One thought is whom is going to install these new appliances? If you, go for it. If you have a contractor, he should get them and install them.

I've never found holiday-based sales to be any better than other sales throughout the year. Packages of all one brand are often cheaper. But if there are particular appliances you are interested in from a variety of brands I'd just put together the list and go to a place which sells them all and ask for their best price for the group. In my experience there is very little, if any, value to waiting for the 'big sale'.

I would not install the cabinet around the refrigerator until I had the refrigerator in place.

Note that different dishwashers, built-in microwaves, etc. could have different requirements for the location of the water and electrical.

" ... dishwasher and range ... It seems to me that each of these would have very standard hookups: water in and out, plus electric for the dishwasher and gas for the range."

When I did my kitchen, I planned to use a particular range and the plumber installed the gas line and electric plug according to the specs for that range. We ended up buying a different range which necessitated moving the gas line and electric plug or the range wouldn't fit flush against the wall. When that range had problems and had to be returned, we selected yet another range, necessitating yet another move for the gas line (and the range's electric plug, too) because there were different rough-in requirements.

Each appliance will have different rough-in specs. Also, I discovered there was no "standard" measurement for widths, as each required a slightly different sized opening for a "30 inch" range.

In theory, you should be able to wait to buy appliances. After all, people buy new appliances all the time and put them into existing kitchens.

But, as others have pointed out, there can be problems with specific appliances fitting existing spaces. If you are planning to get appliances soon anyway, I'd bite the bullet and get them now, jut to be sure everything will fit/install the way it's supposed to.

Ok, all your comments have been very helpful -thank you!

My secondary question, whihc someone has mentioned is about the floors: we're getting click float vinyl. One contractor says that it doesn't go under cabinets but does go under appliances, another contractor says it's fine under cabinets. This Old House (https://www.thisoldhouse.com/ask-toh/flooring-first-or-cabinets) and a bunch of other places say, why would you waste floors under the cabinets? We're not going to re-configure the kitchen any time in the near future - it's a small kitchen, there's not a lot of re-configuring options anyway - so floating floors under cabinets or not? Under appliances?

newowner2016:

You don't need to buy your new appliances, but you do need to pick them out in order to know the manufacturer's installation instructions. The countertop for a freestanding range, slide-in, and cooktop are all different. They don't have to be there, but their specifications should be.

If you don't install the floor under the cabinets, the cabinets must be shimmed to accommodate the thickness of tile or you'll risk tiling in your dishwasher. You can install cabinets over a floating floor, just don't screw them to the floor.

Are the laminate floors you are getting the new ones that are supposed to be OK in wet areas? I would never put the regular click laminate like I had in a kitchen. I had them in the formal living room and dining room, I had a water glass spill that I didn't see happen, about an hour later when I found out about it the laminate was already curling along the edges and delamanating. I was so upset. Then when the flood happened, well they are called floating floors for a reason they totally floated up and that stuff they're made of turned to a soggy mess. These were not cheap floors they were a high quality from lumber liquidators. That's why it's generally recommended not to use them in rooms where there could be water damage like kitchens and bathrooms. I personally after going through that would not even trust the so called safe ones. I have picked wood look porcelain tile. My only floors that survived the flood were the porcelain tile.

Joseph Corlett hit the nail on the head. Choose your appliances in advance, but don't buy yet, and look at the specs carefully.

Do not buy until near to installation. One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that the clock starts ticking on the warranty upon delivery, not upon installation. If you buy your appliances too far in advance of installation, you will be foregoing one, two, or more months of your warranty. Since the warranty is built into the price of your appliance, it is like throwing away money to forego it. Furthermore, if you need a repair more than 12 months after delivery, but it's only been, say, 6 months in use, good luck on that expense - it will likely be high.

P.S. Echoing what Anglophilia wrote, take extra care with the dimensions of the fridge. We have had a number of threads on this forum with people not realizing that their fridge is deeper than expected, and that it's sticking out from the cabinetry much more than they'd planned. Or, conversely, the cabinetry was made an inch or so too deep so that the fridge doors can't swing open fully.

@ravencajun - OP is installing vinyl floors, not the wood laminate, so they won't have the warping/delaminating issue if wet.

I just had to chime in while researching replacement microwaves. First, we chose luxury vinyl plank flooring * thank goodness!* all over. The newer fridge just leaked tremendous amounts of water and the floor is ok! Second, I have found that appliances do indeed have deep discounts during holidays, whether singly from local hardware stores or packages from specialty high end appliance retail stores. If you narrow down brands and choices in advance, makes buying faster - which I am doing now for my replacement microwave. We bought a package during July 4 and the retailer held it until the build was finished in Nov. so the builder could build all for the specs required. I definiately understand why your contractor desires specs now! Lastly, both my neighbor and I have had complete failures with our "built in" microwaves and trim. Now we are facing how to replace or deal with the cabinetry etc. Today confirmed that my $3k on sale for $2k fridge was repairable but the $700 micro/trim is not - no parts. HTH Good luck!

If you choose not to extend the floor under the cabinets, make sure you buy extra flooring. If I didn't have extra flooring when we renovated our kitchen and made (small) changes to our layout I would have been in big trouble.... ie I would have been replacing a LOT of flooring at considerable expense. As it was, I had the extra tile on hand which allowed me to fill in the gaps where we changed the layout.