Should You Get a Black Refrigerator?
Should You Get a Black Refrigerator?
These kitchens show how to make a dark fridge work, whether by blending it in or making it stand out
Scroll through the photos on Houzz, and you’ll see home after home featuring ink-colored kitchen cabinets, black-framed windows or dark and cozy wall paints. So it’s no surprise that our appliances are following suit. Black or dark refrigerators are quite hot in today’s stylish kitchens. See how you might fit one into your cooking space.
Pair it with white. Inky shades and grays may be gaining ground, but white is still the most popular choice for kitchen cabinetry. Giving a white kitchen a shot of sharp black freshens up this enduring favorite. Add a dash of wood for a Scandinavian feel.
Here the refrigerator, as the biggest black feature in the space, leads the way, influencing the stools, light fixtures, oven, faucet, dining chairs and even the dish for the apples on the table.
If your heart in set on a matte look, bear in mind that black appliances are more widely available in a glossy finish. However, mixing glossy and matte adds textural interest to a monochrome room.
Team it with gray. Here the effect is softer, with the gleaming black refrigerator combined with pale gray cabinets, again in matte.
In this kitchen, the key partner for the fridge is that luscious black Cambria quartz countertop. If the homeowners had gone instead with stainless steel for the fridge and range, the counter could’ve looked a little isolated as a design feature.
If you’re opting for black appliances, consider how you’ll balance them with other colors in your kitchen. How many accessories in the same shade are too many? Start with three, which will always be just enough, and build (gently) from there.
Blend freestanding and built-in. What looks like a charcoal-colored freestanding unit built solely to house a fridge is, in fact, also the end of a row of storage shelves (see the next photo).
The designers of this stunning cabinetry deliberately “downplayed its ‘refrigeratorness.’” They clad the doors in blackened hot-rolled steel, which was oiled and waxed to give it a rich patina. And they used the material elsewhere around the house, built in the early 20th century as a public library.
If the best location for your fridge is as prominent as this one — especially if you have an open-plan area and can see it from the sofa — it’s worth considering how to make it look beautiful and how to tie it into the decor of both your living room and your kitchen. Black is a versatile accent color for its power to anchor a design.
Go vintage. In addition to pastels, retro appliances come in staple colors like black and cream. So a black refrigerator doesn’t necessarily have to be sleek and futuristic, as this curvy number illustrates. Opting for black makes the fridge a versatile piece that’ll work if you decide to change your paint palette. It’s easy to coordinate with other appliances too, meaning that you can choose the ones that function best for you, rather than being limited to something unsuitable just because it’s the right color.
The vintage feel in this London house is gently enhanced by the tongue-and-groove paneling and the soft blue-green color.
This kitchen goes a step further with a freestanding refrigerator whose matte finish matches that of the surrounding cabinetry, right down to the black handles.
Although black fridges are available at midrange prices, you’re likely to pay a premium for a model that suits such exacting design specifications. You might then consider an integrated version for a similar visual effect.
Highlight it. You can trust the Scandinavians to go super cool with their take on a black refrigerator. This pared-back, pale kitchen features classic Scandinavian black accents, but for a little unexpected bling, the room has brassy touches, such as the tips of the chair legs and the trim on the oven. Despite the black details elsewhere, the fridge, encased in a freestanding cabinet, could’ve felt a little out on a limb. Instead, those gleaming golden door pulls tie it to the white side of the kitchen, which has the same style and color of handles.
The cabinet’s diamond-stitch effect really ups the glamour. Check out Superfront, which supplies fronts for Ikea cabinets. Alternatively, a similar effect could be created relatively inexpensively if you have the right tools (or the right professional) at hand, by scoring sheets of plywood or MDF and then spray-painting for the sleekest of finishes.
Be classic. Black also feels like a very tradition-friendly choice for appliances — just check out how at home the inky range looks in this modern farmhouse kitchen. That’s because it’s a classic.
What’s nice in this kitchen is that the black appliances are just one of a few gentle nods to country style. Rather than an overdone homage to country style, this is a very contemporary take. So there’s no need to choose a fridge with retro styling if you can find something bigger and functionally more suited to your lifestyle.
Mix things up. A curvy, old-school refrigerator doesn’t have to be confined to kitchens with vintage leanings. This loft kitchen is unashamedly industrial in style. Would you have thought of a shiny Smeg as the obvious choice for a fridge? Possibly not, but it works precisely because of its color.
Black complements both traditional and utilitarian designs since it’s a no-nonsense shade that’s practical and unfussy, just like the rest of this space. The fridge’s soft corners really help this room’s design — a hard-edged steel model could’ve seemed a touch too industrial. You may want the feel of a restaurant kitchen in your home, but going the whole hog won’t always be very homey.
The glossy black finish also reflects the light in a very compact space.
Tell us: What kind of fridge do you have? Share what you love about it (or what you’d change) in the Comments.
