1) GE Appliances are exactly what they seem,builer grade appliances. GE Profile offer more features and are probably worth it if you really use your kitchen and don't eat out most of the time. In general people like GE cooking appliances. Refrigerators and dishwashers not so much. There is a new GE French door with class leading features and built on a new assembly line in Kentucky but unknown future reliability.

2) "Matching" appliances is completely unimportant.

3) I would definetly take Whirlpool Gold dishwasher over GE dishwasher if you want an American type dishwasher with food disposer and heated dry and probably fridge too. Possible exception is new GE French Door.

4) If quietness,energy and water efficiency are a top concern you should look into Bosch for a European type dishwasher. Samsung fridges are really good bang for the buck apppliances.

5) Don't know anything about HHGregg and I am not a big Sears fan. I bought my appliances on-line,ebay,local liquidators, and store closing clearances.

Here is a link that might be useful: GE French Door

We have lived with Whirlpool Gold appliances for 3 years and haven't had any troubles. We have the double oven (top oven has a speedcook feature that I use several times a week). Bottom-drawer freezer with split refrigerator door (french door) is a very ergonomic arrangement and is very quiet. The dishwasher is quiet, and you can set it to wait 4 hours to turn on, so it washes the dishes while we sleep. We splurged and bought a Miele induction cooktop which I really love.

I have no experience with GE or GE Profile appliances, but many on this forum have.

Have fun building your new home!

No problems with going with different appliance brands for each appliance. That's actually exactly what is recommended here on the forum. No one manufacturer makes an excellent total line (i.e the references to the GE fridges above).

On the GE Profile question--I have the GE Monogram, which the dealer said the oven was actually the same as the Profile line just with a Pro-look exterior and name plate. I have been very happy with my ovens so far. My sister has the Profile double oven with convection and she loves hers too-bakes evenly, roasts beautifully, broils nicely & self-clean (you can even leave the racks in during the clean cycle) to boot! What more could you ask for? So, I would go for the Profile ovens/range.

My sister also has the Profile smooth top electric cooktop with built in downdraft vent. She really likes it as well. She says the only challenge she has with it is when she's sprinkling spices into pots on the cooktop and has the fan on--it is so powerful, it sucks the spices right in--however the same can be said for many over the range vent hoods too.

DW I would opt for Samsung or KitchenAid. KA DWs have a solid reputation, many come with hard food disposer, heated dry, are quiet and they have a very broad range of prices and features. However, many of the reasonably priced KAs now vent out the side vs the front--the vent opens 6 hrs after the end of the cycle unless you open the door before the 6 hrs elapses in which case it opens immediately and releases steam into adjacent cabinetry. Since I didn't realize this before purchasing, I tend to run the DW right before bed so no one is opening it too early. If I run it during the day, I simply crack the adjacent cabinet when I turn the DW on just in case DH or DS come through & open it. Samsung DWs offer most if not all the features KA does but with a fan assist dry and venting out the bottom. Easy to stack, hard food disposer, reasonably priced and quiet. I would definitely recommend either of these DWs.

Refrigerator--word on the forum is stay away from GE. I personally only know of 2 people with GE fridges that are happy with them (although 1 of my friends has had to have the repair guy out 3 times!). I would recommend Samsung, LG or a Kenmore badged Samsung or LG. Food stays fresh for much longer than standard fridge, LED lighting, ice maker available in the door, in the freezer compartment or in the fridge portion depending on what model you're looking at. We have the Kenmore Elite badged Samsung counter depth SxS and love it. It's got a 60/40 split between the 2 compartments which means plenty of room for larger items like frozen pizza boxes, turkeys, etc in the freezer. Fridge side is plenty roomy with nice sized bins, standard dairy/butter compartment, gallon size storage on door, built in wine rack & soda rack. I would definitely buy the fridge again.

Just a heads up on where you can snag some deals--In Oct, Sears usually runs a 1/2 off wall oven sale for just a day or two, so be on the lookout for that. Also, you can get Friends & Family pricing at Sears anytime--just ask for it (make sure its a better deal the one they're currently running, though). Lowes and HD will often run model year end clearance on their floor model ovens--some really deep discounts are applied. If you find one in a high volume Lowes store, see if they'll hold it for you and then check with any surrounding lower traffic/volume Lowes/HD stores as they will often have a better discount.

Hope this helps!

Thank you all very much for your thoughtful and detailed responses! This is great information and gives me more things to look into.

I welcome any other thoughts or recommendations!