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andreaintx

Kitchen appliance help please!

15 years ago

DH and I are now in the planning stages of our new house, yipee! We have the plans but before I take everything to the builder, I want to have my kitchen appliances picked out. I'm doing this because a friend of mine is building and she just told the builder that she wanted a double oven but the architect didn't put it in and now she is stuck with a small single wall oven in her custom home. I am a baker and I cook a lot but I'm not a chef so I just need something that will fit my cooking/baking needs. I was looking at a range but the house plans we picked out have a very large island in the kitchen and the dimensions won't accomodate a range so I'm left with a drop in cooktop and double wall ovens. What kitchen appliances do you have and what do you like about them? What are the cons? Do you prefer gas or induction? Is a griddle necessary? What about a steam oven? Is it best to stick with one brand for everything or is it okay to mix and match? I'll be going to Morrison Supply Company in Dallas on Thursday to look at what they have. Thanks for your help!

Comments (8)

  • 15 years ago

    you need to go to morrison supply first and have them help you narrow it down, there are just way too many brands and versions and price points to just flat out tell you what to get,everybodys needs are different. Then it would probably be best to post on the appliance forum where you can specifically ask about a DCS rangetop vs. kitchenaid induction cooktop, for example. ANd no, you dont have to stick with one brand for everything but be aware that if you go stainless, some stainless in the less expensive brands may not match up with stainless in the high end brands.

    And last, if you are building a custom home, then it is just that, custom. i have no idea why your friend would have ended up with an applinace she didnt want in a custom home. Custom means YOU get to pick everything out from the wall oven to the hinges on the front door to the kind of brick used on the house.

  • 15 years ago

    Pence sadly before she realized what had happened the house was already framed with the drywall. They had to do some work just to get the single oven in her kitchen. I don't know if they didn't look at the plans carefully enough or what but that ended up happening.

    Thanks. I'll respond back after I have visited Morrison on Thursday.

    I've always heard from Realtors that you must stick with one brand which is why I have Whirlpool in my current kitchen when I really wanted Kitchen Aid. I'm really interested in the Miele Double Ovens because I'm pretty sure that one of the ovens is steam and convection. I'll find out on Thursday!

  • 15 years ago

    e sure to read about Kitchenaid ovens (self-cleaning) and induction cooktops on the Appliance Forum. I agree with pence. The Appliance forum has lots of helpful threads about the different brands.

    If you choose induction, see if you can get a demonstration of the brand you like before buying it. This may not be possible, but give it a shot.

  • 15 years ago

    Be sure to read about Kitchenaid ovens (self-cleaning) and induction cooktops on the Appliance Forum. I agree with pence. The Appliance forum has lots of helpful threads about the different brands.

    If you choose induction, see if you can get a demonstration of the brand you like before buying it. This may not be possible, but give it a shot.

  • 15 years ago

    I'm sorry - I don't know what's going on. I kept getting a message about an internal server error and yet, here are two posts.

  • 15 years ago

    Regarding mixing and matching appliances: I agree 100% with Pence, you may mix brands. I doubt you are building a home in order to flip it, so what the realtor thinks about the effect on resale, whether correct or incorrect, is simply not germane. Go for it and enjoy building your home!

  • 15 years ago

    Realtors like to generalize about resale. It helps make them feel powerful, because they feel they know things... about your future. You can safely discard their statements about the future.

  • 15 years ago

    Are you going to sell the home in the near future? If not, then why worry about what a realtor says? Get what will work best for you. I discussed mixing brands in your other thread, and why I strongly recommend it over choosing just one brand.

    Unless Miele has a new oven I haven't heard about, their double oven is a convection oven. The steam oven is separate. You can stack a single with the steam to appear something like a double, but they are 2 separate appliances.

    Induction vs gas. There are probably a few previous discussions you can search for that cover it. Both are great. I was planning on induction, but went with gas so I could have more larger burners. So check the burner configurations available in induction and see if you can find what will work for you and the pan sizes you want to fit. I love cooking on gas...my first experience with it...but I miss the cleanliness/easy-clean I was looking forward to with induction. Sure don't have that with gas!

    You asked for what appliances we have and what we like about them:

    Wolf 48" rangetop (we have 8 kids and often people cook side-by-side). It performs perfectly. All burners have the same power (16K BTU) and they engineer their stoves for propane or for natural gas...So we didn't have to have it 'converted' for propane with a resulting loss of BTUs. (some manufacturers engineer specifically for the fuel and some don't)

    Electrolux range hood. It does the job and has good lighting.

    Bosch 500 Series Integra dishwashers...Hidden controls and panel fronts. Quiet. Perform well. Have 'auto wash' for using just the right amount of water and energy to suit each load, which I love.

    Electrolux all-fridges (2), and all-freezer. Love that each is dedicated to what it's supposed to do and offers more room that way. Love the counter-depth compared to deeper models in which more things get lost in back. No problems with temps in any of the 3, or with the ice maker in 3 1/2 years.

    I started with a Fisher and Paykel oven that had problems with the porcelain. In retrospect, I wish I'd patched the porcelain and been done with it, because it performed beautifully. F&P gave me a new oven, which also performed beautifully, but had the same porcelain issues, plus the knobs slipped. They couldn't provide me adequate service in my area, so bought back the oven. Next I got the hated Monogram, which I've outlined the performance problem with in several threads on the appliance forum and mentioned in the response in your other post. Now I have Wolf. It's the best performer, but for the money difference, because I got both for good deals, I could've been just as happy with my original F&P. Still, not much bad to say about the Wolf, and Wolf's customer service is wonderful. Their appliance testing is tops.