# What household appliance colors do you miss most? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 30, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285 "2013-06-30T20:59:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285/1 "2013-06-30T20:59:24Z")
I grew up in the colorful seventies. Yes, I love avocado green and I mourn its passing. Harvest gold is pretty too. Today its all stainless steel or boring white. I hate stainless steel. Look at it sideways and fingerprints appear. I keep warning my wife that the next refrigerator we buy will get repainted avocado green. There are companies that repaint appliances. Screw these manufacturers and their stinking, boring white. I want avocado green! 😛 What vintage colors do you miss the most? Check this out. A company that sells new appliances in vintage colors! There is a market out there for people sick of stainless and white. Bring back color to our kitchens! > **[Big Chill - Professional & Retro Appliances](https://bigchill.com/)** > > Big Chill's retro-styled and professional-grade kitchen appliances give you modern performance with a timeless design. Create your dream kitchen today. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285/2 "2013-06-30T21:11:13Z")
Wasn’t the brown called Coppertone? It’s hard remembering the names. Was blue called Aqua? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285/3 "2013-06-30T21:31:42Z")
I forgot Black. That used to be a color option too. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285/4 "2013-06-30T22:07:15Z")
I know you’re asking about kitchens, but my _bathrooms_ were victims of the 70s. I have an avocado green bathtub. And one bathroom with a canary yellow toilet and sink, and another with a robin’s egg blue version of the same. I’m _all about_ switching them out for white ones once we can pile up the money. White is best, IMO, for everything. Appliances, sinks, toilets
 if you go with colors you’ll be stuck with a very dated home in short order. Besides, white looks nice and clean (assuming you keep up with cleaning), while the stainless ones never quite look right the day after they’re installed. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285/5 "2013-06-30T22:20:08Z")
I’ve got a harvest gold fridge I could sell to the OP. And almond sinks/toilet in the bathroom, which, if you have to have non-white, I guess is the best of the bunch. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285/6 "2013-06-30T22:29:46Z")
We had pink appliances in the house I grew up in. I do not miss that. I chose blue because I’ve never seen blue appliances and I think they’d be cool. (Aqua is not blue; it’s sort of a dark mint green.) I’d never buy anything but white for myself. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285/7 "2013-06-30T22:47:52Z")
A friend bought a 50’s modern ranch house, including matching turquoise refrigerator and range, which retracted into the counter. TrĂ© retro. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285/8 "2013-07-01T00:51:30Z")
At least styles change. Five years from now stainless will be boring and dated. People will be ripping it out with their kitchen renos. Colors will come bacj in style eventually. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285/9 "2013-07-01T01:04:33Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > At least styles change. Five years from now stainless will be boring and dated. People will be ripping it out with their kitchen renos. > > Colors will come bacj in style eventually. Already [happening](http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/money/consumer/dont_waste_your_money/your-kitchen-are-stainless-steel-appliances-on-the-way-out). ---
**Author:** ![nonacetone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonacetone/32/2819_2.png) [@nonacetone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonacetone)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285/10 "2013-07-01T01:58:26Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I forgot Black. That used to be a color option too. I bought a new black Whirlpool gas range a few months ago. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. The fingerprints! I clean it every single day, without fail. Sometimes, twice a day. If not, the fingerprints absolutely _glare_ at me until I do. NEVER will I buy another black appliance. Ever. So help me, Deity. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285/11 "2013-07-01T02:00:18Z")
The aqua ones were pretty cool, but I don’t see that as an option here. I can’t stand the fugly avocado green, yellow, and brown appliances from the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285/12 "2013-07-01T11:21:57Z")
I did see some medium red front loader washing machines at Home Depot. Not a color I’d want in my kitchen. But at least the manufacturer’s are beginning to offer something besides white. Theres hope that at least a few colors may be brought back. There were some pretty blues, yellows and aqua/turquoise in the old 30’s and 40’s kitchens. The 70’s weren’t the only colorful decade. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285/13 "2013-07-01T11:49:42Z")
Elmira Stove Works has a line of [very colorful retro style appliances](http://www.elmirastoveworks.com/northstar.aspx?src=fridges&sub=colors); or get a [real retro stove](http://dreamstoves.com/portfolio.html), which can come in any color. Viking has some [subtle to bright options.](http://www.vikingrange.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m2520133_The_Edge_Newsletter_2008_2q.pdf.pdf)\* (the last one is a pdf file)\* How about an [Aga](http://www.aga-ranges.com/products/traditional-aga-cookers/2-oven-(gas).aspx)? Stainless won’t go away, but we might hear fewer brain dead couples on HGTV thinking that stainless automatically means high end; it’s just another decorating choice. I’m old enough to hate the “harvest” shades & wish the lower end appliances came in more interesting colors. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285/14 "2013-07-01T12:11:41Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > Already [happening](http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/money/consumer/dont_waste_your_money/your-kitchen-are-stainless-steel-appliances-on-the-way-out). The two things mentioned in that article Ice and Slate are still in the same family as Stainless, they’re just not quite as bright and have a finish that doesn’t pick up finger prints. IMO, that whole move towards stainless has a lot to do with the cooking network. People sit at home and watching these cooking shows. Whether it’s straight cooking shows, kitchen nightmare type shows, chef competitions, whatever and the see all those professional stainless cookware and they think _that’s_ what they need to be a better cook. It has nothing to do with their ability. Forget investing in a class or doing a better job of following a recipe or even spending some of that money on cookware or knives
let’s spend $2000 on a SS oven and $2500 on a SS fridge and $1500 on a SS dishwasher and as long as were this far we need a new (solid) countertop and bottom mounted SS sink and SS faucet and island and and and
 I have acquaintances in the professional kitchen equipment industry. The place where restaurants go to buy their 8 burner ovens and huge convection ovens. Over the last 10 years or so they’ve opened up to the public and started bringing in merchandise that’s geared more towards the homeowner but still very ‘professional’ and high end
and she makes a killing on it. She showed us an oven that she said she can sell to a regular homeowner for $5000, but to a restaurant owner for $3500\*. I don’t know what the next colors will be, but I think over the years things will change back as people realize that Stainless Steel isn’t going to help them cook better and they’re going to want more color in their kitchens. Especially since SS (and the black that usually comes with it) tends to darken the room so much. \*This is pretty standard practice in the industry. The list price is way higher then the actual sale price on a given piece of equipment. But a supply store owner isn’t expected to give any kind of special discount to someone that just comes to their store once and will never be seen again. Whereas their regular customers spend thousands of dollars a month with them. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285/15 "2013-07-01T12:50:01Z")
My sister recently painted her house interior with a color palate that we realized sort of after-the-fact was updated harvest gold-avocado-almond. But the thing is–it looks fantastic. It’s the same palate, but the colors lighter and softer and clearer and it manages to be warm and cheerful and relaxing–kinda both spring and fall. I think they were really on to something before, but the lack of subtlety in the chemistry of dyes and paints really screwed up the implementation. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285/16 "2013-07-01T13:58:00Z")
You can still easily get black and white, trust me. We just did a kitchen renovation, and had to decide between stainless, black and white for the new appliances. Ended up with stainless because the (super-cool) gas range/double-oven combination we got was only available in stainless. Some of the higher-end stuff is only stainless these days, but most of your run-of-the-mill Kenmore, Frigidaire or GE stuff is still in black and white as well as stainless. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285/17 "2013-07-01T15:21:34Z")
I checked blue, but I mean [turquoise.](http://www.chronicallyvintage.com/2009/06/take-spin-in-turquoise-world-monday.html) ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285/18 "2013-07-02T04:10:46Z")
Some appliances are [hotter](https://www.dropbox.com/s/z5o3mnnym6i1nmr/IMG_7599.jpg) than others. A former “cow-orkers” ex took her mixer to the local auto body shop as a anniversary gift. Apparently isn’t that uncommon. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285/19 "2013-07-02T05:02:28Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Some appliances are [hotter](https://www.dropbox.com/s/z5o3mnnym6i1nmr/IMG_7599.jpg) than others. > > A former “cow-orkers” ex took her mixer to the local auto body shop as a anniversary gift. Apparently isn’t that uncommon. I had mine powder coated. > **[Anyone have expierence painting a KitchenAid Mixer?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=620959)** > > The title pretty much says it all. I have a white stand mixer and while looking through the Bed Bath and Beyond website for something somewhat unrelated I happened across this one and thought “I need to buy
wait, no I don’t.” Then I started... ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285/20 "2013-07-02T17:40:11Z")
I’m pretty sure that Rustoleum calls it [Seafoam](http://www.buckeyeappliance.com/photos/stoves/moreStoves/1009.jpg) I clipped a photo of a kitchen with this color and natural cherry woodwork. It’s beautiful. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-household-appliance-colors-do-you-miss-most/662285.md?page=2)