Choosing Appliances
Just before we started our kitchen renovation, I posed a question to my readers about kitchen ranges and got some very helpful responses. The answers I received varied, but if I remember correctly, most of them leaned towards gas.
To summarize the scenario we were going through, I had grown up with electric ranges (coil or glass) and had no issues cooking with them. When we bought our house, we had gas - much to my husband's delight. However, because of the age of the stove, it was unwieldy and inefficient. This left us a little disappointed and had us rethinking whether we should keep using gas, or switch it out for electric or induction. The previous post spells out all of the pros and cons we discussed for each model.
After we finished the renovation process, we decided we would continue using our current appliances until holiday sales went into effect (specifically, fourth of July sales)... but we actually found some great deals a couple weeks early and jumped. During the two months prior, though, we had shopped around in order to identify exactly which appliances we were going to watch for price-drops.
Now, I want to share with you why we chose the appliances we did. Some of these reasons might offer some points to think about when shopping for your own!
These are the appliances we chose and why:
Gas Range:
When push came to shove, we realized that switching from gas to electric would not be cost effective. I won't get into it, but it just would have been several hundred dollars more, for only a little added convenience. We figured a new gas model would ease our frustrations, and we were right!
We chose this one, partly because of the grates. I really wanted an option that would make it easy to place platters or cookie sheets on top, without them getting wobbly or falling between grates. These are almost flush with the countertops and I think it looks really sleek. It's also so much easier to clean than four-grated versions because it's just the two large pieces that actually groove together and are super easy to set aside while you wipe down underneath. Boiling water doesn't take as long and it lights really quickly too. Our old one used to basically burst out in flames when you flipped on the lighter - so scary.
The oven heats up soooo much faster than our old one, as well! I love to bake, and it cooks so evenly. It's a no-fuss range and it has been a joy to use.
Microhood:
A fun fact about IKEA appliances: they're all Whirlpool brand. We ended up with Whirlpool appliances all around, and it was actually by chance. I'll admit, it is a brand that I trust, but more than that, I really appreciate the look, price, and usability of their models.
This is the only appliance we didn't think too much about. We saw it, we liked it, we ordered it. That's about it! It works great and heats evenly, but one of the things we like most (strangely) is the overhead light for the stove. It's very soft, but bright and adds a good ambience to the kitchen when we're not actually in there. It might sound like an odd thing to notice, but all our previous microhoods or regular hoods had a great big bulb that always shone directly in my eyes. Since I'm so short, I was never able to escape it, so having this new one is amazing!
Bottom Freezer Fridge:
I had this fridge picked out years prior, and I have several reasons for the choice:
1. My parents own this fridge, so I'm really used to it.
2. I personally dislike french doors on fridges because so many times I have my hands full, and having to finagle two doors open while trying to fit a 9x13 pan in the fridge is very annoying to me. Plus, I always find myself opening both doors anyway, because I want to be able to see everything at once. This may sound a little Type-A, but when I can't see everything every time I open a fridge, I often forget I have something and my food goes bad and gets tossed.
3. We have a water filter on the sink. Door water filters are fine if you need them, but we don't because we have this fancy filter thing that my parents have ordered for all their kids. I also hate that door filters take up internal space on fridges.
4. Bells and whistles look like dollar signs to me. I'm sure many little features can add convenience to people's lives, but what happens when the circuit board on your water thing or touch-screens fail? You have to pay hundreds to get them replaced. No thanks.
5. We don't keep important things in the freezer. I don't mind having the freezer low, because we don't really have much in our freezer at any given time. I'd prefer my entire fridge to be at standing height :)
These are all totally personal opinions, but maybe they'll give you something to think about.
Dishwasher (pre-existing)
We love this dishwasher. We have no idea how old it is, but it runs like a dream. It's super quiet and can run a cycle in less than 30 minutes. We've heard wonderful things about Bosch and when the time comes to replace this puppy, we'll be going with Bosch again.
I'll be honest, in the beginning of our kitchen designing process, we were set on getting really fancy appliances (and countertops - more on that later) but after hours and weeks of research, the reviews spoke for themselves...
The basic tried-and-true models just win.
This isn't to say that we will only ever get these exact appliances in our lifetime, but I am pretty dead set on always getting a solid, basic model without the bells and whistles. More than added convenience, I just want appliances I can count on to always work exactly how they're supposed to.
Oh, and as an added bonus, all our new appliances happen to have the same handle style!
