Frugal Kitchens 101 - Choosing Small Kitchen Appliances (colour)

Small kitchen appliances come in a wide range of colours because manufacturers realize that kitchens come in a wide range of colours.  During our married life I have enjoyed 16 permanent kitchens and 5 temporary kitchens.  Of the temporary kitchens, 2 were smaller spatially challenged RV kitchens and one (current) a larger, fully equipped kitchen.  Surprisingly I can describe down to minute details of each of those kitchens including the small kitchen appliances.  Our very first kitchen was peach and rust.  We went through the harvest gold period, moving on to the black glass, onto country blue and finally arriving at the mainly wood with white.  I already have the colours picked out for my new kitchen when we move.  It has a black marble floor so the colour scheme will be black, white, and grey with red accents.  What does this have to do with small appliances?

Quite often small appliances are purchased based on colour under the premise it will match the kitchen decor.  This is a mistake because the right coloured appliance may not have the features another one that doesn't match has.  Replacing small kitchen appliances is costly but for many if the appliance doesn't match the decor, it will be replaced for one that does.  It's a vanity thing but one that can be quite costly.  For that reason the frugal choice is to buy high quality small kitchen appliances that can be integrated into any kitchen decor without having to replace them because they now longer match.  I will be doing a series on Frugal Kitchen 101 posts based on making frugal small kitchen appliance choices.  Here's a few of my tips:

• never choose based on colour - A small kitchen appliance should be chosen based on function not colour.  The cavate is if there is a colour choice go with the most neutral choice you can.
  
• avoid strong, current fad colours - Notice how harvest gold and avocodo green is no longer available in small kitchen appliances?  That's because they were fad colours.  They came and they went.  That beautiful red stand mixer may look wonderful in your current kitchen but won't look as well in deep forest green of your newly decorated kitchen.  Keep your small kitchen appliance colours neutral so they will match any kitchen decor. 
• avoid white - While white is considered a neutral colour, avoid any small appliance that is white.  Many small kitchen appliances have plastic parts.   If they are white they tend to yellow over time making them look gungy.  There's nothing wrong with the appliance just it looks dirty but there is the tendency is to replace. 
• avoid decorative paint - Some small appliances have decorative paint/designs on them to reflect the current trends or they may reflect a sports team or seasonal use or something similar.  Avoid these.  The thing is over time your tastes change and it makes little sense to have a small kitchen appliance that will be used seasonally or becomes too cutesy for your new modern looking kitchen.

Bon Appétit!