Who cares if a magazine would photograph your kitchen? Frankly, I've seen some so-called high end kitchens that I wouldn't want to visit, let alone cook in. :)

Black appliances look just fine with QS oak and soapstone. With inset doors and your tile and range it sounds like a beautiful kitchen. I spent more on my range than my fridge, dw, uc fridge, and vent combined.

What's the norm for your neighborhood? Will a lack of a built-in refrigerator affect resale? Are you even planning to sell in the next few years? People can spend TOO much money and time obsessing about resale, instead of building a kitchen that they like, works for them, and fits in the budget. For all you know, the next buyer won't like that craftsman style or will think soapstone is high maintenance or scratchy looking, or whatever.

Speaking of mixing, I put corian on my perimeter counters because I love the stuff, and granite on the island because I wanted a different color there. I've heard plenty of comments around here about "icky plastic" counters. Eh, take it with a grain of salt.

Woops, I'm sorry, That was Phillipeh and not Pllog! Phillipeh, I don't know you, but the word-for-word ditto still stands!

OK thanks for the support! No, I don't really want it to be in a magazine (though who doesn't want their kitchen to be magazine-worthy!) I just would prefer my kitchen to look like an average middle of the road kitchen with a couple of high end splurges and not a really nice kitchen with corners cut. The neighborhood's eclectic and we definitely wouldn't move in the next 10 years. So it sounds like I'll be OK.

If my skin were thick enough I would post this same question over on appliances just for kicks, but I don't think I could take the abuse!! LOL...check out the "Best in Each Class" thread over there and you'll see what I mean!

Well... I'll be using IKEA boxes with our own drawer fronts, and have or will have a Liebherr frig, Miele 36" induction cooktop, and 2 Miele ovens. Part of my cabinetry is an old rotted bakers table I bought off craigslist for $225 and refinished myself.

I can't understand the personally negative response you were given on your thread over there. I've always found that forum to be quite helpful. Of course we all should take the high road but it might be interesting to link the responses you're receiving over here to the thread on appliances so the poster can see that he/she is in the minority... which in and of itself is fine; but manner in which you express your opinion counts.

I wish I could have a nice stove/oven to go with my other cheap appliances but they appear to be all gas, and we have oil! ;)

I have a rather ordinary Amana range, a GE Spacemaker countertop microwave and a Maytag stack WD (behind doors) with Kraftmaid base cabinets, mixed with an 18" Miele (I wanted a panel and nothing else was available at the time), soapstone sink and counters...and a Subzero that is technically in my LR, and in a builtin that cost as much as the entire rest of the kitchen (Subzero+framing+cabinetry=cost of all the rest).

No one comes in and notices the ordinary range and countertop microwave, and honestly the whole thing IS magazine worthy, I am told. Its not necessarily who it is made by, its what you DO with it that makes a nice kitchen. I could have spent a lot more to have a high end range and microwave and custom cabinets all around except of just some, but it hasnt made a significant difference in how it all looks together and how it functions.

and ran back here. LOL.

Trish

31 years ago someone built our house and put in 36" Subzero frig and 36" freezer. And then surrounded it with laminate coated cabinets and countertops. Oh, and to embellish it a bit, they put a beer bottle opener next to the pantry ; )

Didn't keep us from buying the house.

I am in 100% agreement with everyone here. Just to reiterate, if you are going to be there in 10 years I wouldn't worry about it at all. You are putting in nice finishes of the things that will last (countertops and cabinets) and the less expensive things you are considering are the things that will probably have to be replaced in 10 to 15 years anyway. If I was the buyer I personally wouldn't care at all and I'd be excited to have an excuse to go out and buy the latest and greatest appliance that will be available that far down the line... the fridge that will also rub your feet and tell you how nice you look in that new hairstyle. Nothing hurts more than replacing hi end appliances because they don't work for you (I'm going through that pain right now!)

I'm certain that's what we'll be doing. Go with what you love and especially since you're not planning to sell for many years, enjoy it!

We'll have custom-built cabinets topped with laminate counters. We've spent so much on everything else that they fit into the budget, will look fine for several years while taking the abuse from our kids, and I won't cry when we decide to replace them down the road. That's what's important to me!

You said, "..we definitely wouldn't move in the next 10 years,"

In 10 years you're going to have a ten year old kitchen no matter what. By then, the mix of appliances will not be the potential issue it could be if you were selling next year. With that long a horizon, I would definitely get just what YOU want and enjoy it all that time! Don't compromise now for some possible 2020 buyer.

I don't think at all you're doing anything wrong by mixing appliances at different price points. You're prioritizing your needs and making choices that work for you - best kind of kitchen out there!

I remember when the "Best In Class" thread first started at the Appliances forum and it is truly a trainwreck. (To be fair, the original question was a little misguided, but a couple of posters dove right into the crazy pool with their responses). That's usually a pretty helpful place - sorry they didn't treat you right.

Really? Not magazine worthy? Yikes. I suppose if that's one's renovation goal: to be photographed by a posh magazine and have one's friends turn an unflattering shade of envy green. We all want lovely kitchens, and I'd be thrilled if someone said my house was magazine worthy. But that's not my goal. To create an functional, inviting, lived-in space where my family and friends can enjoy great times and great food...that's my goal. I'm now officially afraid of the appliance forum.

Oh, and I'm totally doing the high end/low end mix. I have a Miele stainless dishwasher, but a lowly Samsung stainless fridge. I love them both. My microwave will probably be whatever, but the two ranges I'm considering seriously (Aga Legacy and Bluestar in some color) are fairly high end. I'll probably be doing IKEA cabs with custom fronts.

Inset quartersawn oak with soapstone sounds absolutely gorgeous. Keep doing what you're doing, and post photos when you're done. I'm looking forward to seeing it!

Do you want to be in a magazine? Which magazine? I suppose you wouldn't make Architectural Digest, if that's your goal, but I see plenty of plain old garden variety big box store quality appliances in the magazines I read, like the various decor mags on display at B&N and the supermarket checkout line, even--gasp--plain ol' standalone ceramic topped electric ranges, sometimes.

Do what makes sense for you.

And, outside of Architectural Digest, there are plenty of magazines that read "Jane achieved this high-end look through a clever mix of splurges and budget buys ..."

It's really considered much more the goal, I think, than slapping down the credit card for top-priced everything because it matches, or because you think it's what the next buyer expects. I say let the house price reflect the buyers' option to buy the kitchen of their choice, not yours. I know that's what I'd want!

This kitchen, for instance, is part of a house that's been featured everywhere from CNN to the NYT, as well as BHG, etc. (it's the younghouselove kitchen)

Hasn't stopped them. Maybe the poster meant magazines like Gourmet or Cottage Living, or--oh, wait, those are all dead now. :)

Oh no, I didn't mean to imply that I had posted over there. What I meant was that I was too chicken to post over there. I'm going to stay right here where I am loved!! :-)

Oh and no magazines in my future or least that won't be the goal.

Hmmm.... I didn't read that thread on appliances, but I do wonder if the person who posted the comment about being "magazine worthy" has had his/her kitchen featured in a magazine...

Yup. I'm a huge proponent of "do what works for YOU". The ONLY time you should remodel with an eye toward what someone else might like is if you are planning to sell the house immediately after the reno is done. In any case, like someone said above, in ten years, you're going to have a 10-yo kitchen. Nothing can change that!! LOL

When we first did our custom black walnut and green marble kitchen we had to use our very old white dishwasher with our blue star and new 'plastic' LG french door. A rival hood company stole our images to use in their advertising. So no magazine, but someone must have liked it as the hood featured was in fact not theirs:)

Kitchens we love are seldom ever about their parts, rather it's about how we put those parts together to showcase something special about the owner.

I wouldn't want most impersonal-feeling kitchens shown on a magazine, so maybe you can take it as a compliment! LOL

I remember back to a very old thread in which someone on this forum said if you couldn't afford granite, you had no business buying high end appliances...So kind of the opposite of what you read on the appliance forum. It's snobbery and personal opinion, either way, and you don't have to buy into it. We all have to make determinations where we want to spend our money...What has great value and will bring you joy may be different than for someone else. It's not their business, their house, or their bill. Get what you'll love and can afford and ENJOY. :-)

I have been continually updating my kitchen for over 10 years. the reality is that most appliances that get heavy use do not last more 10 years any rate. DW in my house runs 1 to 2 times per day. 10 years is probably max you will get out of it.

refrigerator: if you get a so-so refrigerator, the interior starts to "fall" apart after a few years. The ice maker kaputs etc. Again, you will probably need to replace the refrigerator.

So the 2 items that you are picking that are at the low end are the easiest to replace and will probably need replacement as soon as possible.

Ncamy,
I always say, avoid hostile people.
Stay in kitchens, no one will hurt you here, and there is
always someone to be supportive.

If you want to be in a magazine or not, we are STILL nice in
kitchens. You can have a Lacanche range delived by
helicopter from France sitting next to your cheap
20 year old chipped sunbeam toaster and none of us will
care. We will be more interested in: if the toaster makes
your toast yummy and how you like the grates on your
range. Does the toater pop on time and does the
Lacanche heat quickly. What why where and when is
more our style and while not everyone agrees everyone
in kitchens is fair minded.

Stay in kitchens we are nicer here.
~boxerpups

Having done two kitchens for myself, and having had some appliances at both ends of the spectrum, I would probably make some odd choices.

In my old place I had an 18" entry level DW, a 28" apartment sized fridge that was $400, and a Magic Chef gas cooktop with an under mounted electric wall oven both for clearances in a tiny space, and a rigged dual fuel situation. (And a GE Spacemaker OTR vent microwave)

I did not like the DW because things blew upside down in it and filled with water. Loading it was more like bracing things in place.

I did not like the fit and finish of the refrigerator interior. The defrost also evaporated the ice cubes right out of the trays...this may have been because it was near the ceiling of a 14' loft space so the fridge worked overtime.

Considering that they were so cheap, the cooktop oven and microwave never presented a problem.

Moving into apartment #2, I listed my choices above. I love the Miele DW in 18" but when I have room for a 24" I don't think I need to go high end. My pretty basic stove does fine, even with a chef in the house. I don't perceive much difference between my midrange microwave, and the client's I sometimes use--a really cheap one from Target that was the right color.

I *love my Subzero despite the fact that I did have to replace one part. Everything about the way it is designed and is put together...the one appliance where cheap is almost always adequate (next to microwaves) is the one where I invested the most, and might do it again. I Never design other people's kitchens around such a thing, they have to really want something like that, because I think it is unnecessary--but I really like having one myself. I will probably never have the $6-7000 to spend on just one appliance again, so I will miss having one next time around:) But I'll get over it.

I also think it's best to do what YOU want to do. In this day of appliances you could put in a Wolf stove w/ SubZ fridge and someone will walk through your kitchen and insult it for not having an induction range and Liebherr fridge. That's why I really do believe you should do what you like and also make decisions based on what your gut and budget are telling you to do!

Honestly, I don't think it matters. Just walked through a very high end addition/renovation done by probably "the" top tier architect in Atlanta. The kitchen and entire house were beautiful, and frankly might end up in a magazine :). She had a Wolf oven but only 36 inches because that was all she needed. Cararra marble countertops with shaw farm sink. Beautiful thick walnut top on her island. Shiplap ceiling with thick reclaimed beams. Kitchen aid dishwasher because she loved her old one. Samsung french door fridge because it was just the two of them and her kids and grandkids live in town so they don't have long term out of town guests. Dishwasher and fridge were paneled. It could not have been prettier, and was very refreshing!

I believe it's not what goes INto a kitchen, it's what comes OUT: is the food good? is your family happy? Does it work for YOU? Does it function the way YOU need it to?

(Another one with quartz on Ikea cabinets, who opted to keep her 6 yr old dishwasher, even though it's white, and the new stuff isn't, because it works!)

Phillipeh (and Marthavila), I couldn't have said it better myself!

Actually, your post sounds like I could have written it.

I completely agree with everyone on this topic. I was struggling with the same issue (actually my KD was). I'm going with a 36 SZ because I loved my last one, a 5 year old cheap counter top micro which will be hidden in the island, a GE cafe electric range, Shaw's sink, P&R faucet, Bosch dishwasher, calacatta marble, and custom built cabinets. I was told that I really should not skimp on the stove because the rest of the kitchen is higher end! I'm going with the 30" slide in range because that's what space allows and I don't have gas. I'm excited about my new stove... I'm sure my recipes will taste the same coming off that compared to my old, high end gas cooktop!

What everyone said! especially sara the brit. There was a thread quite a while ago debating the merits of gas vs, electric and there were a *lot* of people who were essentially saying that gas=better food, period, end of conversation (I think they were visiting from the Appliances Forum :-).

A few people made the point that sara made - it's the cook, not the equipment. Of course great equipment helps enormously - even heat, more BTUs, etc etc. The fact is that we all bring a magic ingredient to the cooking process we can't bottle. For the 12 years we lived with our old kitchen, I didn't have a DW, had an old Hotpoint range with electric coils and a slow oven, an okay fridge and a hand-me-down microwave. We made amazing meals out of that kitchen!! In fact, I think just "okay" equipment forces you to think about the cooking process in a way that new equipment doesn't.

Your kitchen will be amazing, you will be happy cooking in it, and your choices will be good ones. As boxerpups said, stay over here! We have a cup of tea and some warm cookies for whatever problem ails you :-)

(man that thread on Appliances was BRUTAL!)

Eliz

>man that thread on Appliances was BRUTAL!

Which one was it, just out of curiosity?

So true, sara the brit. The best chef I know has an old half-dead smoothtop stove with one working burner at home, and he cooks just as magnificently on that as on the fanciest equipment in his restaurant.

The thread I read was titled, "Best in Each Class." It was pretty scary.

Ah, thanks, ncamy. No, I've been reading that forum long enough to know not to open any thread with the word "best" in the title, so I missed that one. :)

While I agree with many points made, including the fact that it's the cook that's more important than the tools, I just want to introduce a counterpoint.

While it's not necessary to have completely top of the line in every category, neither should the appliance selection be composed of a $300 builder's grade Americana top freezer and a $10K French range! That's the equivalent of kitchen bipolar disorder! ;)

Many people focus on making one "dream" appliance part of their renovation, and that's a great goal. But the reason they don't also focus on having "equivalent" appliances in other categories is usually because they haven't had hands on experiences with higher quality appliances in those categores and consequently don't value them as much as they do the "dream" appliance. It's a case of you can't know what you're missing if you never try it. Or----don't throw rocks my way---a tiny bit of pride in reverse snobbery coming out of hiding.

So many of us work so hard to achieve that dream appliance that sometimes we tell ourselves that it's OK that we can't afford "equivalent" appliances in all categories. More than "OK", it's "foolish" to spend so much money on "just" a disposal.

Maybe deep down we'd really like that $350 Insinkerator Cover Control disposal, but we can't justify the expense to ourselves. Or maybe we've never had any experience with anything but a $79 Badger 1/3 horsepower one, so we don't have any idea of the world of difference in performance between the two. Everyone has to make tradeoffs. Just make sure that you're not shorting yourself out of misplaced envy, rather than truly weighing all of the potentials.

Maybe you do a bit of research and decide that you still can't afford to buy that Cover Control disposal, but you decide that maybe you'll go with the $199 3/4 horspower Excell Compact instead because you won't have to replace it in 10 years when the 1/3 horse Badget will have rusted out. That's a sensible approach, and one that it sounds as though many posters have made. They've researched the options and decided on a level of quality that they can both afford and live with without feeling they've compromised too much. It's the folks who outright dismiss doing research on the quality differences in products that should reexamine their goals and their process of decision making.

This is a great post. As we are in our final weeks.... and final $'s... haha... the last things to get done, like the finishing touches that really pull it all together, might be lacking and look like it is pulling it apart. All the things people see and judge of course :-)

Luckily I bought my appliances early, so I am happy with those, but now starting to stress over countertops, etc.

Some posters can really beat you up though. Makes you almost afraid to post. People say do what you want, what makes you happy, what you can afford, don't over do it for your neighborhood, but then when you do that, they rake you over the coals. ha

Anyways, this was a great read. Very timely for me. Thank you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Build in Pictures

I do have one client in particular who never had anything except from Dave's Deep Discounts or that fell off the back of a truck somewhere and she definitely *didn't know what she was missing. I showed her a few things in action, and it did make a difference in her decision making (and her satisfaction, now). She still used relatively low tier appliances (in the context of this forum) but at least they weren't the cheapest money could buy.

I think on here, most people educate themselves enough to make informed choices about where to go high or low. Sometimes I think people end up more disappointed in something they Stretch to buy because if they pay 4x (or 10x) as much they expect it to be that magnitude better.

I'd also note that if you chose a Bluestar range - you definitely know what you're doing as I probably can't find a neighbor within 5 miles that has (or even knows) about Bluestar!

I guess you could say that the GW BlueStar worshippers have done a better job convincing me than the Meile dishwasher worshippers! Plus DH had the chance to cook on a BS and that was all it took to put it at the top of the list.

I agree with everyone - it is of course okay to mix. Do what you love. If you're staying put for 10 years don't worry about re-sale.

I'm so sorry about the hostility on the appliances forum. Wow, I just checked out several threads on the appliances I'm having installed this week in our new kitchen - and HOLY COW! What is wrong over there? What an awful environment. And it isn't only one or two posts.

I'm staying here. (shudder)

"What has great value and will bring you joy may be different than for someone else. It's not their business, their house, or their bill. Get what you'll love and can afford and ENJOY."

THIS! while I can look at some of the big, beautiful, expensive kitchens in magazines - and even on here - and think they are beautiful and awesome, they aren't what I'd want if it were my choice. People are so different - most people here probably won't like my kitchen (if I ever get to redo it) BUT I will. I'll be the one living in it and using (or not using) it, so what I want is what counts - in my kitchen. not that I won't want opinions and ideas on some things. If someone sees something major that looks like a big boo-boo, I'd want them to bring it up. If it's something I did intentionally for some purpose I'll counter with it. but could be I had a bad night, I'm colorblind, took a double dose of my meds - who knows unless they ask?

some parts of a kitchen (or other room) are more important to some and not others. like the stove - not so important to me - I've been fine with a hot plate for 11 yrs. Most others wouldn't like that very much tho.

Very astute reasoning above. My Sunbeam toaster is 45 years old and will have a place of honor in any kitchen I have, whether the ca. 1978 pressboard fracas that we just demo'd, or the sleek Ikea-quartz-stainless replacement that will be complete this Friday.

Do what makes you happy.

*shudder*

I just *had* to go over to Appliances and check out the (cue scary music) big scary thread.

I will be sleeping with the lights on tonight. ;^)

Seriously, if I thought this forum was even a teensy bit like *that* one, I doubt that I'd share a single photo of my kitchen, as it has low-end, nasty white appliances. I don't have a Bluestar or a Miele. I don't know how I can even look anyone in the eye!

Now where did I put my sackcloth and ashes?....

We definitely had a mix (middle-of-the-road appliances, P/P faucets) but got the flooring we really wanted (cork), the granite we loved (Bianco Antico) and custom cabinets. It was the "infrastructure" issues that gobbled up the dough in our remodel--enclosed porch, foundation shoring up, new windows, new doors, insulation, new plumbing, new wiring. An old house will do that to you. And we spent a lot of money...but no Miele dishwasher, no Bosch or Bluestar. Maybe someday!! And I love my kitchen so much. About once a week now I say to my DH, "Have I told you how much I love this kitchen?" And he usually replies with, "That's so great, because we don't have a penny now!"
A mix is fine. In light of what 95% of the world lives with, we have riches beyond measure.

I sort of looked for the offending thread but it had gone away and I'm on a slow connection. There are a few ravers in Appliances. When they get too much I go away. But, not having seen the offensive posts, I'm wondering if it could have been sarcastic humor gone awry?

What makes me think of it is that while I'd never use those exact words without a specifically appropriate context, I might have said something similar to what Rhome posted: that if someone couldn't afford granite she couldn't afford really high end appliances. That's the downfall of this medium--so little of spoken communication is verbal, and here we have mostly words only but in the style of casual speech. What I would have meant if I said something like that is that a non-rare granite runs for a fraction of the cost of a suite of high end appliances, so if you can't afford granite you might need to rethink. But that's different than threw the granite money at getting favored appliances and now can't afford it, and way different from don't want it. And nothing like the original seems to mean, that not being able (or willing) to put in granite somehow was degrading to the posh appliances.

It hurts my heart when people come here and feel that they have to apologise for closing laminate or entry level Ikea. You choose what you like, and what fits your lifestyle and budget... And even in LWO's dream appliance scenario I can see someone just wanting every penny to go to the Lacanche and being so tickled to have it that the close out Kenmore fridge looks good just because it caughed up the extra $ 500 in savings needed for the range.

I'm not sure what's wrong with a Whirlpool DW and a Samsung fridge. A Bluestar isn't an entry level range, but it's not a Molteni (I think that's the one that's the kitchen equivlent to a Bentley). I considered a Whirlpool because it had features I liked. It may not be a Cadillac but it's no downscale slumlord special, either.

To me, there's nothing wrong with mixing "high end" and lower cost, functional good-quality kitchen components. More important to me is to avoid the waste implied in buying things that will not last or that will certainly become unfashionable.

I live in a working class neighborhood, mostly little 1950s houses with lots of retirees, including myself. Although our lot is on a lake, this property will NEVER command top dollar because of the settlement pattern of the community. The recession has really hurt home values here; I thought our house was $275,000 to $300,000 because of previous improvements, but I believe that it's now $220,000 and that was before we launched a major addition, geothermal, and new siding, etc. No matter what we sink into the house, it's for us, not for resale or peer pressure.

We have decided to retain the 30 inch refrigerator we bought last year (an emergency purchase) but to put it in a position where a larger unit could some day fit. No wooden housing around it. We are keeping our old electric range, but are adding a portable induction burner that can be set out on the countertop to increase functionality. There is room for another oven on a wall outside our new G shaped kitchen, but I don't think I will be the one to buy it (unless my grown children move back to live nearby); a portable roaster oven will suffice to augment the baking and roasting for large gatherings. We use our outdoor gas grill in all seasons for grilling. My husband enjoys the ritual of being the griller and he shovels the access space before dinner parties. The broiler in the old range suffices if he doesn't want to venture outdoors.

We are retaining our existing dishwasher. Our big innovation is to add a second sink to the kitchen. All sinks and appliances are white.

My muse is the idea of a "workshop kitchen." I am not trying to reproduce any particular theme, unless it is a farm kitchen that processes a lot of food in season. I do hope to make the kitchen work as a functional, welcoming space for myself and husband now that we're empty nesters and for events when we have visitors, whether large or small groups.

Laminate for countertops is sufficient and my ego does not require anything more dazzling on the countertops, although there will be slabs of butcherblock on either side of the stove. Hubby decided to go with hardwood floor and install it and finish it himself, although I was ready to order the vinyl.

We have found a local cabinetmaker who said he would meet the price of a sample plan of readymade cabinets from the Big Box home stores. Now, we're adding custom touches to the cabinetry plans, not in decorative features but real utility features, such as tapping the space that was wasted in "spacers" between boxes. All materials are American made, or American harvested. Except for the old siding and walls and flooring, very little is going to the landfill. Furnace went to the scrap metal guy.

My own eccentricities will add all the "pop" and pizzaz that this kitchen will need. Fabric, color, laminate choice, color of stain, art, displays of collections-- a creative outlet without a high end price tag.

We have splurged on a bank of windows and a few light fixtures (No, we're not putting in "cans" because the ceiling feeds to an attic where we're fighting heat loss.)

We are working very hard to live within our means, following the requirements of good sense and ignoring consumer manias. When I get myself too fired up about making a more upscale purchase, I remind myself that the photos, the ad copy, the home shows and the open houses, are all there to facilitate SELLING, not living. Here in Minnesota, where granite is quarried, I know that some of the rock countertops are fairly reasonable, but as I have declared elsewhere on this forum, I refuse to purchase anything that is sold with a "how to care for it" bottle of something and some warnings about how to protect the finish.

In many ways, by definition, I am free from the pressures that other posters feel in order to keep up with the neighborhood, to make a kitchen that defines a house value, or to prepare for the brutal house market. I don't envy the young and broke. But I was there once and I not only survived but thrived on it. The original kitchen in this house was painted baby blue without concern for the cathair? gobs in the paint and the kitchen 'table' had a hinge so we could access the refrigerator. My hubby and my carpenter father and a different local cabinetmaker came up with a sufficient re-do that we have appreciated since right before the Bicentennial. I raised two sensible daughters in that modest kitchen.

This doesn't mean I'm not agonizing over choices today, though. "Leave me alone, I'm thinking!" is a common mantra right now. Today's musing: Do I want to order fancier cupboard doors? It's always something.

Enjoy your day.

Florantha

One thing I love about this forum is the actual "road test" information I read about appliances and why people make certain choices. I have learned a great deal about appliances.

My personal feeling is to buy what you want and can afford, who cares about mismatch? For me, the refrigerator is the appliance I will most change in the future, then the dishwasher, so both of those will be more standard, mainstream types. I am in love with my Bosch DW and hate my current Side-by-side. I will probably invest in a higher-end range, as I don't expect to change that out as quickly.

I don't think matchy appliances make much sense.

Even if you're putting a kitchen together "to impress," most folks will notice the overall appearance and not the cost of the individual items. It's not as if you'll be leaving the price tags on.

If you have some taste, if you know the difference between ostentation and real utility, if you have been sincerely complimented by others for your designs (or if you can hire someone who can do these things for you), you are probably likely to make good kitchen appliance decisions. The big problem today is the incredible force of advertising, peer pressure, commercialism, shills. You gotta be tough, just like everyone else who doesn't want to fall victim to the consumer trap.

The most high-end old kitchen I've ever seen was for sale in a Reuse Center--a kitchen sold out of a house owned by a drug lord now being rehabbed for a distress sale. Now, what was HIS motive in buying all that? And did he actually use it?

When you decide to make those appliance purchases, ask yourself what is your motive. Put words to it and own that motive. "Yes I want it because I love it, desire it, need it." or "I think this matches everything else and complements my design" or "This is in the magazines right now so I know that it's considered good by the industry" or whatever. If you decide that owning high end is right for you because of your motive, there's your answer. If you can't name and own your motive, high end stuff is an expensive speculative purchase. If you say "I want this but can't afford it" that tells you what you need to know also.
Sure, the "high end" stuff tends to be associated with certain price level houses or neighborhoods. But an individualized kitchen space with personality, functionality, and no dire decorating mistakes will complement most homes. As we've seen here time and again, wise and creative use of color, materials, space, and textures and an avoidance of the all-fad look pays off in home-family livability as well as respect from others.

During the builder open house weeks this spring I would urge readers who have not visited one of those sad little subdivisions with a lot of unsold lots and only a few finished houses to go tour one of them. Look hard at all the bells and whistles which prevent the house and this neighborhood from being sellable in this economy.

Don't go and do likewise.

Planning for resale? Get the big, showy appliances if you need big showy appliances, but generally, it is probably just fine to find suitable lesser-cost substitutes that will make your house more likely to be the one a qualified buyer can consider.

Talk to a realtor or two. Look at local real estate ads. What's more likely to pay off right now and in the "foreseeable future"--a mix of a few highly attractive and/or high-price features and the rest practical and affordable stuff or the compounding of high-end stuff with more high-end stuff with the chance of never recouping the cost?

I've heard that good poker players make very conservative investments, because they know the odds in poker but these don't apply to real life and they don't want to gamble away their assets.

I am TOTALLY doing this my kitchen. Not so much with appliances, but everything else. I am doing very expensive soapstone on top of IKEA cabinets. I will probably end up paying 2 times as much for the stone as the cabinets! I got a very expensive sink and faucet, but spent $280 on my wood floors (granted they are salvage), for another example. Do what YOU want. Decide where you want to spend your money and find ways to achieve the look you want with every thing else.

Do any of you read Mark Bittman's column about food in the New York Times or any of his books about food and cooking? He is always a great read. I'm attaching a link to an article he wrote about his own kitchen and its attributes.

Whenever I think my own kitchen isn't big enough I remember this article, and then I remember all the great food that has come out of the tiny kitchens of my Italian friends who are amazed at my own 'huge' kitchen and its 'huge' appliances - which happen to be a mix of 'high' and 'low'. its how the kitchen is put together and how well it works that matters to real cooks.

So go for what works for you because that's what matters.

Here is a link that might be useful: 6 x 7 kitchen