I'm searching for it now, but I remember reading a blog post about a woman who wanted coloured appliances, but that was out of her budget. She bought stainless appliances and had them professionally custom wrapped in vinyl (totally heat safe apparently) for around $400. It looked fantastic.

Here you go: http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2016/09/how-i-recolored-my-kitchen-appliances.html

Homepro, I did not know about the heat ratings, nor did any salesperson mention this, as they all know what I wanted to do. Thanks for the information. I'll need to read specs closely before proceeding.

softpunk, I remember reading that post about the vinyl! Thank you for reminding me. Now I'm calling some vinyl skin producers in Denver. And based on what the bloggers did, I think I'll feel better about buying a slide-in (stainless, gag) induction. GE has a slate freestanding induction, but slide-in was my number one criteria. The induction models with the bigger oven capacity and large windows have very little stainless, I know. But the refrigerator I'm replacing would have a huge expanse and I could not tolerate the smudges and fingerprints of a messy daughter and husband.

Stainless steel does not smudge as much as you think. You may want to go into a showroom with the messy kid in tow and let her at the fridge:-)

I like the idea of Vinyl wrapping the fridge. For the range, I would worry that the heat from the ovens will eventually cause problems for the unit.

I'm reading results from a Google search about this topic. Found this thread of the same question.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/induction-over-wall-oven-dsvw-vd~224368

Is it really so terrible to have a stainless steel range? I feel like you're setting up a lot of obstacles for yourself by not allowing stainless steel.

If it's rated to 900* I think you'd be fine with using the vinyl. I agree that a stainless range isn't terrible. I have one, but at some point maybe I'd wrap it in white vinyl. I totally understand the vast expanse of stainless on a fridge being objectionable. I don't like mine. I also don't like that mine isn't counter depth. But it's already 6 years old, so in 4 years when it self destructs I'll figure something else out. And lots of people vinyl wrap or even wall paper and paint their fridges without any problems.

Regarding not liking stainless, I am not a clean freak nor am I OCD. I AM the main person who cleans counters and messes when I find them when others have left the house. Do I hold those messy people accountable and ask them to clean their own messes? Yes. Do I get tired of being the cleaner? Yes. We even hired a cleaning crew bi-weekly. Everything I do to my house is designed to lower maintenance responsibilities, not increase them. Stainless appliances increases maintenance! And if I am going to pay $2K to $3K or more for induction, it would be great if there were finish choices but none exist so far in my price range.

Labdunbar,

I fully under lower maintenance. Unfortunately, the market does not agree with you. I would love color options on my appliances but they don't exist at a price range and in the products that I like. Miele introduced Truffle and White to its ovens and I am considering a white oven just for variation in the kitchen! There is a series of built in Fisher and Paykel fridges which I believe are more reasonably priced than other built in fridges that would allow the use of panels. Maybe look at those. There is a recent thread on this fridge on the forum. It is too new for many reviews but Fisher and Paykel appear to have had solid fridges with good reputations over the long haul.

Good luck in your search!

Your main issue with putting a cooktop over a wall oven will be clearances. Most wall ovens (if not all) are built with the assumption that nothing is on top of them. Hence the control panel intrudes several inches into the cabinet. I remember someone having this issue in that the cooktop could not be dropped in without banging into the oven cover that intruded about an inch into the space required for the cooktop.

you will have to look at the 'naked' oven and see how far the panel intrudes into the cooktop space, as well as how far the cooktop goes into the cabinet (depth minus counter top thickness and cabinet top, if any).

Excess heat might require that you ventilate the cabinet. Many of the European induction tops talk about this since they contain fans. European cabinets typically stand off the floor on legs and sit away from the wall thus allowing air to flow behind them if you knotch the cabinet below the counter top. For us with toe kicks, one needs to either drill holes or cut them out a bit and put a dark screen in place. Some cabinets sit flat against the wall, some don't (the sidewalls protrude a bit beyond the back board).

If you're getting custom cabinets, have the cabinet maker make something for you. Otherwise you can, depending on your cabinet maker, find a base unit that will work or that could be modified. There are ones (or used to be) for drop-in ranges.

Thanks, everyone, for input. I appreciate the time you all took to respond. It seems like a whole lot of obstacles, issues and detailed research that I would need to do before going with that oven-over-cooktop scenario. And I am getting only older and the lower oven hits a nerve. (I already ruled out dual ovens for that reason). I know too that it's more money on an already modest budget. I did find some good pricing on cooktop/oven but combined with cabinetry and installation needs, it still exceeds the prices of GE, Jennaire, Kenmore and Frigidaire induction models. The only things I intended to change in my kitchen immediately are countertops/sink and range/OTR microwave. Modest and small in scope. I see a chunk of money going to a minor kitchen update, and a bigger chunk for perhaps a great trip to a place somewhere I haven't experienced before! I never wanted to be house-poor or house-vain, so I'll do my best to be happy for my little update.

I'm starting a kitchen remodel (new countertop, new backsplash, new sink and fixtures, new appliances, and cabinet refacing) and I'm starting by looking at appliances and I also really like the look of a cooktop over a wall oven with both being built into a cabinet. I currently have a freestanding gas range that I was planning on replacing with a slide in gas range but then, as I said, started thinking about the cooktop/oven look. I know that it costs more money to go this route and I have the extra added expense and work of needing to add a 220 circuit to power any electric oven that I may get if I go the cooktop/oven scenario as no decent, small footprint, gas wall ovens exist. Anyway, for what it's worth, in my research I found this chart of GE cooktops approved for installation above GE ranges. Good luck. BTW, I'm pretty much with you on stainless steel, I think that I'm going GE Slate.

Rob

http://www.geappliances.com/assets/downloads/cooktop-wall-oven-approved-installation-guide.pdf