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wallycat

Newest appliance color from GE..Slate

wallycat
11 years ago

I know people mention trends and "what is new" here.

I was looking at the finance pages, and this popped up about GE.

The new color will be "Slate"...a cross between a grey and stainless look.

Not sure how well this pic shows it off.

http://finance.yahoo.com/photos/ge-slate-finish-joins-stainless-photo-150000891.html

Comments (22)

  • wallycat
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I am not sure if I can tell the difference on my computer screen...
    supposed to be more charcoal but looks stainless to me.

    Here is a link that might be useful: video of slate appliances

  • ginny20
    11 years ago

    I wonder if it's less shiny, therefore less likely to show smudges.

    It's pretty.

    Interesting that they are positioning it for a young, hip market segment. It's supposed to be edgy, I guess.

  • GreenDesigns
    11 years ago

    They already did that in an exclusive line that they retailed at Home Depot a couple of years ago. It flunked the popularity test and was taken off the market. Almost no one bought it. I'm really surprised that they're putting it out there again. I would have thought they'd float their "champagne" finish that they did on laundry out to the rest of the appliances. It was a metallic browner bisque, and brown has been the 2000 pound gorilla of the design world for the past few years. Maybe they've been drinking the "1920 Paris apartment covered in gray dust" kool-aid of all of those design mags.

  • cottonpenny
    11 years ago

    It's just a ploy to get customers to buy a whole suite of appliances from one manufacturer. If you buy white or black or stainless, you could buy a GE fridge and a Whirlpool DW and a Fridigaire range. If you buy "slate" anything or that new Whirlpool shiny white, you're stuck.

  • CEFreeman
    11 years ago

    hmmm.
    I was just thinking that with my gray/green/sage cabinets, I could consider black appliances. I've got white with black faces right now. Big white fridge.

    I plan soapstone in my future. It will also be dark and grayish. I'm wondering if this new color appliance would be the perfect thing!? Given what GreenDesigns has to say, though, it doesn't sound like it'll be around when the time has allowed me to save for the counters.

    Ah well. Maybe it'll be popping up in the reuse centers. If so, It's MINE, ALL MINE!!!

  • wallycat
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    The new-to-us house has the shiny white LG fridge and I hate it. Very hard to keep clean, IMHO.
    I have never been a fan of stainless but a floor model of a dishwasher was stainless. We bought it when we thought we would build, so when this one goes (Bosch, and it is also in the white-ice thing), we hope that one will still work.
    I have always liked black but DH hates it.
    If this is easier to clean, I would not be opposed to it at all. Frankly, since I mix and match stuff, I don't really care if some of my appliances are white and others are stainless, bronze or slate.
    I am an enigma :-)

  • powermuffin
    11 years ago

    How daring of them to go one shade darker on their new line of appliances! Wow, it is so innovative. Yawn.

    How about aqua, pink, red, dark green, apple green, navy blue? I want to see something really fun at a price I can actually afford.
    Diane

  • cawaps
    11 years ago

    What Powermuffin said.

    I keep waiting for colored appliances to come back--and I guess they have a bit for laundry. I wonder if some of the issue is the rise of just-in-time manufacturing and reduction in inventories accross the supply chain (even bisque is often a special order). Maybe the "minority" colors aren't popular enough to produce en masse in the current economy.

  • GreenDesigns
    11 years ago

    I'd personally look for panel ready appliances at a scratch and dent store if I were interested in different colors. Nothing says the panels have to be cabinet panels. You could have metal panels coated at a powder coating place and interchange them as the mood strikes. Bronze metallic one day and 50's aqua another and Christmas red for the holidays.

    Really, THAT is what some bright manufacturer would come out with if they wanted to be innovative. They could make a killing on accessories, just like in the automotive or electronics world. Imagine the options that you could do if they engaged artists to do creations for them. It could be just like the PC world where Dell makes all of those interchangeable laptop shells or the Iphone cases.

  • cawaps
    11 years ago

    I'd thought about the panel-ready option, but was put off because the price point of panel-ready appliances is so high. Scratch & dent is a good idea.

    I like your business plan--if only they would introduce something at a moderate price point with the plan to make it up on the accessories.

  • hobokenkitchen
    11 years ago

    Greendesigns - I love this idea, if it were 'done right' it could be wonderful.

  • palimpsest
    11 years ago

    Subzero tried a darker gray, "Graphite" I think, a few years back and they pulled it.

    I don't know if they ever get the right demographic when they try these things though. I think the basic freestanding range market is still getting used to stainless mode, in many parts of the country. If they really want it to look more sophisticated and high end, like the video seems to indicate, maybe they should have tried it out on a cooktop and wall oven or a slide in or pro-style-look range.

    At the Subzero end of things I think it was too expensive for people to try it, knowing that they would have the appliance for a long time, and also there was nothing to coordinate it with. It's just easier to panel it and be done.

    I am waiting to see if someone comes up with a panel ready wall oven. They have the panel ready fridge with window, so maybe they could do a panel ready oven door. It wouldn't have a ton of applications but it might make sense in some places.

    Amana, I think tried a navy blue and a dark red fridge a few years ago in one of their smaller, basic fridges. I think they were going for the small urban market or the apartment market--a younger demographic, but that didn't really work either.

  • rosie
    11 years ago

    Very handsome, Angie.

    My first thought was that it would be a way to save costs, SS in plastic (metal is getting expensive!) and maybe (?) get rid of the fingerprint problem? I like the idea, although it wouldn't work for this kitchen.

  • desertsteph
    11 years ago

    maybe if they focused more on the appliance and not so much razzle dazzle... the glimpses were fleeting.

    I remember a few yrs back my sister and I watched a commercial for a car - we loved the commercial but never did know what car they were promoting. I think there was someone walking a dog in it. the car was lost, the dog stole the show.

  • Tessa Menotte
    9 years ago

    Angie did you paint the fridge yourself? I am looking for colored applianced for our new house but I am coming up short as we need electric and my husband does not prefer the retro look of others.

  • bluesanne
    9 years ago

    Slate is not in any way similar to SS -- it is not a metallic finish at all, but rather is a solid color finish. For our new build we chose slate, as I loathe SS, black and white (actually, I do like vintage white appliances, but this was not an option). We haven't gone by resale potential with anything we've selected, and I am very happy slate is not approved by the masses, whose collective tastes, for the most part, are limited to their collective mouths. If it is discontinued, at least it will not be tied to the trend of a given time period (like avocado or harvest gold). Instead, we'll be seen as the oddballs we are.

  • zorroslw1
    9 years ago

    I have to say this:

    Stop with the beating up of harvest gold and avacdo! I see it made fun of all the time. I had avocado appliances, sink and a harvest gold counter top.

    It was the "kitchen trend" that we all talk about for the late 60s and thru the 70s. Many, many Homes had these colors. They were in, trendy for the time. I would hope 50 years from now people aren't making fun of the stainless steel appliances of today or "why in the world would anyone put cabinets up to a 10 or 12 foot ceiling" or maybe "why did anyone think a range hood was a good idea"....... Maybe because it was the trend at the time?

  • desertsteph
    9 years ago

    I had avocado green fridge and sink in my first house. don't remember what the dw was - must have been avocado also. Didn't get the dw for a yr or 2. I then had the harvest gold in my next house. I liked them both but the harvest gold more. I'd be ok with that today if available... I had kitchen carpet in both also - loved it.

  • lam702
    9 years ago

    Our first house was built in the early 60's and had brown appliances, I think they were called "copper" but were not a metallic, it was a brown shade. The 60's and 70's colored appliances were "in" although colors were limited to mostly green, gold, brown and white. I do like the slate appliances a lot. One reason SS is so popular I think, is that it works with any kitchen color - white cabinets, dark stained, painted shades, etc. Its a good neutral. White appliances are nice and bright, but often combined with a white cabinet, the 2 whites shades do not look well together. Right now my old appliances still work, as they die I will replace them. They are bisque (I know, I know its considered dated) but I actually love the color, it goes so well with my light maple cabinets, better than white would I think and its just a warmer look which I like. I like the look of SS but not the labor keeping fingerprints and spots away. I'd love to see more colors in appliances, other than the expensive upscale brands. But, its all about what sells - if the colors don't sell, they won't make them. The bronze color that was out a few years ago (can't remember the brand) was lovely, I'd get that if I could but due to poor sales it was discontinued.

  • zorroslw1
    9 years ago

    Iam72

    Yup, I had the copper tone appliances too. I then went to avacdo, then to the bisque or cream, then to black and now stainless steel. My favorite, black.

  • schicksal
    9 years ago

    I thought it was a new thread, then I checked the date. :(