A Return to Designer Colors?

Say “Green Appliances” and most people think of energy savings. That wasn’t true forty years ago when avocado green was a hot color for the kitchen and laundry room. It didn’t take long for the collective hangover of the ’60s to wear off, though, and avocado or harvest gold appliances faded quickly from American homes, replaced by the much more reliable white, ivory or black. The same thing happened in the kitchen. While there weren’t any avocado stereos back then (or at least, not a lot of them) technology went from real wood and brass to fake wood before settling in on the reliable silver and black.

Apple tried to bring color to home technology in the late 1990s with its tastily colored iMacs, before admitting defeat and relegating color to its smallest devices while outfitting its computers and tablets in silver, black, and white.

Still, the fashion mistakes of the past have a way of coming back to haunt us. This time it seems to be starting in the laundry room, where blue and red have supplanted the reliable “appliance white.” Could color return to the kitchen, and more importantly, to the living room or home office?

This could absolutely happen. The average lifespan of a computer or other media consumption device is under 3 years — fashionistas could easily take advantage of that. It wouldn’t be surprising to see home technology in brilliant, interesting, and occasionally garish colors.

Because, hey, it’s been 40 years since we learned that lesson… it’s probably time again.

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.