Regressing With Stainless Steel

Laurie Burke has a SCOOP over at Kitchen Design Notes about the new Blue Star wall ovens. Way to GO Laurie!

I was interested in one statement by Keith Wolf, BlueStar's Vice President of Marketing:

"Consumers appreciate the ability to express themselves through the color of their kitchens/ranges; we’re also hearing that some consumers find the colored ranges easier to keep clean than stainless steel."

People seem to have forgotten how hard stainless is to get and keep clean. They lock themselves into the idea of stainless and don't consider anything else.

Stainless steel is either polished or brushed. Each iteration has its problems:

Polished stainless steel is very easy to scratch and mar and the scratches don't come out. I have seen brand new polished sinks with scratches in the bottom that make them look old and mis-used. The material is so delicate that you can scratch it with a fingernail.

People, please don't buy a sink you can scratch with a fingernail. It will never survive the first pot you scrub.

Brushed stainless sinks get residue marks from lime and other chemicals in the water. Keep a spray bottle filled with vinegar to attack the buildup before it gets out of hand. Better yet buy a solid surface sink in a color that blends with your stone countertops and stop scrubbing forever!

Brushed stainless steel rangetops get oils and stains in the tiny brush grooves that are almost impossible to remove. If you don't Bon Ami them right away they become permanent with the next cooking task.

Brushed stainless refrigerators always look fingerprinty and hoods are impossible to keep shiny and clean looking.

Seems to me that homeowners are having to work WAY harder than they used to, just to keep their stainless appliances looking acceptable.

Part of the idea in getting a new kitchen is to make cleaning easier.

The stainless revolution has taken us backwards.

Peggy

Ahh Binova

Italian cabinet maker Binova SPA also does wonderful cooktops, both integrated into its stainless countertops or recessed into other surfaces.

The one I especially like is the in-line model from their Fires Line.























A cooktop like this can be installed forward in a standard depth countertop; or toward the rear to keep little fingers away; or in the middle of an island, with access from both sides for two cooks; or in a shallow depth counter, where no other cooktop would fit.

OK U.S. manufacturers...Where is ours?

Peggy