The stainless-steel kitchen is getting pricier, as rising wholesale stainless prices boost the cost of refrigerators, stoves, and other appliances.
The price of stainless steel has risen as much as 60 percent in the past year, reflecting a shortage world-wide due in large part to demand for the metal from fast-growing China. Wholesale steel prices continue to rise, with one major maker just last week announcing another round of 3 percent to 6 percent price increases.
That higher cost, in turn, is increasing appliance prices anywhere from 1 percent to 10 percent. In January, high-end kitchen designer Boffi added 5 percent to the price of its custom-designed kitchens, which include stainless-steel cabinets and average $100,000. At Don’s Appliances in Canonsburg, Pa., a 48-inch side-by-side fridge from Viking Range Corp. now sells for $6,600 now, up 6 percent from $6,200 a year ago. A 48-inch range by Dacor Inc. that has sold for $7,905 at the store for a year will go up 7 percent to $8,488 on Oct. 1. Fridges made by Sub-Zero Freezer Co. haven’t increased in the past year, but the store expects to raise prices Jan. 1, by about 3 percent to 5 percent.
Paul Leuthe, corporate marketing manager for Madison, Wis.-based Sub-Zero, says metal prices are driving up the company’s costs but says it is “way too early” to comment on appliance pricing plans for next year.
To lure cost-conscious customers, some appliance makers are introducing similar-looking products made with cheaper materials, from aluminum to lower-grade steel painted in colors like “meteorite,” and even plastic that looks like stainless steel. Others are including less stainless in their products. Meanwhile, to justify the premium prices of the real thing, some salesmen are aiming to make better grades of stainless a selling point, the way bedding makers pitch 400-thread-count sheets.
The goal: to keep the lucrative stainless-kitchen craze going. The stainless look has been a huge boon for appliance makers, becoming a staple of high-end kitchens in recent years. Stainless steel, which consists of traditional carbon steel mixed with at least 11 percent chromium and often nickel, is shinier than traditional steel, doesn’t corrode as easily, and has a neutral hue that easily matches floors, cupboards and walls. Kitchen designer Boffi says 25 percent of the kitchens the company does are either completely stainless or have a large percentage of products and materials in stainless.
The new stainless knockoffs come in many varieties. Some are based on lower-grade carbon steel, which wholesales at about $700 a ton, compared with about $2,000 a ton for stainless. General Electric Co. last year launched “CleanSteel” fridges that use carbon steel with a laminate finish that makes it look much like stainless. They cost 80 percent less than GE’s high-end Monogram Stainless fridge of the same size and weight that retails in some places for $5,500.
Whirlpool Corp.’s knockoffs use a “satina” or “meteorite” finish over carbon steel. And Korean appliance maker LG makes products with what it calls a “titanium” look, which is actually carbon steel with a finish. Retailers generally charge $100 to $200 more for stainless-steel looks compared to the same models in white, bisque or black.
Then there’s the aluminum kitchen – Boffi introduced such a line this spring – showcasing a gray metal that is less expensive than stainless. Mass-market appliance makers, including Maytag Corp., Whirlpool, and Electrolux AB’s KitchenAid, take a different tack for some products: using stainless only on the front panels of stoves or fridges, with side panels made of painted steel. There are now even microwaves with a plastic finish in a stainless color.
As an appliance metal, stainless isn’t without its flaws: It smudges and can be prone to scratch marks. Moreover, stainless isn’t magnetic, which means parents can’t easily put drawings, notes or photos on the front of their refrigerator. But, while CleanSteel and other new finishes take magnets and don’t smudge, some finishes can be susceptible to chips or tears, and thus may not be as durable. Many finishes look a great deal like stainless, but generally, if a fridge takes a magnet, it’s probably not real stainless steel.
With the economy showing signs of improvement, demand for stainless-steel appliances remains strong, despite the higher prices. Sales of major home kitchen appliances are up about 30 percent this year from 2001 levels, according to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers.
Instead of waiting to buy appliances when a contractor refinished his kitchen this fall, Ned VanderVen, 72 years old, of Pittsburgh, went out in March and bought $7,500 of stainless-steel kitchen appliances, partly because he noticed prices rising. The total this fall could have been 5 percent higher or nearly $8,000. “The increasing prices were an important consideration,” he said.
Further price rises may be in store. (Some salesmen are telling customers about planned price increases as a sales tool to get them to buy now.)
To convince shoppers that the real thing is worth paying for, some industry observers expect companies to begin trying to increase awareness of stainless-steel grades. The idea is for consumers to discuss the nickel count of their refrigerator over cocktails as they do bed-sheet thread counts. Stainless steel comes in varying degrees of nickel content and other alloying materials. At this point, retailers outside of the restaurant-products industry don’t promote the distinction, except in cookware and the occasional range hood or work table.
Steel with higher levels of nickel and chrome has a shinier appearance and doesn’t scratch or dent as easily as lower-grade stainless steel. “I think you will see these companies trying to promote the customers’ awareness of that difference,” says David MacGregor, an analyst at Longbow Research in Cleveland.
But getting customers to pay premium prices for stainless may be tough. First, people usually can’t tell the difference between grades of stainless steel with the naked eye. And the hardness of premium stainless steel only partially solves the problem of smudges and scratches.
Sub-Zero’s way of addressing the downsides of stainless: The company now carries an acid-etched “carbon” finish that looks charcoal color or nearly black and doesn’t fingerprint as easily. And several specialty-metals producers, such as Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Technologies Inc. and other European companies, have developed types of stainless steels for the appliance, RV and boating industries that are more resistant to fingerprints and smudges. Consumers haven’t seen too many of these on finished products yet but will probably be able to buy them in the future.
For now, consumers’ best course is simply to make sure they know what they are buying – make sure you aren’t paying stainless prices for products that chintz on materials, like using black plastic handles on the front doors of stainless fridges instead of more expensive stainless-steel handles. Don’t get confused by products that use the name of a metal to refer to a color – such as Sub-Zero’s new stainless fridge with a “platinum” finish, which contains no platinum but is a lighter color created by blasting the stainless.
One risk to fitting a kitchen with either stainless or a knockoff: How long will it stay fashionable? With the stainless look getting cheaper to achieve, retailers such as Sears, which sells about 40 percent of the appliances in America, hope to tap the middle market. Some appliance makers are trying to offer smaller or less elaborate stainless versions of their products at lower prices. By the holiday season, some expect to see stainless ranges for less than $500.
Jennifer Gilmer, a high-end kitchen designer in Chevy Chase, Md., thinks some people will eventually get bored with stainless. Some appliance makers are already showing colored finishes and alternative metals. Ms. Gilmer, who charges between $75,000 and $150,000 for kitchen remodeling jobs, is in the process of redoing her own kitchen and is considering antique copper or oil brass. “I think (people) are going to go with textured metals, aged metals,” she says. “I think people will get tired of stainless soon.”
From AZ Central