Thom Vernon, co-founder of The Big Chill line of retro-inspired kitchen appliances was inspired by what modern, stainless steel appliances don’t do (you can’t use magnets on them), as much as his desire for a cool kitchen:

The story goes that Thom and his wife were dreaming up a design-conscious retro kitchen that had modern functionality and vintage personality. “With our kid’s artwork and school photos always proudly displayed, we didn’t want the refrigerator to look out of place. The ubiquitous stainless steel appliances weren’t the right fit and we wanted to steer clear of the dreaded ‘white box’.” While they liked the look of the mid-century models, most were too small, inefficient, and required painstaking hours of chiseling to defrost. (source)

The results, though pricey (the cheapest fridge starts at over $2,600 USD), are beautiful with a candy shop of beautiful powder coated painted colour exteriors. Although they look like they are straight out of a 1950s kitchen, they have all the convenience of the modern appliance: built-in ice makers, they are Energy Star rated and, if you aren’t satisfied with their colour range, they will do a custom paint job.

The Big Chill appliances also have a metal exterior so, yes, they are also very magnet friendly.

Image from The Big Chill Kitchen Gallery.