Choosing appliances

For myself, choosing appliances was one of the more fun things to do. I guess the thought of some shiny new toys to play with was enough to catch my attention. More likely than not, your builder will have a supply company that they typically work with. For us, it was a company called Keidel. If your builder does have a relationship with a company like this I encourage you to check it out. It saved us thousands and we got really nice appliances. Here is some advice about shopping for appliances:

• As with everything else, don't just look at one place. Compare, compare, and compare.
• If you use a large supply company like Keidel, they most likely won't have the actual appliance there for you to look at. Get the information and model number and go to local appliance stores and try to find them or a similar model. They look much different in person!
• If needed, buy different appliances from different businesses. We did find a better deal on a couple appliances and bought them from Best Buy.
• Our personal experience: Sears screwed us big (see the blog) and I will never shop there again. I presented the problem to Best Buy and they were understanding and were determined to make things right even if it wasn't their company that caused the problem. They gave us the same unit brand new (Sears was giving us a floor model) for less than what Sears wanted to sell it for. They earned my respect and endorsement for major appliances.
• You need to be looking at appliances at the same time or slightly before finalizing any kitchen plans with your kitchen designer. If you choose a slide in range or double oven, your designer needs to know. 
• Obviously you probably want all of your appliances to be the same color (white, black, or stainless steel are the most common). When it comes to stainless steel we noticed that if you end up getting different brands of appliances that you need to make sure the stainless steel looks the same. GE and Whirlpool tended to match up perfect, but Whirlpool and a couple other brands had a clear difference in appearance when side-by-side.

Things to consider about oven ranges:

• Do you want gas or electric?
• If you want electric, do you want coil or flat top?
• Convection is a nice feature to have, but it will cost you a little more.
• Slide-in or free standing range? Slide-in makes for a more professional/sleek looking kitchen and gets rid of the space between the counter and the range so you don't have to worry about crumbs falling in between the range and cabinet. Make sure there is a lock feature if you have children as the controls are on the front. Free standing ranges are more cost effective for those on a budget.
• Do you want a double oven? Again, costly but if you want this you need to make sure your kitchen designer is aware. They do make some slide-in and freestanding ranges with a double oven feature, but they tend to have smaller compartments.

Over-the-range options/considerations:

• The most effective and professional look if you have the money and space is an industrial hood (not an over-the-range microwave). 
• If you go with an over-the-range microwave make sure you correlate with your kitchen designer to get the correct size or make sure they are allowing for enough space between the oven and the range.
• I didn't know about this until we picked our over-the-range microwave, but some of them come with a convection oven feature. This can serve as a small second oven for those with space constraints like us. Ours is made by Whirlpool and goes up to 450°F. 

Dishwasher considerations:

• Keep in mind that there are dishwashers with hidden control panels so you can't see the buttons unless the door is open (they are on the top edge of the door). These cost slightly more.
• Some dishwashers have a "Power Scour" option for getting rid of stuff that is plastered to the dish.
• Almost all dishwashers have a drying feature, but double check.
• Dishwashers with adjustable shelving is helpful.
• Make sure there is adequate space inside.

Refrigerator considerations:

• French door fridge with bottom freezer, French door fridge/freezer, or traditional top freezer?
• Ice and water dispenser?
• Auto defrost is helpful and fairly common these days.