Samsung shocks the appliance world with a slightly different shade of grey
It's called "Tuscan stainless steel," it's coming later this year and if you're colorblind, you aren't missing a damned thing.
- 10 years product testing experience with the CNET Home team
Americans are stainless steel-addicts when it comes to their kitchen appliances, but in fairness, they haven't had very many alternatives in recent years. Sure, there's the slightly darker "black stainless steel" that's available from most manufacturers by now, and if you like things a little less shiny, names like GE offer "slate" appliances for more of a matte finish -- but at the end of the day, your options largely boil down to grey, other grey or another grey.
Meanwhile, Samsung's laundry appliances will now come in a new "champagne" finish.
Well, I've got good news and I've got bad news. The good news: Samsung is announcing a new finish for its lineup of kitchen appliances that'll give shoppers a brand new choice when they're thinking about the colors in their kitchen.
The bad news? That new color is -- wait for it -- yet another shade of grey. Color me shocked.
Samsung calls the color "Tuscan stainless steel," and it's basically just plain ol' regular stainless steel with an earthy hint of brown. Samsung calls it "2019's new neutral," and tells us it'll roll out across a variety of kitchen appliance models this May, with Tuscan-colored Family Hub smart refrigerators set to follow in August.
I got my first peek at the new "Tuscan"-tinted finish back at CES last month -- or a picture of it, anyway. The specific concept image was a classy-looking kitchen bathed in the light of a bright, ruddy sunset through an open door to the outside. The heavy-handed lighting gilded the fridge with a distinctive-looking, dark bronze appearance. As teases go, it wasn't terrible.
Between standard, black, slate and others, the world of appliances certainly wasn't lacking for new shades of stainless steel -- but hey, at least this new one stood out. Options are a good thing, right?
Well, yeah -- but come on. Look at these things. I can get behind bronze as an alternative for modern kitchens, but this is about as milquetoast as bronze gets. It sure as hell isn't taking me to Tuscany.
Meanwhile, kitchens in Europe get treated to appliances from names like Bosch and Smeg that come in just about every color under the Tuscan sun. That includes refrigerators with interchangeable faces on the door so you can swap the color out for the equivalent of about $200 or so whenever you get bored. Yes, I'm jealous.
No word from Samsung yet on which specific appliance models are getting the Tuscan treatment, but it's a safe pick it'll hit the high-end stuff first. And, in slightly less underwhelming news, Samsung also has a new "champagne" finish planned for its latest laundry lineup of washers and dryers -- but then again, those appliances look pretty grey to me, too.
To each their own, I suppose. At any rate, we'll be sure to take a closer look at the new finishes when we get our hands on the new models later this year. If they look any better in person than they do here at first glance, I'll be sure to let you know.
