I sell or have sold almost all current appliance brands at one point or another over the last decade... If it were me, and like you I'm not wealthy... The choice would be pretty simple. Bertazzoni 30 inch All Gas Range because of it's simplicity. I think that without all the bells and whistles of the Cafe, the Bertazoni may actually give you 15 years of life. I think the Monogram OTR Advantium will pair nicely with it visually and is easily one of the best Microwaves on the market today. The dishwasher should be a Miele G5105SCS because it gives you many of the features of the more expensive Dimension Series for not much more than the price of the Classic Series. All three pieces are exceptional products at their price points. I want to say you'd be in the neighborhood of 5-6k delivered.

The Advantium isn't a "microwave" (though it does an excellent job on microwave mode). It's a speed oven, which means that it uses a combination of microwave, halogen and convection heating to cook things faster. I don't think the results of most speed cooking are as good as slow cooked, but they're adequate, and can be a boon if you're stuck for time. The Advantium can also function as a pure microwave, or as a pure convection oven, making it versatile. And expensive.

Do you have an exterior vent duct? If so, you might really appreciate a real hood, especially with gas. With your stature the OTR microwave is even more potentially dangerous to lift things in and out of than it is for a taller person. A microwave is something that you can save money on. You can get good performance on a $100 unit from Costco (or any sale), if you can find somewhere to put it. A lot of people who are moving the microwave from over the range, make niches for them in the cabinetry, or add a shelf, to keep the MW off the counter proper, even if it takes up some of the vertical space.

I have one friend who moved the microwave out of a postage stamp sized condo kitchen by adding a small bookcase to the side of the kitchen, technically in the dining area, and cut a rectangle out of the back for the outlet. The MW and a few objets d'art on the top shelf (had the outlet put to that height, though you could just make notches in the shelves to take the cord down to floor height--it's just that then you'd have to be careful not to bother the cord.). The bottom shelves held cookbooks.

Re dishwashers, they're all different nowadays to the one you're used to, and so is the detergent. Detergents use enzymes nowadays, and are supposed to require some food residue on the dishes lest they etch the dishes looking for something to eat. The European dishwashers don't have heating coils. They use convection to dry the dishes. The crockery and metals hold the heat from the water, and the stainless tub, starts hot and cools more quickly than the contents, making the convection that causes the steam to condense on the tub walls (or something like that). Some have additional air blowers or pop open to vent excess steam, though the others seem to work more or less fine without those features. All require that you use rinse aid to break the surface tension of the water so that it falls off the dishes better. American machines are being made to function similarly nowadays, though many have heating coils as well that you can optionally turn on. If you have a lot of glass and plastic in your load, and not much mass of metal or ceramic/porcelain, the convection drying doesn't work so well because they don't retain enough heat. OTOH, without the drying coil you can put plastics in the bottom rack.

The best regarded dishwashers are made by Miele (Euro) and KitchenAid (Jenn-Air, Whirlpool (all same company) (US). People also like Asko and Bosch (Euro), though the reviews are more mixed, and more model dependent.

I can't advise much about gas ranges. Most of the chatter here is about the high power, pro-style ranges. You might want to start a thread specifically about that. It's no problem that you glommed onto another thread, btw. When people tell you to start a new thread it's just so you'll get more people responding to your specific inquiry. If you put a specific query in the title, you'll get that much better response, like "Gas range for condo?"

Pillog- yes, I have an exterior vent. Wow, that's news to me about current DW's. I take off the residue, load mine and run it about every 4-5 days. I had a KA in my house and it was a real work horse. Got it in 1990 and when we sold the house it still looked and functioned like new!

Hilferty 77 - Seeing a price of 5-6K makes me realize that certain choices may be overpriced for my neighborhood. What brands would you suggest if I want to stay in the 3-4K range?

I have a Miele Optima now, love it, but they are expensive.
Before that I had several Kitcheaid dishwashers and all were great and never had any service calls.

Today I went to the Sears Outlet, after 1st going to Pacific Sales. I may need a DW for one of my rentals and of course I wont "Spring for A Miele". The lower end stuff at Pacific Sales was a bit less than the quality I want for the renter.
(Trying to stay in the $500 range, or less).

I found a great Kitchenaid, White outside and all stainless inside, racking seemed nice, feel of door , etc etc.
It was marked down to just above $500.
Comes with full manufacturers warranty (one year).

So if you are budgeting, This might be a way for you to get "Better Quality", without "busting the bank". Lots of luck on your hunt!

Gary

Bosch HMV8051U Micro
Bosch SHX7ER55UC Dishwasher
Bosch HGS7282UC Gas Range

This should total about $3000-$3500 (wholesale) and may also qualify for an additional 15% back by mail in rebate through Bosch.
I still stand by my first choices... I have two small kids and one big kid (my wife) with a limited income... So I feel your pain. I couldn't afford to do it all at once so I've been doing it a piece at a time. :) I sold my little brother very similar Bosch pieces a few years ago and he's been very happy with all of them. Good luck!

With an exterior vent, you'll get a lot more pull with a real hood. That opens up the choices for the range, and means fewer odors and grease lingering.

@Plllog: You're like me, you want a real hood and you'll do anything necessary to put one in. My wife is an American who grew up in South India and really-really likes cooking South Indian Cuisine. Unfortunately our builder put in a recirculating POS from Broan. When we remodel I'm definitely putting in ducting for a real hood [I'll probably go with a Miele DA5391W] We have a small kitchen and an OTR would be great but there's no way the venting would be sufficient. If it were just me I might consider it but with my Wife's cooking there's just no way. Flynn on the other hand... sounds like a bachelor who does moderate to light cooking and I think he said he lives in a condo. I'd be willing to bet the condo has no external venting with no option to external vent. I've had plenty clients who've owned the OTR and think it's a "great" hood. Point is... different strokes for different folks. I personally agree with you 167% though.

Plus the total budget is $3-4K...for a full kitchen suite - "semi-pro" range, micro, fridge, and DW. That might be tough to get all of that and a hood for 3-4K. JMHO.

I just put new SS appliances in my mother's home. I had been looking for months as she refused to accept anything over $2K. Nothing high end and I got a screaming deal on FD fridge (50% off on a one day only Home Depot sale). Even with that, we were hard pressed to keep it under $3K (no hood). In fact, I think we ended up just above that mark with delivery and install. She is thrilled...she was using the original appliances from the builder (Spectrum???) so it was a huge improvement.

I am not sure a real hood will fit in the budget. I could be wrong.

M

Hilferty, venting is important for the gas as well as the food, one shouldn't assume that singletons don't cook, or that they don't care about cooking odors from the garlic chicken take away they're rewarming, and Flynn said above that there was an exterior vent.

I think it's a good thing that you're helping people look for the cheapest answer. It's a nice counterpoint, since I try to help people find the most functional one.

Thanks plllog. I'm glad you like that I help people find the "cheapest" answer. That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. My point was that not everyone you come in contact with is going to appreciate proper ventilation. I had a client just the other day who likes to cook and entertain, say the vent on her OTR worked "wonderfull"y in her last kitchen and wanted to use it again in her new kitchen. Just because the OTR might not be sufficient venting for your or my cooking needs doesn't mean it's not sufficient for everyone's cooking needs. Like I said earlier though, I personally agree with you. So...

Flynnnnnnnnnnnnnnj!!!!! As an alternative to the OTR with a radiant reheat option (convection), I'd also like to suggest Zephyr's Terazzo under cabinet hood ($500ish) linked below. It offers halogen lighting, nice thick aluminum mesh filters and a neat little ledge to use as an additional resting place for spices and/or olive oil during preparation. Hopefully you could find a spot for a nice compact micro like the GE Space Saver II from GE Monogram ZEM200SF ($350ish). I liked the idea of you having radiant reheating ability of the Advantium or Bosch's convection OTR but maybe you could consider a KitchenAid double oven Range ($1550ish) and pair it with a nice matching KUDE series KitchenAid dishwasher ($800-$1200). I love the concept of the small oven for you for everyday cooking and to use as a second oven when entertaining. KitchenAid's KUDE diswashers are super quiet and super efficient and I'm hearing pretty good feedback from people who've purchased them. Plus Gary said they're good and I think Gary is a pretty swell guy so you can trust him. All this should keep you under $4K ;)

Here is a link that might be useful: Terazzo Under Cabinet Hood

Cost us $4795.00 for our Stove, Frige, DW and Microwave, all stainless and all pretty darn good.

$1799 Stove, $395 Microwave, $600 DW, $2000 Fridge.

You will be hard pressed to do better than that for anything decent quality.

Our OTR microwave works quite well as a vent, plus has a nice Radiant Warming feature to keep food hot until your are ready to eat it.

The Fridge is the Kenmore Elite (Samsung)counter depth side by side 24cu.ft.

Here is a link that might be useful: LG LMHM2017ST OTR Microwave

hillferty77, pillog, michelleDT - your input has been so helpful

FYI: I am a bachelorette who wouldn't mind meeting a wonderful bachelor but until then it's just me in a 2-story townhouse condo with a true external vent in the kitchen. I love the look of that Terazzo Under Cabinet hood. Question: I was planning on 15" deep uppers. Since that hood is meant for 12" uppers would it work for me? If not what else would you suggest?

Since there wasn't any microwave here, I recently purchased a small Magic Chef counter top micro just to see if I'd even use it. I've learned that a microwave is great for a baked potato, cooking eggs or hot cereal in the morning, reheating leftover and steam-in-bag veggies. I haven't really needed to use it for much else.

My large Breville toaster oven is a real workhorse and I think it's worth every penny.

For coffee and tea my Tassimo is wonderful. I like it even better than the Keurig it replaced even though Tassimo offers a smaller selection of coffees and teas.

I still need a good cooking and good looking 30" stove top and gas range. And yes, I have to confess - I'll probably look at the stove more often that I use it.

I know it doesn't sound like I'm much of a cook but I really am a good cook - it's just that cooking for one doesn't require huge portions at a time BUT when I do make pots of soup, roast huge trays of vegetables or have company I need a dependable stove. For all the other times that I'm just walking past it, I want to go "AH!"

If I put my new little micro in a cabinet then my budget will be for a 30" gas stove, the hood, and a dishwasher. Oh, and a faucet, sink and garbage disposal (but those choices are for another time).

Before I had a budget I dreamed about the 30" wine color Bertazzoni. Last year's sale including the hood was a real temptation. Then I found out what it cost and worked hard to convince myself that the inside of the stove would not be big enough at holidays and I needed the storage drawer.

I saw the GE Cafe and was drawn in by the huge knobs but I've read such mixed reviews on its performance and even the quality of the stainless and how it's prone to scratching more than normal. Of course, both appliance stores said to ignore everything I've read online!

So once again I seek your input.

Bertazzoni X304GGVX Gas Range $2800
Zephyr ZTEE30AS Terazzo Hood. $500
Bosch SHE55R55UC Dishwasher $700

You might be able to negotiate an additional 5% off.