Appliance Finishes: Stainless, Black Stainless, Matte, Colour and Panel-Ready

The finish on your appliances is the largest block of metal or color in the kitchen after the cabinets, and you will touch it many times a day. Finishes differ less in how they look in a showroom than in how they wear, how they clean, and whether a replacement will match in a few years. This page compares them and explains where panel-ready appliances fit.

Appliance finishes compared

Stainless steel in daily use

Stainless earns its place because it is repairable and universal. A light scratch on brushed stainless can be blended with a fine abrasive pad worked in the direction of the grain, which is not possible on any coated finish. Every product type is made in it, so the pieces of a kitchen can come from different manufacturers.

Its weak points are fingerprints and streaks. To keep it looking even:

• Wipe with the grain, using a soft cloth and mild dish soap or a cleaner made for stainless.
• Avoid steel wool, scouring powders and anything containing chlorine bleach, which can pit or discolor the surface.
• Dry it after washing. Water left to evaporate leaves mineral spots.

Stainless does not match itself perfectly. One maker's stainless is warmer, another's is cooler and grayer, and the grain may run vertically on a refrigerator door and horizontally on a dishwasher or oven. Side by side, those differences show. Across the room they do not.

Coated finishes: fingerprint-resistant, black stainless and matte

These finishes share one trade. A coating over the metal hides fingerprints and gives a softer look, and in exchange the surface can no longer be refinished. What you see is a thin layer, and anything that goes through it stays visible.

• Fingerprint-resistant stainless is the mildest version. It reads as stainless, a little flatter, and suits households with small children. Follow the manufacturer's cleaning instructions, since some stainless polishes are not meant for coated surfaces.
• Black stainless is darker and warmer than stainless and softer than black paint. Rings, belt buckles, pet claws and magnets dragged across a door are the usual causes of damage. It varies widely between makers, from charcoal to bronze-black, so plan to buy the visible pieces from one line.
• Matte finishes absorb light, which hides smudges. Greasy marks can leave a shiny patch if they are rubbed hard, so clean gently with a damp microfiber cloth.

Color and statement ranges

A range in deep blue, green, cream or red is a deliberate focal point, and it works when the rest of the kitchen stays quiet around it. Treat it as you would a painted island: one strong color, repeated nowhere else in metal. Enamel is hard and cleans well, but confirm how the manufacturer handles a chipped panel, and remember that a color is harder to sell on than a neutral. Build the rest of the palette around it using the method in how to choose a kitchen color scheme.

Panel-ready appliances

A panel-ready appliance is delivered without a finished front. Your cabinet supplier makes a panel that fastens to it, so the refrigerator, dishwasher or undercounter unit reads as cabinetry. Two levels exist:

• Panel-ready (overlay). The panel covers the door, but the appliance still stands a little proud of the cabinets, and vents or a frame may show.
• Fully integrated. The appliance sits flush with the cabinet faces, hinges are hidden, and nothing shows but the panel and handle. This needs the most exact cabinet work.

What it asks of the project:

• The appliance model is chosen before the cabinets are ordered, because the panel is built to its sheet.
• The panel has a maximum weight and a required thickness. Heavy door styles and thick applied moldings may exceed it.
• The handle matters. Appliance doors need a sturdier pull than a cabinet door, so the hardware line has to include an appliance pull, or the handle will differ from the rest. See cabinet hardware.
• Dishwasher controls move to the top edge of the door, so you cannot see the cycle status from across the room unless the model projects a light on the floor.

Dishwashers are the easiest appliance to panel and give the most visual benefit for the least cost, because they sit in the middle of a cabinet run. Refrigerators are the largest step. Our article on panel-ready refrigerators covers that case, and counter-depth versus built-in refrigerators explains how depth affects whether a panel can sit flush.

Mixing finishes

Mixed finishes look intended when there is a clear pattern and accidental when there is not. Some patterns that hold up:

• Panel the quiet pieces, show the cooking pieces. Paneled refrigerator and dishwasher, stainless or colored range and hood.
• Keep neighbors alike. A wall oven and a microwave stacked together, or a range and the hood above it, should share a finish and ideally a maker.
• Separate what does not match. Two different stainless tones are fine on opposite sides of the room.
• Count the sink and faucet. A stainless sink and a stainless-toned faucet tie stainless appliances to the rest of the room. How appliance metal sits with faucets, lighting and pulls is covered in mixing metal finishes.

Finishes and cabinet colors

• White and light painted cabinets. Stainless gives contrast and a little sparkle. White appliances can look mismatched against white cabinets, because two whites are seldom the same white. Panels avoid the comparison.
• Dark painted cabinets (navy, forest green, charcoal). Stainless stands out sharply. Black stainless or matte black blends in and lets the cabinet color lead.
• Stained or natural wood. Stainless reads cool against warm wood, which is often welcome. Black stainless can look heavy against mid-brown wood.
• Two-tone kitchens. Keep appliances to one finish so the cabinets carry the variety.

More on choosing the cabinet side of this pairing is in kitchen cabinet colors.

What to check before you buy

1. See the finish in person, next to your cabinet sample and under warm white light, not only under showroom lighting.
2. Ask whether the finish is bare metal or a coating, and what the manufacturer offers if a door is scratched.
3. Check that every appliance you want exists in that finish, including the hood, the microwave and any undercounter unit.
4. Compare handle shapes if the pieces come from different makers.
5. Read the care instructions for cleaners that are ruled out.
6. For panel-ready, get the panel specification sheet to your cabinet designer before the order.

Who should choose which

• You want low risk and easy future replacement: standard stainless.
• You have young children and hate wiping doors: fingerprint-resistant stainless, accepting that it cannot be refinished.
• You want a dark, calm kitchen and will buy a full suite at once: black stainless or matte black, from one line.
• You want the cabinets to be the whole picture: panel-ready for the refrigerator and dishwasher, with the cabinet plan built around them.
• You cook seriously and want the range to be the centerpiece: a color or stainless range, with everything else quiet.

JDI's published planning range for a new appliance suite is $8,000-$25,000 before sales tax. It is a planning range, not a quote, and finish and panel-ready choices are among the things that move a project within it. JDI Construction confirms appliance models and finishes with you before cabinets are drawn. To talk through your kitchen, start at kitchen remodeling in Vancouver.