To Retro or Not to Retro?

My husband, who isn't happy unless he has a project (or ten) on his mind has said that he MAY be ready for us to tackle the kitchen remodeling project this summer. It is something we have been wanting to do for awhile, and we even had professional drawings done a few years ago. We ultimately decided to add on a living room and bedrooms instead as we could see more children in our future at the time.
Now it looks like it may be time to finish off the house project. The remaining walls have minimal insulation left and our kitchen is feeling mighty chilly with these cold temps. So, from both a practical and cosmetic standpoint, I am excited to get to work!
I have had my eye on a retro-looking fridge (like the one on Rachael Ray's set or on www.bigchill.com) for a couple years. Usually something like that strikes my fancy for awhile and then I move onto something else. However, this time I still want a retro fridge. I want to keep my diner decor and the fridge would absolutely make the kitchen. It may look like your grandma's (or mom's) fridge, but I assure you it is not. It has the capacity & conveniences of a refrigerator of today with the OUTSIDE of a retro fridge. Cool, huh?
Unfortunately, this kind of frige comes with a price tag. It is about $1000 more to get the retro-covered fridge over the regular stainless steel model.
David didn't like the idea for awhile because he said it would be too trendy. I don't really think it is trendy since I've never actually seen one in anyone's house. If anything is trendy, it would be stainless steel! His next argument was that we would have to buy ALL retro-looking appliances. No sooner did those words come out of his mouth than I read on the website that it is NOT madatory when designing a kitchen to keep all appliances in the same era. So--that problem was solved, too!
Am I worth it? Well, of course! I just can't decide if the fridge is worth it.
I don't ever do things like that. I buy my kids' clothes at end of season sales a year ahead of time. I put up with the crowds at Walmart because they have the cheapest toilet paper. It took me 7 years to break down and buy Confetti Cake ice cream from the Schwan man because I thought it was too expensive. I buy neary everything generic. (But not Miracle Whip. A girl has to have SOME standards!)
When Cresbard school closed, I put my severance pay away to go toward dining room chairs & to put a drop in the kitchen project bucket. So, the money would be there. In the end, David says it is my kitchen to design. I just can't decide if I want to help pay for a cupboard or two or the funky fridge I REALLY want. If I go the retro route, then I'll have to choose the right color . . . oh, what to do?
I do know one thing. We won't be bringing back old Harvest Gold with the shelves held up by beer bottles. Now THAT was a fridge. Inevitably every fridge loses its last two bottles of beer. . . .