The Once Outdated Home Trend That Is Making A Vintage Comeback

Stainless steel is a once trendy appliance color that's now super outdated. While it used to be the go-to material for kitchen appliances (and a major selling point for realtors), stainless steel started to lose its luster as homeowners moved toward colorful custom appliances and panel-ready refrigerators. However, this hard-working material is having a resurgence in interior design, but not where you'd think. 

Designers are incorporating stainless steel into cozy spaces like living rooms and even bedrooms. Of course, the strength, corrosion resistance, and easy maintenance of stainless steel still make it a perfect material for workhorse areas like kitchens and bathrooms, but in new and exciting ways. Bringing stainless steel off of appliances and into other aspects of interior design is a modern use for this once-outdated finish. 

This look is easier than you'd think to incorporate. Steel pairs well with most colors and textures, and it's less bold than brass or gold. In an all-white or monochromatic room, stainless steel adds a nice reflective pop without the unwanted addition of color and can act as a neutral in overly colorful spaces (hence its popularity for kitchens of any color or style in the past). Stainless steel will enhance modern industrial or minimalist styles, but can also have a classic appeal, similar to silver or chrome. 

There are plenty of ways to use stainless steel in your kitchen besides appliances. Stainless steel can be found on lighting fixtures, sinks, faucets, and cabinetry hardware like these Ravinte brushed nickel stainless steel drawer pulls ($22.56 for a pack of 30). Another modern take on stainless steel is to take the look further by installing a top-to-bottom stainless steel kitchen. This option lets you keep your stainless steel appliances and adds stainless steel to your backsplash, cabinets, and countertops as well. It's the look already adopted by commercial kitchens because it is heat and stain-resistant and a more sanitary choice than other materials (stainless steel isn't porous and won't hide bacteria).

Outside of the kitchen, you can find stainless steel used on stair railings, fireplaces, furniture, lamps, chandeliers, and decorative objects. A traditional Elegance stainless steel Revere bowl looks great on its own or when filled with brightly-colored fruit. If you want to avoid spending thousands on a design overhaul, try replacing your current sofa legs with these TCHOSUZ stainless steel furniture legs. In the bedroom, stainless steel is an accent wall idea sure to create some serious wow factor. Use stainless steel wall panels with etched designs or ripple effects for a decorative look. Combined with soft furnishings and warmer materials like wood, stainless steel adds the right amount of cool to any living space (in more ways than one).