We’re remodeling our kitchen, and part of the renovation will involve replacing all of our existing appliances. I love to cook and am looking forward to having high-performance appliances that will last for a while, seeing as we’ll be in this house for 15-20 more years. The kitchen design as it sits now will have a 36" gas cooktop or rangetop with a vented hood, double wall ovens, and a French-door fridge with bottom-mount freezer. Standard dishwasher too.
I’m doing research on what brands I will eventually want, but I wanted to get recommendations from people who might have actually used these brands. Right now I’m looking at Wolf, DCS, Viking, and Bluestar for the rangetop, Bosch for the ovens and the dishwasher, and I’m at a loss for what I should do for the hood and fridge.
Any suggestions? I’m just as concerned with what NOT to buy as I am with what to buy, so if you have something that sucks, let me know.
Stay away from Viking. There are a lot of problems with those damn things (electrical shorts, etc) and I don’t understand why they are so popular among the people who can afford them. I guess so they can say “I have a Viking stove”. Do lots of research online for consumer forums and reviews. I would take any professional testing reviews with a grain of salt, as they don’t test over a long period of time.
I just bought an Electrolux fridge (French door, bottom freezer, like you’re looking for) and love it. Granted, we’ve had it only a few months, but it’s performing like a champ. The lighting inside is great and it’s very roomy - we’ve got space to spare. I was going to go with a Samsung, but went to an appliance store and preferred the mechanism on the drawers - they’re fitted with rollers so they smoothly roll open and closed. No plastic scraping and sticking. Best is the custom temp drawer at the bottom of the fridge compartment. You can customize the temperature there for whatever: thawing meats, ice-cold beverages, keeping whatever slightly warmer than the rest of the fridge, whatever. We use it for ice-cold beverages, but it’s really flexible and huge - you could put a platter in there, no problem. (It is only about 6ish inches tall though, so there is that.)
Really recommended.
Other things I found out while researching and shopping for fridges: unless you have to have it, avoid the in-door water and ice dispensers. They just take up space and are the components that require the most maintenance and service (by a wide margin - nearly all repairs or service calls are because of the in-door dispenser). My fridge does have an automatic ice maker, but it dumps the ice into a bucket in the freezer. Besides, no stuff on the door makes for a cleaner finish. Also, traditional depth fridges (as opposed to cabinet depth) are cheaper. We saved $500+ by going with the traditional depth over the counter depth. Yes, it sticks out from the counter, but so did our previous fridge, so we were used to it. And while we might remodel sometime in the future, it’s not in our plans right now, and I don’t mind the look at all. This might not be the case for others.
Take a look at Samsung for the fridge. I’ve had my French door bottom freezer Samsung for nearly 4 years now with no problems. It is so quiet, barely audible when the compressor runs and fingerprints are almost a non-occurrence with their stainless door material. Only gripe is with the full width deli tray on mine as it necessitates opening both doors almost fully to access, so it rarely gets used. However I note that Samsung now offers a split deli tray version that would be accessible with just one door open. As for the french doors, I’d never go back. Absolutely the perfect solution for party and holiday leftovers.
Do your research on dishwashers if you are considering Bosch. I bought one of their lower end stainless models and have not had a good experience. Door seal issues, door latch failed in 2 years, rack coating did not hold up as well as I would have expected, and the pump motor failed just shy of 5 years. Just installed a Maytag all stainless model as a replacement. 2 months in and not thrilled about how easily fingerprints show up on the door. Also a tad louder than the Bosch, but still whisper quiet compared to the ancient Frigidare.
Sorry to hijack, but Snickers, have you had any trouble with too much moisture in your Electrolux? I bought one in May, no water through door & icemaker in the freezer. I’ve noticed when I open either of the 'fridge doors there will be water droplets on the floor, and water dripping onto the bottom freezer drawer has frozen to the gasket. It’s not enough to be TOO concerned yet, but I wonder if there’s an easy fix?
We now return to your regularly scheduled appliance thread.
Drain Bead, other than the dripping mentioned above, I love my Electrolux.
Might be worth it, if you will be spending that much, to become a paying member of Consumers Magazine, or whatever it is called in your country. Then check out their recommendations. From what I know, brands alone arent enough to rely on. One model will differ from another in price/ possibilities/durability/bling factor. What I usually do is check out the best two to three year old model and then check out if I can get it somewhere on clearance sale.
I have a Viking cooktop, and it works fine. I like it because it’s the only cooktop (as opposed to range) that has beefy grills instead of those wimpy ones the other brands have.
KitchenAid is good for fridge.
Bosch or Miele for dishwasher. Miele seems especially popular these days.
Don’t know much about the cooktops, but the full monty ranges have problems, not the least of which are ovens that are too small for that size range.
Not sure I’d buy anything other than a mixer from KitchenAid. Their consumer reviews are spotty. Kenmore usually takes the top spots in reefer reviews.
Second the gardenweb appliance forum. Really good info there.
I switched from a gas cooktop to induction 3 years ago and I will never own anything else. Induction is supremely powerful, can cook consistently low (I make hollandaise, and can sous vide on mine) and it cleans up in a snap.
Huh. Nope, I haven’t seen that - I haven’t noticed any extraneous moisture at all. I know there’s an air purifier filter in mine; maybe that’s the cause of your problems? (I’m thinking that if it’s clogged, maybe the air isn’t circulating properly, leading to condensation.) Or maybe check the crisper settings, since that you can adjust the moisture level for those. Perhaps if they’re set too high, you’ll get condensation.
I do have ice cubes that drop out of the bucket onto the floor of the freezer when the bucket’s full and the door is pulled forward quickly. I just fish 'em out when it happens. Once an errant cube did get in the way of the door closing properly, so I have to be on the lookout for that.
For all the crap that Sears takes (and I don’t otherwise shop at Sears), I love their Kenmore Elite lines. They’re top-end equipment made by high quality manufacturers, and most importantly, they publish all of their catalogues and drawings and parts lists on their website, and their service (when needed) is quick, prompt, and professional.
My apartment complex considers 2-3 years to be the lifetime of a major appliance in a rental unit. I’ve been here eight years, and I’m on my third fridge. Sometimes I wonder if it might not be cheaper to rent a fridge from Aarons, and when it quits, tell them to bring over a new one.
Every purchase, nowadays, has a weakest link. Even a $2,000 fridge is going to have some cheap component that will crap out. My family spent a week at a luxury condo at Padre Island last year, and the stove would barely get hot enough to boil water.
Yeah, Kenmore gets consistently good consumer reviews on many of their models. I bought a stove from Sears about 10 years ago for a remodel, and the saleswoman hauled out the latest Consumer Report magazine to show me how the models compared. We inherited a Kenmore Elite model in our present house. It’s been here since the place was remodeled in about 2005 and is still going strong. I have the Sears warranty service, which has paid for itself at least three times over at this point, and had them come out to adjust the oven temp which was off by 25F. They have never sent someone who is not fully trained and experienced on the appliance being repaired, and they will repair any appliance in the house, regardless of manufacturer or place of purchase.
I bought a suite of Fridgedaire appliances 11 years ago. No problems, except our dirt bag renters let mice distory the stoves insulation. Ended up with a GE stove. They were mid range.
[Moderating]
OK, that’s three spam bumps to this thread, now (not eenerms; a guy just before him who got deleted). Since this thread is clearly bait, I’m closing it.
