I'm sorry I don't have any input on these, but have you been over to the Appliances forum?

Hopefully you'll get some helpful responses here, too. Good Luck!

I have had a side by side for 10 years now, never had one previously. If you have or would consider an addional upright freezer in the basement or utility room or something like that you will probably like it. I like the style much better than than freezer on top, because the additional freezer shelves make finding and organizing things easier. Items don't get lost in back like they did in the top freezer, and the freezer on top style was hard to organize or keep neat. The size you are talking about, though, is a small one and even my freezer is only about 8 1/2" wide. NO turkeys, NO 12" frozen pizzas, etc. That is the reason for a an additional freezer. I will probably try a french door or bottom freezer next because an aditional freezer is kind of overkill for me but the restrictions of freezer size are a little annoying, and I don't room for a large side by side, like 26 c. ft., which might be a little better. JMHO.

Sue

I am not wild about my FD fridge. I miss my freezer being on top and me being able to see everything. I am dreading lifting a 20 lb frozen turkey from the thing. I just don't think the freezer is practical at all.

Now, on to the other appliances. I have a Bosch hood, range and dishwasher. I have a dual fuel range (gas on the burners and electric convection oven below)and I have been only cooking on it a short while. So far, so good. It works like a charm and I am using the warming drawer in it ALL the time. I thought I would never use the thing. They are very handy!

It has a proofing mode, dehydrating mode, convection oven, warming oven, just about any oven you could possibly use. I am falling in love with it more and more each day. The oven space was the biggest I could get for a 30 inch stove. I don't think you can go wrong with the Bosch appliances you are looking at.

I had TWO KitchenAid FD Refrigerators (model # KBFS25EV) within a span of about 2 weeks and both went back to the store. First one's computer board stopped working after several days and the second one's interior water function did not work. It was a brand new model when we bought it in April and there was very little information available. We now have a Kenmore Elite FD that I love and have no problems with. It's just my opinion but I would stay far away from KA refrigerators.

Check out Liebherr for frig & American Range for stove. They have a loyal following on Appliance forum where I first learned about them.

Any other thoughts are appreciated. We have to decide by tomorrow

We love our Kitchen Aid refrigerator! We got a counter-depth 24.5' side-by-side. We got the side-by-side because of the way we use our freezer, and we've been very pleased with it. I do a lot of cooking of large quantities and freezing in single serving containers. My friend who has a French door model has trouble doing this kind of freezing because it's difficult to stack the containers. This fridge has performed flawlessly since day 1.

I am not sure what the price is for the Bosch Induction cooktops but two companies under the same parent company are Thermador and Gaggenau. You can find deals online that are $500 - $1,000 cheaper than a local store. My new Gaggenau 36" induction cooktop was $2,650 off a vendor from E-Bay and came with the standard 2 or 3 year manufacturers warranty. When I went looking for cooktops I researched the differences and it had all of the features I wanted and was just a bit over budget. We have not installed it yet but are tossing around the idea of flush mounting it so that you can run your hand across the space between countertop and cooktop and it will be smooth.

I think side by side fridges are too narrow -- I am getting the 30" Liebherr but if had too buy a 36" I would get a French door, or one with only one big door. I don't like a freezer on top because I'm short and can't see/reach enough. The Liebherr freezer (on bottom) is all drawers on the interior--nothing gets lost in the back/top.

I am getting the 36" Bosch induction -- the most features and power for the money. Isn't the Electrolux the one that is basically the same as the Kenmore? I don't recall -- my appliance decisions were made awhile ago but I did rule the Electrolux out pretty early on.

I nixxed the Electrolux induction because there is a steel rail between the cooktop and the controls, then another steel rail between the controls and the counter. Besides thinking it might be a place that would trap stuff and be hard to clean, I was told that I had to be careful not to put any pans on the front burner that might overhang those controls, because I might fry them and would be voiding the warranty.

Besides the issues Petlady1 discussed, I noticed on the Electrolux induction that the 2 larger burners are right next to each other, which seems like it might be difficult if you are actually using 2 large pots at once...they might touch, their handles might interfere with each other, difficult to tend to one without hitting your arm on the other hot one, etc. I also wonder, with a hot pot on either of those big hobs, how you'd adequately reach that smallest one in the back.

We just installed our Electrolux counter depth side by side refrigerator last weekend and we love it. I have never been a huge fan of side by side refrigerators either so I went looking for a french door refrigerator. I realized that you typically lose the inside of 1 door to the water and ice dispenser. I also realized that my 3 year old can open a side by side refrigerator and reach her snacks on the bottom--which she can't with a french door model. I also like the look of the Electrolux. We got the dual fuel slide in range--which is not fully installed yet so I can't comment on your other choices, but I am very happy with the refrigerator. We also added a second refrigerator/freezer in our garage to provide extra freezer space and storage for items that we don't need regularly.

Brown: don't forget to tell us what you decided!

We are close to making the final decision:

We already picked the Electrolux double over and induction cooktop. They had nice ratings in consumers although I am sure the Bosch was fine also.

We are going with the bosch dishwasher. The reason I didn't pick the related Electrolux is that someone wrote in the forum that the Electrolux doesn't fit flush when applying a cabinet panel

The only thing we have not finalized is the regrigerator. We are both going to the store today to look again at the sxs Electrolux and the KA french door fridge. We are keeping the old fridge in the garage so we should have enough space either way.

Bosch DW...have you tried loading your dishes in it? If not, take some of your dishes to the store & try loading them. Many people have said it's difficult to fit/load dishes due to it's configuration. YMMV

When I was looking at DWs and I mentioned I wasn't interested in the Bosch, a salesman asked me "why" because, he said, people seem to be avoiding them lately. When I explained what I had learned here (Appliances Forum) he said he had heard that as well.

I've been going through the same agony for months. We are doing a complete remodel with custom cabinets, granite, etc.

I have just finalized a contract for the cabinets and we needed appliance dimensions before proceeding. We decided after much research to go with the new Electrolux line with one exception.

The exception was the cook top. We have an all-electric house so I leaned to the Electrolux hybrid but as petlady1 mentioned the trim looks like a real dirt catcher. I preferred the hybrid approach that would give us two radiant burners but my wife wanted something with different trim. So we went with a Kenmore Elite, which is fully induction. (With the exception of the fridge, all of this stuff is still in boxes in the garage; so don't ask how it works---yet)

We did audition a Thermador induction in one store and noted the high-frequency acoustic noise---I hope we learn to live with it. One other caveat that I discovered after the fact is that the ceramic surface can be damaged by, of all things, sugar or sugary substances.

Another reason for the Kenmore cook top is that they have a matching telescoping downdraft vent system, something not available in the new Electrolux line. (They have it as an Icon) The Kenmore is identical BTW (except for logo) to Thermador and others that cost twice as much.

We went with a single 30" wall oven and microwave. The oven is very deep (23 1/2") and because of this and the fact that the wall behind it is concrete block and there were some electrical wiring issues, I'm having the oven cabinet built 1 1/2" deeper than normal. This works (I hope) out well since the countertop dies into the side of this cabinet anyway and this simplifies the overhang fitment.

The one item that is in operation is the Electrolux side-by-side fridge. We are very noise-adverse since our layout is very open with high ceilings, brick floors and very hard walls. We initially got the counter-depth model. The noise out of this thing drove us nuts. According to the manual the compressors run at much higher speeds in these so the noise is higher pitched. I went so far as to experiment with partially lining the alcove with acoustic ceiling tiles to quiet it down. No luck.

In further reviewing the literature I noted that Electrolux has words about how quiet their fridge is, but only about the full-depth model. No such talk about the counter-depth. So we sent it back and got a standard depth model. Since a wall on one side is slightly deeper than 24" and the aforementioned oven cabinet is on the other side and will be somewhat deeper, we accepted this compromise.

Unfortunately, while the compressor noise is lower, the new one has a very annoying popping/creaking noise that occurs for a minute or two after the compressor comes on. I think there is something undergoing thermal expansion or contraction and creating this. This one may be going back too if it continues.

So far, very disappointing.

We bought all of this stuff from a newly opened Sears appliance store and have been very happy with them so far. These are operated by private owners and they were very happy to have our business.

Unfortunately, they rely on Sears shipping and this has been a joke. As I've been writing this we got a call that said that today's delivery of a (missing) microwave trim kit that has been promised in four automated calls since Saturday isn't happening because they never received the goods. Maybe it will get here before the cabinets are installed.

I hope I have violated any guidelines by rambling on so long.

wes s - What did you mean by "...Thermador induction in one store and noted the high-frequency acoustic noise..." I don't have an induction cooktop, but I am considering one in the future; I wasn't aware that they made noise. Please explain; thanks in advance.

I considered both the Kitchenaid SXS couner depth and the French door. In the end, I went with the SXS. I find that the bottom freezer portion mechanism is flimsy. We are replacing a single door, bottom freezer model, but the idea is the same.

The bottom freezer slides out on tracks. When it's filled with your frozen meat and vegetables, the weight on the tracks, over time, just seems inadequate, and over time it doesn't glide as smoothly...

Additionally, I find it more difficult to find stuff...