What to look for when it comes to picking out kitchen appliances:

Leave room in your budget for appliances. When it comes to kitchen renovations everyone knows that the cabinetry and the labor of demoing and installing cabinetry is going to eat a lot of your budget. However, the second most expensive part of a kitchen renovation is the appliances. You don’t want to be left with beautiful custom cabinetry and budget-friendly appliances. It’s a mix that just doesn’t make sense. The whole purpose of a kitchen is cooking food and everything that goes with that. You want the tools that you use in that space to be of great quality and good-looking. Appliances are not where you go to cut costs on a kitchen renovation.

Do your homework before you fall in love. Every family is different and how they use their kitchen is different. Do you love to cook or do you order take out, do you use your microwave or is it an appliance you can live without? Do you have a big family and love the idea of two dishwashers? You need to see how your family lives and make your wishlist of what you want out of your appliances and what features are important to you before you ever select a piece. You don’t want to make an impulse decision when you get to the showroom with pieces that you are going to have for the long run and will be getting heavy use.

Stick to the classics when it comes to appliances. I would not get too trendy when it comes to appliances or go out there with the brand selection. Pick a brand that has been around for some time and has a following to it. A name that is known to be an expert when it comes to appliances. For me, the brands that are constantly sourced in interior design projects are:

Bosch
Monogram
Fisher Paykel
Wolf
Thermador
Miele
Viking

Size Matters, Measure twice. Of course, everyone knows that they should check appliance sizes when fitting them into a kitchen floor plan, but you also need to make sure they need to fit in the doorway and hallways leading into the kitchen. This is a hiccup no one needs, but oftentimes it’s not something people check for like they do with furniture pieces.

Mix it up! Depending on your needs you don’t need to buy all of your appliances from the same brand. It’s completely acceptable to purchase a range from one, a dishwasher from another, and a refrigerator from yet another. It’s all about the features and which ones work best with your home. It’s not taboo to mix it up. It’s also not taboo to buy them all from the same brand if you enjoy the look and features that they carry and you want to make sure the metal finishes match perfectly. There has been a rise in paneled appliances where it doesn’t matter what the finish is, but for the most part, I still see most clients leaving their appliances as is. It is after all a kitchen where appliances are expected and the addition of the metal and different finishes in appliances add another layer to a space.

Now, did I listen to my own suggestions when it came to appliances?

I knew I wanted to go bold when it came to our cabinetry. Our cabinets are actually painted this dreamy shade of green called, Waterscape. Due to this, I wasn’t sure if I wanted stainless steel appliances. Stainless steel equals gray to me and I’m not a big fan of it. To me, the perfect color for my appliances would be white. Crisp and classic.  A color that would balance nicely with the cabinetry. However, I went into appliance shopping being open to stainless steel, but also open to going with paneled appliances or white.

Our kitchen isn’t large and when I thought about panel appliances it made me feel like the room would just feel like it had too many cabinets if I did a panel-ready refrigerator or dishwasher. Once that option was out I looked into my options when it came to stainless steel or white. Another lifetime ago I was an appliance buyer and one of my favorite brands was Fisher Paykel. I just loved the way they designed pieces. Their appliances have always been stylish and aesthetically pleasing. Plus they have been around since 1934 and have always been on top of the innovation game. So, my first choice was Fisher Paykel due to not only how beautiful they were but by how highly ranked they are when it comes to luxury appliances. Research done!

With my focus on Fisher Paykel I dug deep into their options and noticed that they had white appliances! It might seem easy to find white appliances, but it’s actually pretty hard to find ones that are stylish and high end. For the longest time white appliances have been known as budget appliances without any of the bells and whistles. Stainless steel has always been king, but in the past 5 years or so white has made a big comeback with the emergence of colored cabinetry. Imagine my delight to find all of these beautiful white options. Now you can totally mix and match appliance brands, but since I was going with white I wanted to be consistent and have all of my appliances be the same shade of white so I said within the Fisher Paykel line when I picked out everything.

Here is what I ended up with!

Fisher Paykel Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator: I went with this refrigerator because I wanted something where I could be super organized. It has so many drawers on the inside and the doors each have lots of shelves. Everything is going to have its home. Plus it has this cool technology where it controls the humidity and defrosting based on what is in it which helps your food and veggies last longer! The pull-out freezer is awesome because it has two levels and lots of compartments breaking it up so my ice cream can have its own home away from my frozen veggies. Best part of the white? No finger marks like what happens on stainless steel!

Next up is my dishwasher! I went with the Fisher Paykel Double Drawer Dishwasher because I loved the double drawers. When it’s just the four of us I can easily fit everything from the day in the top drawer. If we have company over then I can use the bottom one as well. You can run them on different washing cycles too! It also has cool features like a quick option, sanitize option, and it’s super quiet!

Now I know Jon loves me and the boys, but this range is pretty up there as well! She is a beauty! We had the perfect wall space for it and we were able to be a 36″ range in there! It has 6 burners and I have been trying out a new one each day! The oven is amazing and has been helping me bake brownies, a lasagna, and a taco ring thus far! The racks slide out which is super helpful when you are trying to get food out of the oven. It’s been an amazing addition to the kitchen. She is the focal point and we all bow down to her!

Are we fully done with the kitchen? No, we have a couple of things to finish off. The hood needs to be installed, we have some grouting to finish and we are awaiting the window treatments, but overall it’s totally workable and all of the appliances have been a dream to work with.