Ok to mix appliance brands in kitchen? Please tell me Yes!
We are in the process of doing a "frugal" makeover in our kitchen. I say "frugal" because we did not rip it all apart and start from scratch. Instead, we have worked with the existing cabinets by painting them and saved a ton of money by not having to replace them...the cabinets were that horrid pink pickled color and this past summer my husband painted them a creamy white color and added some crown moulding to them. They look great!!
Last Christmas we replaced the dishwasher and got a KitchenAid stainless steel one (we had a KitchenAid dishwasher in our last house and loved it). Just recently we had to buy a new refrigerator because the old one conked out. We chose a GE Profile stainless steel fridge (French Door/Freezer on the bottom style). In fact, I have another thread on here about this fridge...the sides of the fridge are gray which we did not realize when we purchased it. We had assumed it would be stainless all around....so I started a thread on here asking for creative solutions to "cover up" that side. We do love the functionality of this fridge but just not happy with the ugly gray sides....being that we under the gun to purchase something because our old fridge stopped working, we did not take the time to really research appliances.
Last week we had granite counters installed and they are gorgeous. Here is a pic of the granite below...it is Sienna Bordeaux with lots of burgundy streaks in it.
We painted the kitchen walls a deep rich red to coordinate with the granite. We used SW's Wild Current. We are VERY happy with the color and how rich it looks next to the white cabinets. This upcoming weekend we are having a tile backsplash installed in an off white tumbled tile to tie everything together. We are also putting in a new range hood before the tile is installed. The new hood is a GE Profile stainless one. Because we have a cabinet over the stove, we could not select a large dramatic looking hood...we had to go with a petite size hood. We are also on the prowl for a new stove. Whatever we choose it will also be stainless steel. I am insisting to hubby that we get a GE Profile because our new fridge is a GE Profile and the hood is a GE Profile. My second choice would be a KitchenAid because our dishwasher is KitchenAid. I am fearful that mixing and matching different brands will not look good. Is that silly?
SO the situation is this...I am obsessing about the appliances because they are not all the same brand. The GE Profile fridge is a shiny stainless and the dishwaser is a more "muted" "brushed" stainless look. What kind of stove should I be getting??? My hubby really wants to get the GE Cafe slide in range but I am concerned that it will look bad with the GE Profile hood and fridge. I am just curious to know what other people's thoughts are on this. I know some people do not replace all of their appliances at one time so I would imagine many people have different brands but since we are making all these purchases within the same time frame I feel like we should have stuck with one brand/collection. I do agree with hubby that the stainless steel GE Cafe range is really nice looking and has all the features we want but I worry that our other appliances (including the hood) is not GE Cafe. By the way, the GE Cafe hoods are all too big for the space above the stove so that would not have been an option.
Sorry for rambling here, but just wanted to give all the information I possibly could.
Comments (25)
andee_gw
13 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Is it OK to mix 'high end' with 'low end' in a kitchen?
Comments (56)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...See MoreBread Machines for Mixing & Rising/Please Tell Me More
Comments (12)Posts by Annie & Grainlady convinced me that I should buy a Zojirushi. So last year my husband got me one the larger one for Christmas. I use it exclusively for kneading & rising. (I don't care for the way the crust turns out when the machine does the baking. I had another brand years ago and the crust was the same, so I think it's just part of the bread machine experience.) My husband is on a low sodium diet, so I make all our breads and cut the salt content by half. We're not big toast eaters so I usually make sandwich buns, dinner rolls, bagels, etc. and keep them in the freezer until needed. Because I bake the dough myself, I don't fuss with special bread machine recipes. I just put the ingredients in the machine following the recommended order. I let the dough rise in my machine and then take it out to form and bake. However, while it's kneading, I check it to see if it needs a bit of extra liquid or flour. You can't just dump everything in, walk away, and have a perfect loaf. There are so many variables that I think it's really necessary to check the dough while it's kneading. One advantage to baking it yourself is that if you find that, for some reason, the dough is still too dry or too wet, you can adjust it before sticking it into the oven. The large machine is perfect for marathon baking days. I've used it to make three different breads in one day. I'll get one recipe going and pull out the dough to rise in a bowl while I use the machine to mix up & knead another recipe. Then I'll do the same thing. Only the last recipe made will actually rise in the machine. That way I can get almost a month's worth of sandwich & breakfast breads baked in just one day. I also use it for kneading sourdough bread. But I take that dough out and let it rise on its own, many times overnight. The instruction manual for the Zojirushi gives the times for the different processes (pre-heating, kneading, add-ins, rising) so I just set my kitchen timer a few minutes past the beginning of the kneading cycle to check the dough. Then I set the timer again for the beginning of the rise. I usually rub a bit of oil on my hands and dab the top of the dough ball so it won't dry out during the machine rise. I make pizza dough in it all the time and let it rise in the machine unless I'm doing one of my marathons. I think using the full operation, from pre-heat to final raise, probably takes longer than if you just took the dough out and let it rise on its own. Before I got the bread machine, I either made bread by hand or using my food processor. There was nothing wrong with those methods. The thing the machine did for me was allow me to make larger quantities of bread products at one time to accommodate my husband's dietary requirements....See Morexp Appliances: Please Help me choose Appliances (Mix and Match)
Comments (6)I have the KA French door with no water or ice on door as we just didn't ever use it and on our last ancient fridge it was the first thing to break although after many years. I don't mind going into the drawer for the ice at all because they provide a nice scoop and you can just quickly scoop a big amount of ice and be done with it. There is ice water spout inside the fridge on the side wall. I didn't want to sacrifice fridge space to have it on the door but everyone has different needs and wants. I have been happy with my KA and have had it for about two years plus. It's stainless and once I got the hang of how to keep it looking good I love it. I have stayed in condos on vacation that have all GE and I was very impressed with the appliances. The dishwashers did a great job and I liked the washer and dryer so much I sold my Bravos Maytag set that I loathed and got a GE front load that I love : ) My sister did a huge kitchen reno and has the GE ovens and she is happy with them. I have to tell you there really isn't that much difference in appliances unless you get up in the stratosphere of price and even then they all keep food cold, freeze ice, cook food. If you have a limited budget just stay in a price range that works for you and don't get too caught up in worrying about this that and the other thing. I admire you for trying to keep it in the 3K range but I don't see how you are going to be able to do that with the number of appliances you need and the brands you are looking at. I am wishing you all the best and absolutely YES I would say that the counter depth is definitely worth it. It made such a difference in my kitchen with not sticking out in the pathway and gave us so much more room and utility. We have a small fridge in the basement for overflow and still since our family is small I have plenty of room. Sometimes the freezer can be a problem but with the extra space in the other fridge it's workable....See MoreIs it tacky to mix appliance brands?
Comments (36)friedajune, the ice maker in the freezer failed at about the 2 year mark and it was approximately $800 to fix (I was lucky the warranty applied). With the fridge, there is a huge temperature difference between the top shelf and the bottom shelf.... about 12-14 degrees, so when the bottom shelf registers 38 degrees, the top shelf is well below freezing. They replaced everything over the course of 3 months or so and finally they replaced the fridge, but I have exactly the same problem. I'm not sure what my next steps will be. One of the other issues with the old fridge was that produce wasn't keeping very well (as in my Kenmore did a better job). I've only had the new fridge for a couple of weeks, so I'm still monitoring it....See Morebronwynsmom
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