Are you asking for other brands of built-in refrigerators?

Oh wow,

Thank you. I think we were going to sink the money into the fridge but did not plan wolf appliances in the rest of the kitchen. We were think Bosch.

We think our SZ is well worth the price. The dual compressors mean that only one side fails at a time, and the service has been outstanding and reasonably priced (once we were out of warranty).

It has been an outstanding purchase and going strong with only 2 service issues (both minor) in 12 years.

Branson,

Yes, I believe that's what I'm looking for. I have a neighbor that has a Frigidaire "built-in" but I don't think the reviews have been all that great.

I have had experience with SZ for almost 30 years. Our first unit, a 36” over/under, was still going strong at 25 years old, when we sold our home. When we lost power for 2 weeks during Hurricane Sandy, almost 8 years ago now, that fridge stayed cold for a week!

In addition to top notch insulation, SZ keeps food exceedingly fresh, AND they have the best customer service in the industry. It was a no brainer to stay with SZ for our new home. We chose the 42” FD fridge, and have been very happy. It fits a ton of stuff, has an intelligent layout, lots of bright lighting, and is a breeze to clean.

My husband, not one to be a frivolous spender, agrees that SZ is well worth the money.

Before backsplash was installed

Pic taken with just spot lights on in the kitchen.

If you’re going to pick an appliance splurge for a kitchen, the range and vent will most likely make more everyday difference to your lives. Unless you are a vegetarian and a member of a farm co-op, do a raw diet, or something like that where you keep a massive amount of produce. Then you’d need two of them, because the capacities are less. A built in fridge is a nice to have upgrade, but totally unnecessary if the rest of the kitchen won’t be done to that level. You can certainly have as nice a kitchen set with 20K as you can 40K.

The only thing you need to reflect on is the choices that the rest of the neighborhood is making. If they choose GE and you’re at Bosch, it’s a waste of upgrade money unless you use the heck out of them. If they are all SZ with 20K French ranges, then you’ll have an issue with the later buyer’s negative perception that your home likely has chosen budget items beyond just the kitchen appliances.

What is in your neighbor’s kitchens? Stay around that range, to maybe a single splurge,.

Bosch is a pretty popular set-up in my area. I've been pricing those and they seem to be very nice. Does anyone have any experience with their products?

LiveWireOak is a longtime contributor, who gives sage advice. However, I must disagree with her on this.

When it comes to choosing appliances that you'll use constantly, everyday, buy the best you can afford, that will serve your family...without the need for frequent calls to a repairman. I would never look to see what my neighbors have in their kitchens.

In my former home, a small 1300 sq ft ranch, the kitchen was small (lots of counter space, but no dining area). I had a basic GE oven, over the range MW, KA dishwasher, all inexpensive. It‘s what we could afford at the time. However, my one splurge, was the SZ fridge. I insisted on it. It was a wise decision, because it’s a superb machine, that served my family well, without major issues. Contrary to what LWO said, when the time came, it did not deter the sale of our home.

In our new home, we had the means to add all high end appliances...Bosch 800 DW, Miele Combi Steam Oven, with Miele convection oven below, Thermador rangetop, Vent A Hood, and the SZ 42” fridge. All are a pleasure to use. I did not consider what my neighbors had in their kitchens, as that’s irrelevant to the needs of me and my family.

Unless you plan on moving in 2 or 3 years, I’d get the best appliances you can afford.

I am sorry but I disagree with Live_Wire_Oak. She is too rigid on this. Her view is not how most people live or make choices. You will do fine with Bosch. I would only note that for a range, an all-gas tends to be a simpler machine, and therefore has less to break. But many people love a dual fuel with an electric oven, or an all-electric with induction cooktop, despite that they have more electronics and more to break. Or, are you getting separate cooktop and wall ovens? Frankly, my last home had a bare-bones Maytag all-gas range. It cooked great, I loved it. It did not have the right look though, that’s for sure. But Bosch would.

P.S. Don’t forget to budget for a good hood. People tend to overlook the cost of a hood like it’s an afterthought. But indoor air quality is getting a lot of attention these days, and that will only increase. Make sure your duct from the hood to outside is sized correctly - either an 8” or 10” diameter.

Thank you. I think we were going to sink the money into the fridge but did not plan wolf appliances in the rest of the kitchen. We were think Bosch.

I have a Bosch 800 36" induction cooktop, a Bosch 500 convection oven (because I rarely use the oven) and a Bosch Benchmark Integrated Fridge which is several thousand less than the SZ and I'm quite happy with all of them. In fact this is my second Bosch cooktop and oven although my first induction cooktop. In my last home, I had the electric cooktop. I HIGHLY recommend Bosch

The refrigerator is basically the same as the Thermador Integrated fridge which is usually about $1000-$1500 more than the Benchmark.

Bosch, Thermador, Gaggenau, and Miele all have dual compressors in their integrated fridges.

There is no reason to sink $20,000+ into appliances. What I did was spend on the two appliances I use the most; the fridge and my dishwasher. I bought the Miele dishwasher.

And if you're not doing gas but are doing induction, you don't need to go with as powerful a range hood.

BTW: Our serviceman who services both Bosch, Thermador and Wolf/SZ was out to install the ice shutoff that the installers forgot to install when we bought our fridge. I mentioned to him that I probably should have spent the money on the SZ and he said nowadays he's seeing less problems with my Bosch and Thermador than with the SZ. I don't know if it's true or he was trying to make me feel better, but something to ask the service people if you can.

Contrary to what LWO said, when the time came, it did not deter the sale of our home.

No it didn't deter the sale of your home, but by the same token, I'm guessing you didn't get more money for your home because everyone else had $2000 fridges and you had a $10,000 fridge.

What I believe LWO was implying is that if everyone else is putting in SZ, LaCanche, Miele or Wolf appliances in the neighborhood, you need to be in the same price point if you want to ever sell your house.

I’ve been in the construction and design world for over 20 years. I have experience with what personalization of a home can do for its value. I was involved with a home where 5 million dollars was spent on some extremely personal and award winning artistic design choices. The custom cast bronze sculpture/stair was jaw dropping. They put in KraftMaid cabinets and standard GE appliances in a pretty small kitchen by today’s standards. When she suddenly died, and he had to put the house on the market, it was a fire sale. He ended up accepting less than 1 M for it after 2 years. In a neighborhood where high 1 and low 2s was a fairly standard selling price. It had to be completely remodeled. A new home had to be remodeled because it was way over in many areas, and way under in others. The new kitchen involved an addition.

I’m a proponent of do what you want for sure, but only if you are fully informed of the potential consequences. That’s what I’m trying to do here. Inform. A lower cost home with expensive professional grade appliances in it is a difficult thing to justify monetarily, because they swallow such a large percent of the budget. They depreciate rapidly, so the only value is in their frequency of use and the pleasure that they give. That’s hard to justify when the ratio of expense is so high. The use that they will get has to pull a lot of weight for the % of the dent in a build budget.

The opposite is also true. On a larger budget build, choosing mid range appliances saves very little % in the budget. But it does foster the overall perception that budget cuts were made, and a closer look should happen. If choosing by a mid level package in an upper level neighborhood is the choice you want to make, then the kitchen should be designed to accept a standard upper end package when it comes time to sell. It would be like a 1M new build having a 10x10 1960’s sized kitchen in it. You’re going to look a lot closer at everything else.

There are certain product selections expectations at all levels of builds. You don’t see exotic hardwoods in a 150K starter home, and you don’t see sheet vinyl in a 1.5M peak market home. To remove any choices from the context of the home and neighborhood removes the concept of an appropriate selections budget all together. A outlier home that doesn’t fit into its neighborhood, either because of inappropriately high, or inappropriately low selections, usually has more a more lengthy and involved selling process.

Design for you. But understand how others may see your choices, and that there may be a price to be paid.

CP, think you wanted me to dm you, but I don’t know how.

I got a Bosch all-gas range (maybe Benchmark) with warming oven. Happy with it. Not as fast as the Bluestar at our lake house, but we didn’t have enough spare BTUs for a professional range, and I wanted self-cleaning. Being a Luddite, I could never have induction.

Also have a Bosch dishwasher (not the most expensive). This is the sixth one we have bought for different properties. Absolutely love them.

Got a Bosch package discount, so also have their 600 cfm vent hood. No issues.

Went with a Liebherr fridge, which has two condensers and a non-plumbed ice maker. Third one of those we have bought and love them. Great fridge for the price.

We have a Sub Zero refrigerator and beverage refrigerator. Zero regrets! My husband who is thrifty agrees it was one of the best purchases we made when we remodeled our kitchen 5 years ago. Zero issues. Our power once was out for almost 4 days and the ice in the freezer did not even melt. It is built like a tank!

I love my SZ! It had a problem - some drain getting clogged and leaking. Had it repaired under warranty. When the problem arose again and the appliance repair person wanted to charge to come out (still under warranty I believe). I called SZ customer service and they took care of it for free. The problem actually continued a few more times until SZ figured out what was going on and issued a permanent fix. So while I wasn't happy with the problem, I was extremely happy with the SZ customer service and absolutely LOVE the fridge. Haven't had any problems once SZ figured out the problem.

I too had to give my husband a hard sell on spending the money for the SZ and now he loves it too!

“They put in KraftMaid cabinets and standard GE appliances in a pretty small kitchen by today’s standards. When she suddenly died, and he had to put the house on the market, it was a fire sale. He ended up accepting less than 1 M for it after 2 years. In a neighborhood where high 1 and low 2s was a fairly standard selling price. It had to be completely remodeled.”

Sorry Live_Wire_Oak, the subject of this thread is just a SZ fridge or similar along with Bosch for the other appliances. The story you told does not relate to this OP’s choices and her question. I am certain the size of the small kitchen you cited was a much greater influencer than its appliances. Appliances are easily changed out. That the home was up to one million dollars less, or *half* the selling prices of other homes in the neighborhood, is a signal that there was so much more going on than the appliances choices. You even said it had to be completely remodeled.

The OP wanting to splurge on the fridge, but pay a medium price on a good range or cooktop/wall oven arrangement is not analogous to your example of the house with the small kitchen and standard GE appliances that needed an entire remodel and consequently sold for half what neighboring homes did.

What Shannon said...totally agree.

FYI, LWO, when we purchased our first SZ, 1990, it was not $10,000. That’s a today price. However, whatever it cost, it was a beast, still going strong, after 25 years! I’d say we got our money’s worth.

Btw, at that time, SZ was the only fridge with 2 compressors. Since then, other high end brands have followed suit.

SZ still has the best customer service, hands down.

When a home has "extremely personal" design choices, that is almost always a problem for a realtor. It's why they tell you that for showings you have to remove from the home even things like personal photos, and your art work that might be from a friend or the like. Sorry to go OT, but it's just how real estate sales works. Unless you live in Boston, where nothing matters other than it's available for sale.

I've had two subzero refrigerators and they have both been absolutely fabulous in terms of quality. That said, I could never afford to buy one new (yay for rich people remodeling their kitchens and putting perfectly lovely high end appliances on craigslist). Considering my house is in the $400k range, I don't think I could justify a subzero, at MSRP, as "worth it," even though I love them. I haven't had any Bosch, but their appliances do seem to get good reviews.

I'm with LWO on this If one plans on living in the house for decades, do as one chooses. But putting a high priced kitchen in a low/mid priced track house will not increase it's value if you're selling in 3-5 years.

My own neighborhood is a bit of an oddity. It's a high priced neighborhood in a LCOLA area. Very few people put in SZ refrigerators due to cost. They will put in a counter-depth or another lower cost brand of built-in refrigerator, but won't bite for the cost of the SZ. Also, no $10,000 stoves. I think they eat out a lot (with young children, they order in) and just aren't looking for a trophy kitchen!

I love my SZ. I bought it as the store display on a discontinued model (last of the compressor on the top models). It is so well designed that I can fit a lot into it, and it’s a true counter depth fridge. It is quiet even when it is cooling, the ice is perfect, food stays fresh - even berries, and I don’t begrudge at all the maintenance and filter changes. It’s a great fridge.