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Kitchen Aid Architect Series for everything

13 years ago

I'm renovating a kitchen in a house I hope to be my "forever" house. My designer/builder recommends that if I like the look of Wolf/Viking but don't want to spend that kind of money, I should consider Kitchen Aid Architect Series for everything -- for great quality and price. Ovens, stove, dishwasher, refrigerator. I read mixed reviews in general. Any thoughts on this recommendation? Thanks!

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Comments (9)

weissman
13 years ago
The general consensus on this forum is to not buy a single brand for all your appliances. KA fridges and DWs get good reviews but their ovens and ranges less so. Do your research and shop around. Appliances from different brands can look good together.
nerdyshopper
13 years ago
When I used/looked at new ovens purchased by family members, the Whirlpool based ovens seemed to be much smaller than the GE ovens I was familiar with. Be sure to check out this facet and that you can live with what you see.
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I have the ovens you are interested in. They work very well and have not given any trouble. I have posted about them previously. In fact this is my second set. We built a new home and reselected the same Kitchenaid appliances that I had in our former place. My old oven was fine too. They are simple to use, have very accurate temperatures, produce nicely baked, roasted, broiled foods. The self-clean function has worked fine through many cycles. The microwave is especially nice with the drop-down door. It works well also. The styling of the Kitchenaid in my opinion is much better than other combination units. There is a minimum of grillwork, trim and air vents that create unsightly gaps around the doors & control panel. The oven comes with a good 5 year warranty. Since reading about all the self clean problems, I ran a cycle within a few weeks of use. Again all was well. Just like my previous oven. I can guarantee you I'd be on the phone with the CEO's office at Whirlpool in a heartbeat if I had any trouble!
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I bought this KitchenAid in March of last year. 2 weeks after it was delivered it shut down. Meaning there were no light on the display & it would not come on. We called customer service & they said turning the breaker off & on again would reset the range. We flipped the breaker to reset it & it worked again. Over the next several months, we had to continue to do this as it would just go off. It finally got to where this didn't reset the range & we called to get it repaired. When the repairman arrived & we turned the breaker back on & it worked! (They wanted to charge me the $135.00 service call fee as there wasn't anything wrong with my range) A week later my husband went to use the range & there was a letter "K" showing but the range wouldn't work even after flipping the breaker. The letter "K" did go away though. We again called & a repairman came out. Told us there was no letter "K" code, we must have been mistaken but the oven would not work so he ordered a relay switch saying that was what was wrong. A week later the part came in & they put it on. Oven worked. About 3 weeks later (3 days before Thanksgiving) the whole range would not work so another repairman was sent, parts ordered but we had to cancel Thanksgiving dinner at my house as the range would not be working in time. They did get the parts on & the range worked once again. Then 4 days before Christmas the electronic reading on the range said "Function not supported" when we went to use the oven. They said they couldn't get a repairman out before January 7th. When I told them that was unacceptable, they called a different repairman & again ordered parts but they wouldn't be available before Christmas. I finally found a corporate person & explained everything to him. After he investigated, he said they would replace my range January 2nd. A week later, someone called me saying they were shipping my replacement range & it would arrive end of January. We were now using a Toaster oven to bake. Last week we still hadn't heard when it would arrive so we called & were told it would ship on Wednesday. Yesterday it still didn't come so I called corporate again & was told the ship date was moved out to April..... They did finally offer me a different range but it would be several weeks before arrival. I told them that I am just going to go & buy another range as I need to cook for my family. They finally agreed to refund my money for the defective one after I send them the original receipt but it would take about 4-6 weeks for them to come & get the range & give me my money back. I know this is very long but I thought it might help you with your decision. I would strongly recommend you not purchase this KitchenAid range. It has taken me months of frustration & no way to cook properly to finally get where I am with the company & I am still out $1800.00 for another month or so. I even researched induction ranges before I bought the KitchenAid. Obviously not well enough! By the way, I do love the induction type range. It cooks amazingly well & even. Good luck!
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Gas ranges: KitchenAid Architect II vs GE Profile/Cafe vs ??
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Comments (6)
Not your models, but I had an early architect for which KA refunded me the purchase price and I currently have a ge profile. I'm critical by nature, so take that into account when reading the following. GE's grate design isn't the best or even second best. Where the tines open up between burners, small pots can drop through (the continous grates thing is lost on them). You can see the same sort of mistake on the Cafe. Their burner head design is awful. It actually takes LONGER to boil water on the 17k burner than the 12k because the diameter of the burner is so big it can't be used efficently for most pots. Conversely, the simmer burner runs too hot! KA's burners and grates are a better design and deliver more practical heat. However, the refund was because the burners kept melting the porcelain coating off the grates! Both the profile and ka have fairly low power, low efficency broilers. More expensive KA's have better broiling systems. The self-clean works well on both. My profile is two years old. The oven enamel has chipped off in places (naked and rusting are spots the size of quarters) where the racks go. I do not move the racks often. The bottom of the oven has other wierd defects including a 10" circle you can feel. After using both mfgr burners, I think you'd be best off with models that offered dual or triple ring burners. The cafe has at least one and a more powerful broiler. I would hesitate on the cafe because the ones I have seen in person look... well, they have fit and finish issues. Have you checked out the electrolux? It has much the same feature set as the cafe and just under $2k. Here is a link that might be useful: Electrolux
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bsmoody
13 years ago
Fantastic appliances. Did my entire kitchen in the architect series. The ovens got a bad reputation several years ago due to a thermal fuse problem but that is in the past. I like the glass control panels on the ovens. Go for the dishwasher with the " ultra handle " option. Looks really
Nice and is somewhat of a throwback to the old Hobart/kitchenaid dishwashers.
Village
Original Author
13 years ago
Stainlessillusion, how long have you had your appliances for? And to everyone else, for those who do not recommend KA ovens, what do you recommend instead?
swisscook
13 years ago
The Kitchen Aid ProLine was recommended to us if we wanted that "LOOK" without the price of a pro range. It compares quite closely with the GE Cafe, but from what I've read and heard from various stores, KA nobs and hardware stand up much better than GE Cafe. Check out the Pro Line...see what you think. Good Luck!
lmc53
12 years ago
I purchased and installed Kitchen Aid Architect Series appliances in my new kitchen almost six years ago. The appliances were the "top of the line" for Kitchen Aid at the time. I purchased the Kitchen Aid Architect Series appliances after seeing the appliances in interior design and home renovation magazines. In one magazine, a chef in New York city had a Kitchen Aid dual fuel commercial style range installed in his renovated New York apartment. The chef's kitchen was the inspiration for my kitchen, and I've been very happy with the looks and the function of the appliances. Good Luck on your kitchen renovation.
User
12 years ago
"ovens got a bad reputation several years ago due to a thermal fuse problem but that is in the past."

Don't be so sure stainlessillusion!

Also, while the look might be a nod to the "good ol days of Hobart", the quality is not. Folks, you need to be aware that the suits at Whirlpool are now milking the Kitchen Aid brand's rep in order to pay for it's acquisition. They are not continuing the KA quality of yore. It is simply another case of lots of sizzle and no steak!
jjy_yyc
12 years ago
I am going to chime in on this one as I was looking into what other folks had to say about recent Kitchenaid products. I have purchased a wall oven, a wall microwave, 48" side by side fridge and a 36" gas stove top. These appliances have been in service since Nov 2010. While the Kitchenaid Canada's service line is adequate, their products are not in relation to the price paid. The stove top has had problems of ignition from day 1 with the two most powerful burners.(Left and right front) Service has replaced, ignitors, a valve and the piece that has the holes for the gas. While this has fixed one, it has not fixed the other. In my mind, if you turn on the knob to "lite", darn it, it should lite but it does not until you play with the knob til it works or I just take a lighter to it. The most inconvenient episode was just this past weekend when the fridge stopped working. I knew something was up, when I started to hear funny beeping sounds for over a week and sure enough, the fridge died. The tech came this morning, and said that the fan compressor was defective, which then shorted out the logic board. He said this shouldn't happen at all.
Thus, I have to agree with antss on the comment of "lots of sizzle and no steak"
TC44
12 years ago
We have always had good experience with Kitchen Aid products, so we decided to go with the Kitchen Aid Pro-Line Commercial style 36" dual fuel range and 72" counter depth fridge with pro style handles, in our recent kitchen reno. So far they have both been great (although its only been a couple of months). Additionally,if looks are important to you, they are, in my opinion, among the most aesthetically pleasing appliances I have seen, regardless of brand .....

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