 1-2 years, the latter never quite got off the ground.
For a while, Corian counters were ‘the cat’s meow’, then granite, now quartz.
Black appliances were all the rage for a while.
SS is just another fad in home decor.
Want some shag carpet to go with your free-standing fireplace in your conversation pit located in your step-down living room?
How about a Great Room?
Stainless steel can actually quickly deteriorate in looks. If it does not have a protective clear coat. It has a finish that can easily be damaged as far as look goes, by abrasive cleaning. There is a sort of grain to the finish that is made at manufacture. You can quite easily ruin it. It is possible to get it back. But difficult to match and blend in. Most commercial users don’t care about the look. But home buyers will. It will also stain. I worked in a few commercial kitchens in my past. The stainless steel appliances took on the patterns of their use.
When getting ready to sell your house or appliances it can take some time and effort to get them back to looking new. But enough effort can do it. Fixing chipped or burnt finishes can be worse.
Fashion.
I preferred the Avocado craze to these badly polished mirrors that glare at you in the night.
My current color is black, which makes it look like I’m serious about what I’m cooking.
My GE dishwasher (purchased about 20 years ago) came with a chrome frame arund the front door, and 2 panels that slid into it. They were painted different colors, giving me 4 color options: white, black, avocado, and yellow. I could choose any one of them to be the visible color on the front.
The repairman told me recently that there was now another option purchasable – a stainless steel color that fits onto my dishwasher, to match the current fad.
I expect this idea could be used on other appliances, but it won’t – manufacturers have no great incentive to discourage frequent replacement of appliances.
Maybe not quite what you are looking for, but I had a dishwasher until about a year ago with a plastic interior. One of the brackets that was holding the heating element in place slipped, and the element burned a hole through the tub, killing the dishwasher (and making a mess of my kitchen in the process). For the replacement, I got one with a steel interior, so I can find a new way for it to break down.
My Ex-BIL did the former. Tore out the wall in between the the bathroom and a small bedroom to make one gigantic bathroom. Now, I could understand if you wanted a big clawfoot tub set at an angle or a huge standalone whirlpool type tub (in addition to a shower), but IIRC, he left everything pretty much where it was. I remember walking in and saying ‘geez, you could play tennis in here it’s so big’. The next thing I asked him was why he did it. He turned a 2 bedroom/1 bathroom house into a 1 bedroom/1 bathroom house. But then he put a second story on, by himself. He and all his friends pretty much all did the same thing to their houses.
Well, on the plus side, he is your EX- in-law.
I always wondered if anyone actually did that. If you had a basement (or even a crawl space), you could add additional drains and vents. But if you were on a slab, you’d have to tear up the entire slab to get the slope right.
Something the magazine articles I saw didn’t address. :smack:
Oh yes - Stainless finishes.
Not only are there 100’s of alloys called ‘stainless steel’, there are dozens of ways to finish even the same alloy - so you can get a stove with one ‘grain’ finish and park it next to a dishwasher with a different finish.
Then there are the new ‘no fingerprint’ finishes. I wonder how durable that ‘no fingerprint’ treatment is.
Me too (semiconductor manufacturing), and it actually turned me off of stainless appliances. It made them feel too cold, industrial, and work-like. A similar feel to putting generic fluorescent tube lights in your house.
I always forget that not everyone has a basement. Where I live (Wisconsin), it would be strange to not have one. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a house without a basement. If your basement is unfinished, first floor plumbing and electrical are much easier.
But, even if his house was on a slab, it wouldn’t have stopped him. This guy is always looking for a big project. In fact, he just sold that house and is in the process of building a house. Like, actually building it, himself.