Good point, thanks. What would you paint the alcove behind the stove? Railings with black stove and black hearth might be too dark. It will be a working stove so any paintwork might blacken with soot and ash, so light contrasting colours probably won't be practical.

Black is a safe bet, as you won't have to struggle to match anything to it! Not sure if the stone you are talking back will match well with cream, and there will be less cleaning needed!

And for behind the stove, consider tiles! They could add a colour "pop" or if you wanted to stay neutral, you can even get some fantastic marble/stone effect tiles which will add a bit of class to the space.

Do you think a patterned tile like this would be ok? If I could get greyer tones.

Hi Michelle,

Go for whatever you love.

The black stove may be the safer bet, but I think the cream could look equally good, especially if you use a bold colour in the alcove. Tiles perhaps?

I say go with the cream stove and bold colour!

Create a cool focal point. Be different!

Those patterned tiles are lovely! It's going to be a very nice room.

Hi Michelle, love the tiles! I think slightly greyer might be better if possible. Please send pics when you are done! Will be great to see the space finished!

Geri Do you find the matt hard to keep clean? Its £100 cheaper but I would imagine it looks dusty all the time. Its also a back boiler one so we need to think about the practicality of tiling around the pipes, and keep behind it clean given we cant move it.

Having a look around Pinterest, you might try reclaimed red brick as the back drop for the stove. Depending on the stove, I think the white enamel can look more elegant than the black:

I have a serious case of kitchen envy. WOW! Can't wait to see it finished.

We have got a matt cream stove. I wish I had gone for enamel now. It is difficult to keep clean because of the slightly roughened surface, and I think it will need respraying regularly - and the trouble with this is the smell as the paint cures when the stove is lit! Go with whatever colour you fancy, and there are some wondeful colours out there, but enamel must be better as it is so much easier to keep looking good with just a quick wipe from a damp cloth.

Judging by the window shapes and the curved feature fireplace, I would suspect that you like a modern look. As others have said, enamel is much easier to keep clean than a matt finish. Black always looks sophisticated, but shouldn't be the only black thing in the kitchen.

What colour are your worktops? If they are very dark, they will balance a black stove. Regarding the interior finish of the fireplace, consider stone slips rather than painting. If you choose ones that have the right stone colour in them, they will look very natural, but light. http://www.century-stone.co.uk/index.php/gallery/interiors

Spaces · More Info

For me the contrast of the black stone make it work in a neutral décor scheme

Initially I chose cream for my free standing multi fuel burner, however, my builder advised it would discolour with time and would date quicker than black. See the photograph below.

I thought I wanted cream but was persuaded by our fitter that it would quickly show the dirt and in time would chip showing the black iron. I knew I didn't want black so we looked at Clearview stoves and picked a lovely slate blue one. It fits in a greeny grey Portland stone fireplace. I recommend thinking again about cream.

Hi Michelle.

Cream enamel stoves can look very nice. but are normally twice the cost of the same models in black. Also enamel is very fragile and once chipped cant be repaired, which will spoil the look. But I think if you prefer it you should go for it, just be careful during the installation. Also powder blue enamel looks very good.

Hello We always say why have a black box when there are so many choices out there. Pick a good quality cast iron stove with Ivory enamel like Jotul with 25 year warranty

We find our clients like both black and cream stoves

I personally prefer the new chesney's autumn leaf or the Woodwarm Brown

Our customers seem to prefer blacks stoves, always a safe bet!

Enamel is easy to clean but if it gets damaged (eg by overfiring the stove or chipping a corner), its appearance will be permanently spoiled. Stoves with a sprayed finish are trickier to keep clean but they can at least be resprayed every now and again to renew the appearance.

Our customers always tend to go for black. I do think the white and cream colours look great in the right setting but are hard to keep clean and if they are ceramic they are likely to chip and mark easily.

We find that we're selling more and more white/cream enamel stoves, but black is always a classic look.

From experience we would sell a lot more matt black stove. However i personal think a enamel coloured stove can be more of a feature in a room so it really depends if you want your stove to be the main feature of the room. I personal love this cream enamel look.

We Find That the Chesneys Parchment is quite popular and white ceramic freestanders such as drooff.

The Problem with most other enameled stoves is once there chipped there chipped and we personally try not to reccomend them.