Remodeling kitchen w/o a clue about appliances

10 years ago

I'm new to GW and after reading about appliances on other sites and on this forum, I'm thoroughly confused! Too many choices! We are remodeling a kitchen and need appliances. I'm not the greatest cook but for future resale in about 5 years, we are going to go with mid to higher end appliances about $12,000 for all (sort of mandatory-everyone has a Viking and Sub Zero).
We do a lot of simple cooking, use ice frequently and sometimes don't
rinse our dishes :). I always wanted a 2 oven stove too but if wishes were horses beggars would ride...

For a dishwasher, I heard that the Bosch 800 series is reasonable and a water saver. Anyone have experience with this?

What fridge (counter depth), stove and ventilation (we have propane availabl), microwave and dw should we get and where?

Also, since I've done nothing but read appliance forums (thus my confusion) I read that the prices at appliance stores can be negotiated down quite a bit (50% in some cases). True?

A sincere thanks to all.

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Comments (10)

philwojo99
10 years ago
I will only quickly comment and say that for a 12K budge you will not have both Viking and SZ in your new kitchen. SZ alone will almost eat up your entire 12K budge, so look elsewhere on that.

I will try and comment more tomorrow or the day after if I can find the time, and if no one else beats me to it.

Phil
deeageaux
10 years ago
You need to give us a little more info to make a good recommendation.

What size fridge and range? Ideally a 48" range but willing to settle for 36" ? A 36" fridge?

50% off is going to be on distressed merchandise or scratch'n dent that pretty severely damaged. You won't get 50% off on SZ no matter how good of a negotiator you are or how hard you negotiate.
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Q-What is just to the right of the wall oven today? A- To the right of the wall oven is the doorway into the dining room. I agree with buehl that the current place of the cooktop is terrible. It seems that anyone walking by could brush their arm against a flame. I'd want to do something about it right away. I was thinking about the original question of removing the wall oven and filling that space with a range + micro. These things popped into my mind: - I assume there is some type of 'wall' barrier to the right of the wall oven today, right? So, was your husband suggesting to retain the cabinet/wall structures that are currently around the wall ovens, and slipping in the range/micro combo between the two 'walls'? - If his idea was to retain those wall structures, then potentially the right hand oven 'wall' would be a safety barrier between anyone walking through that doorway and the new range. However, you would probably have to remove the left hand oven 'wall' so that you have a landing place to the left of the new range. And buehl pointed out the need for air flow. Is the wall oven gas now? If gas, do you know what logistics it takes to remove it? I think that if you were to take the stop gap measure to put a freestanding range/micro there, it might have to be electric. I don't know if you could safely have a gas freestanding range with cabinet-like walls around it. You'd have to consult the installation booklet for the electric range to find out how close it can be to any combustible material on the side. If it is a freestanding electric range, I believe that it can be right up against a combustible item (for example, cabinet wall or house wall--I'm going by my own freestanding range's booket). Buehl is probably right about the building code if the range is gas; however, for a job of removing a wall oven and putting in an electrical outlet into which you plug in a new freestanding range, I am wondering if you'd even have to get a permit and have an inspection of that new range. I mean, if the wall oven is gas, there might need to be a permit for a gas pipe person to disconnect the gas, and if there's not a suitable electric receptacle for the new range, then you'd need an electrician to install one, and he'd need to get a permit to install the circuit/line for that new receptacle. But after that work is done and it's an empty space with an electric receptacle, and you buy a range and put it in position, I doubt there's any building office requirement where you call an inspector to come and inspect where you plugged in the new range. I guess what I'm saying is that if there's some 'wall' to the right of the wall oven space that you can keep to protect people from walking through that doorway and into your burners, and if you remove the left hand 'wall' so you have a landing space to the left of the range and proper air flow, then I can see how your husband's idea might work. It would get...
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MsGrace
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for the quick response! I don't need to have a SZ fridge at all. A counter depth one would be ideal but we can work around a deeper one.
As for the stove, it may be caddy corner so 36 would be fine. I had a wolf gas 5 burner cooktop in my previous house and liked it. The only thing was that the vent hood had to be higher due to the high heat burner- I had to stand on my tiptoes to turn it on and off.

The layout of the kitchen will be 2 parallel lines of cabinets. One has a large window in the middle, with a short side was on either end. The other one will be an island. We are looking at a mid to end of September start date. Thanks again for your help!
.
rococogurl
10 years ago
Suggestions can be made but the best approach is to make a list of appliances that fit your budget with good ratings/recommendations and then go see them in an appliance showroom and decide for yourself.

Re: "As for the stove, it may be caddy corner so 36 would be fine." Bad idea with furniture let alone a range.
deeageaux
10 years ago
You don't need to raise a rangehood due to the power of Wolf burners but you do need to raise a wood paneled hood, adjacent cabinetry, or any combustibles to a minimum of 30" above any cooktop.

For the "vertically challenged" they sell some rangehoods with remotes and there is at least wall switches for variable speed rangehoods see link below.

But it sounds like you need to finalize a layout first with definite widths for the range and refrigerator. New standard is 36" wide for a fridge but there are choices for narrower models.

Here is a link that might be useful: LINK
philwojo99
10 years ago
I will also say that my Zephyr Monsoon II DCBL model comes with a remote that they give you. I don't use it to be honest, but it is nice to have in case I do want to.

Phil
ginny20
10 years ago
Are you quite sure you prefer a gas stove, or have you considered an induction cooktop?
mhamtan
10 years ago
Not sure if you can get them down 50%, but I always check amazon for a baseline price. They usually have the best prices I have found and you can either buy through them or at least get an idea of what a "good price" would be.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bosch Dishwasher on Amazon
MsGrace
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you for your replies. The caddy corner stove idea is out! These are what have been suggested by the appliance store here on Hilton Head, SC, but not pricing, just the Wolf/SZ promotion info-told the sales person my budget was $12,000, possibly a bit more. I understand the manufacturer's warranty is doubled if bought and installed through a local dealer. Also, Thermidor is having a promo too. The msrp is @ 18,000 so a $6.000 reduction in price seems too good to be true.

30 inch wolf dual fuel range
24 inch wolf steam/convection oven instead of microwave
Bosch 800 (or 500) series DW
SZ 36 built in fridge ss
Hood? Thinking of the Zephyr

Are there other costs associated with the purchase of these appliances? Thanks for your advice.
deeageaux
10 years ago
Wolf DF304 ~$6k
Wolf steam oven ~$3.8k
Bosch 500-800 DW $800-$1500 depending on specific model.
SZ 36" ~$9k
Zephyr ~ $600-$1200

A few of the Veteran posters here on GW have stated that Wolf has not fixed it's blue enamel problem and do not recommend their ovens. Wekick has had problems with three ovens/ranges but his last problem was with a range that was 4.5 years old .AFAIK Wolf fixed this at least 3 years ago but FYI. In any event I think the Wolf is way overpriced for what you get.

I don't like getting a suite of appliances for a promo discount you can almost always do better buying separate appliances. I would get a specific price quote with specific appliances then we(the collective we at GW) can maker a counter recommendation.

Because the appliances listed sound way way more than $12k.

Remodeling kitchen w/o a clue about appliances

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philwojo99

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