Drew Barrymore's colorful kitchen with understated appliances

The Hollywood set has embraced allowing colorful appliances to grace their kitchens.  Scarlett Johansson recently put her hilltop villa, complete with colorful Big Chill appliances, up for sale, and Rachael Ray has rocked a Beach Blue Big Chill Fridge for many seasons.

Want to learn how you can add a punch of color to your kitchen?

Maybe, at this point in time, a full kitchen remodel with colorful cabinetry is out of the question.  Call us biased, but we think a great first choice to bring new hues to your kitchen is an appliance that pops.  Not the right time to change out all of your appliances?  No problem.  A Big Chill Fridge, or one of our newly introduced colorful stoves with a matching vent hood makes a statement, adds the color that you’re looking for, and is a great conversation piece.  The folks over at Your Home, Only Better seem to agree; see what they have to say about creating your Bold, Beautiful Kitchen.

Feeling like you need to dip your toes in the water before taking the colorful kitchen plunge? Add a little burst to your cooking area with one of these 12 colorful kitchen appliances.  The good news is, most of these kitchen gadgets match our fridges, stoves, and dishwashers, which means you won’t have to get rid of them when you decide do go further down the colorful kitchen road.

Check out the Big Chill kitchen gallery for more colorful kitchen inspiration.

“If you haven’t been to New York Cupcakes, you have to go, if only to check out the pink big chill fridge, which has me scheming and plotting to figure out how I can redesign my entire house around it. It would give me every excuse to buy that pink KitchenAid mixer that I’ve been salivating over for years, wouldn’t it?”

We have to agree with Luce a Big Chill fridge is reason enough to plan a whole kitchen remodel.  Check out our full line up of retro kitchen appliances in the store.  And check out the rest of the story on Luce’s blog.

You can buy a dishwasher or even a fridge like Scarlett right here on our site (hint: if you’re trying to be just like Scarlett, choose “buttercup” as your color before checking out).

Here at Big Chill, we’ve been using our site to help our customers with their purchasing decisions for years now. Over that period of time, the site has grown and evolved to satisfy the changing market place. By listening to you, we’ve learned what elements would aide you in your purchasing decisions. When it became apparent that in addition to a retro fridge, a vintage inspired kitchen needs an accompanying retro dishwasher, we produced it. This fall, a retro stove followed.

As our founder, Orion Creamer puts it, “Our new shopping cart was born from necessity. Most of our customers know exactly what they want before calling to place their order. With our limited hours of operation, it’s difficult to keep up with consumer demand. This new shopping cart lets customers also order at night or on the weekends, at their convenience.”

You told us that it’s time to grow and expand our business into the virtual world – we’ve done it. We’re so excited about our new endeavor and hope you’ll take the time to check out the new Big Chill online store.

Big Chill’s story isn’t any different. In 2001 Big Chill’s founder, Orion Creamer looked at available refrigerator options. He saw two things: modern appliances in black, white, or stainless steel; and vintage appliances that lacked modern conveniences like ice makers and auto defrost. When Orion noticed this chasm between style and function he promptly set to filling the void.  LUXE Magazine recently caught up with Orion to talk about his inspiration and what the future holds for Big Chill Fridge.

LUXE Magazine is a quarterly journal that showcases luxury residential architecture, design, interiors and products, with regional editions in Chicago, Colorado, Texas, Southern California and Seattle. The eye-catching coffee-table magazine serves as an idea book and resource of fine architectural design, interiors and trends. LUXE connects with affluent consumers who are seeking notable quality home design. The magazine presents readers with a variety of upper end residences, from distinguished estates and sprawling ranches to city townhouses and art-filled lofts. Pick up a copy at your local newsstand or check out LUXE online.

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What do you get when you cross modern functionality and vintage personality? A Big Chill-inspired retro kitchen.

If you’re like me, you love the personality of a retro look. Picture this: your Big Chill fridge as a focal point. For your eating area, add a vintage table and chairs, or a booth. Step up the look with a splash and a dash of some equally groovy kitchen accessories and…deep breath…you got it! Modern day efficiencies come together with retro styling in a swell new place – your kitchen.

I’ve added a couple of new items to the product line to help you build your kitchen. Check out the new dishwashers and stoves (coming soon), each with the same metal body, chrome detailing, and unique 50’s styling as our fridge. And, of course, with all of the amenities of a modern unit. Welcome to Big Chill. Need more for your Retro Kitchen? Check out these links…

• Retro Toasters from KitchenAid and Hamilton Beach
• Vintage Tables, Chairs and booths from Bars and Booths
• Kitchen accessories from Anthropologie

ALTON BROWN IS KNOWN for a lot of things: his Food Network show, “Good Eats”; his ability to fashion makeshift kitchen appliances (he once transformed a paper shredder into a pasta maker); and, of course, his culinary prowess. But the thing that most fascinates many a Brown fan is his custom-painted KitchenAid mixer emblazoned with hot-rod-style flames.
“It’s insane how much interest has been generated by that mixer,” says Brown, who receives hundreds of inquiries from fans wanting to know where to get one. Others send photos of their own tricked-out mixers that they’ve painted themselves or hired airbrush artists or auto detailers to do for them.
Customized appliances are a great way to set your kitchen, or even your laundry room, apart in today’s white-bisque-black-and stainless-steel-centric world. Just think of the reactions you’d get with racing stripes on your range, or mermaids on your washer. “Whoa, hold on there,” you say, “I’m no grease monkey, nor am I a salty sea captain.” Relax. You have classier options.
Big Chill, for instance, is now offering the Architectural Series of designs that transform its colorful 1950s-style fridges into art pieces. The hand-painted patterns (shown at right) are inspired by the works of such famed architects as Frank Lloyd Wright. The company is also working on another line, called the Beach Cruiser Series, which will feature a two-tone paint job-think Gidget cozied up with Moondoggie in a Chevy Bel Air.
-KEITH PANDOLFI

Check out the This Old House article online!