Choosing kitchen appliances
October 21st, 2012
Warning- if you are not shopping for appliances, most likely you will not find this interesting.
Until recently I couldn’t tell you what appliances my friends had. I didn’t know what a sub-zero fridge was and had no clue how much the nice looking ovens with the red knobs were. 4 Years ago my husband (boyfriend at the time) and I bought a house and flipped it. When we shopped for appliances it was the easiest thing, look for nice looking stainless appliances. Now that we are were going to be living with these for years to come we wanted to get the best. So my friend sent me a link for Wolf and I immediately fell in love with this
I was blown away to see that this pretty dual range oven would set us back $16,800! Can you believe it?
The reason why I was looking at dual range is because there is much discussion on the internet how a gas stovetop and electric oven is the best combination. You can be very precise with using an electric oven. But for the price of a decent car this was not going to work. Our budget for all appliances is $10,000.
I started looking at chowhound and GardenWeb discussions. They are MANY people in the same position as me, trying to find the best one. If you are searching for new appliances my suggestion to you would be to go to a local store and get some models that you like and just do you research. I was liking the Bluestar gas range because it was available at Costco for a decent price but after reading reviews found out that the door gets very hot and if you have kids this won’t be a good idea! Budget is very important and know what style you are looking for. We knew we wanted a gas stovetop and a 36″ range that looked more commercial.
So we went back to Goemans and talked to someone who really sounded like he knew what he was talking about (or I was desperate and just bought whatever he said because I couldn’t keep going on this crazy appliance hunt). He said Jenn Air was not worth it, it’s basically Kitchenaid but more money, Viking was not worth the money and he couldn’t say anything positive about Fisher & Paykel. He directed us into deciding between this Kitchenaid dual range stove or the Wolf 36″ gas range. Both were around the same price point.
I think as of October 21, Kitchenaid is going to win!
As far as refrigerators I knew is that I wanted a stainless steel finish and I did not want bow handles thanks to Sarah and Tommy’s discussion from Sarah’s House Season 3
I never really payed attention to those handles before but after watching this episode it was kind of a glass shattering effect (if you are a HIMYM fan you will know what I’m talking about). If you do not want bow and arrow handles, I suggest you don’t go to Sears.
The next criteria for a fridge was that it would be 36″ wide and lots of space! oh and I did not care if it was standard or counter depth. I really didn’t want a ice/water dispenser on the front but it wouldn’t be a make or break deal. When looking at fridges make sure you check out how much space the ice maker takes up inside the fridge…some were ridiculous!! So many had not enough space or bow handles. Electrolux had a good option for us but the guy at Goemans warned us that he sees a lot of problems with Electrolux fridges and wouldn’t sell one. He recommended this fridge by Kitchenaid
Dishwasher was pretty easy, I did want Miele but chose Bosch based on the look and price. Plus if anything goes wrong the head office is located in Missisauga which isn’t far from us
So there you have it! Seems like a lot of work and research for a stove and fridge eh? I think it will be worth all of the research. Plus we come in under our budget!!
I really enjoyed the appliances blog. I know people who have Bosch and Miele and both are quite happy with their individual brand. My one friend has had the Bosch for 12 years! Hasn’t given her a problem yet. In addition I also like Goemans. We bought all of our appliances there and got them to lower the price because we were buying several items. We have always been happy with the brands they have recommended. I wasn’t aware of the web sites you had mentioned. Great to have those handy. Thank you!
Thanks Iris! Glad to hear that they were really happy with Bosch and that there were no problems for 12 years! hopefully in 12 years I can say the same:) Goemans is a great store, definitely the best place in the area to shop for appliances!
[…] so this was a tough one… I think it is a close runner-up to picking out appliances. I knew I wanted quartz because I did love the look of marble but knew deep down it wasn’t […]