To get the "best of" each appliance, you'll need to mix manufacturers. Many here on GW have done that. Most stainless steel intermixes nicely. Besides finish, you may want to consider handles and the overall style of the appliance, but function should be primary. You may find you want to choose from the same manufacturer for appliances that you will stack or place next to each other, but those across the room can more easily be somewhat different. I've even seen SS & aluminum finishes successfully intermixed. Another way to mix manufacturers is to panel some of your appliances, which then matches or coordinates them with your cabinetry rather than a metal finish.

We chose stainless steel countertop for our wall runs, a stainless steel hood over our cooking & cleanup areas, & stainless steel sinks, so we panelled our refrigerator, freezer, icemaker, & dishwashers to reduce the amount of stainless and provide a more integrated look. Our stainless appliances include a 36" DCS range, Gaggenau induction & teppanyaki cooktops, Gaggenau wall oven & combi-steam oven, and GE Monogram Advantium speed oven. All this had to coordinate with the stainless countertop & hoods, which a local sheetmetal shop matched to our cleanup sink, which they integrated (welded) with the countertop.

Some appliances may be more important to you than others. For example, I liked the Miele Masterchef and the Gaggenau wall ovens. What I really wanted was the Gaggenau Combi-steam oven; since this was plumbed, it had particular installation requirements that limited our layout choices. When it appeared that our best layout was to stack the Combi over a wall oven, the Gagg wall oven then became our preferred choice. If we were to put a wall oven elsewhere, we could have gone with the Miele Masterchef.