We are making the same decision right now -- either sub zero or thermador for a 36" French Door. I'm leaning towards Thermador based on (i) price (cheaper to start, then factor in the free range hood and it beats the sub by a $3k or more); and (ii) some aesthetic aspects, like the integrated look, the LED column style lighting, and that it would match a touch better with a Thermador range (which includes a free dishwasher). Based on name along, and my support of American manufactured products, I wanted the sub, but it's really hard to justify the extra money, particularly when I already have a hard time justifying the extra spend over the price of a Samsung FD which worked just fine for me for 5 years. But I would love to hear if anyone has any other thoughts. When is the Sub Zero 42 inch French Door coming out? I see it in the design guide, so I assume sometime this year.

We chose the same size of Liebherr last year (2023) instead of the Sub-Zero. We chose Libeherr because: • L has supplied pharaceuticals and restaurants with refrigeration for decades. S is only residential. • L costs about 25% less than S. • L had a ~6 month lead-time vs ~12 months for S. • L manages temp and humidity better: the drawers get to 32F, Sub-zero drawer max is 34F. The lower temp keeps food fresher longer. L’s ”BioFresh Plus” drawer goes down to 28F. Both sets of drawers can be individually adjusted, Subzero’s cannot. • L interior has more stainless steel and better lighting. • L hinges look like they came off a 747 and seem more robust than the S hinges. • L has refridgeration in the doors. If you notice, the doors are not only stainless steel (vs plastic for most Sub-Zero), but there are also vents at the top and bottom of the door for cold air to pass through. We did have some issues with the L fridge and freezer; but they were quickly and professionaly recitifed under warranty.

Thank you, thanks to the Covid I was able to be onsite every day during the remodel. It was the most fun I have had in a long time and our contractor was amazing, I even DIY’d a central vacuum system since we brought the entire house down to the studs (taking pictures the entire way...which i would highly recommend to anyone as we were able to locate things, verify subs work, plus prove to inspector items were according to code that were now hidden). anyway, that’s off topic to your question. We gravitate toward peace and quiet and find the fan noise loud; part of the annoyance is the pitch is high so best way I can describe it would be: it’s similar to a leaf blower in pitch/tone with volume level slightly below lowest level of a range hood. And the hotter your oven cooking temperature the longer it remains running to cool down, I haven’t actually timed how long it stays on, but as an example if we bake something at 350 the fan runs for probably 15-20min after shutting down. It doesn’t help that our ovens face the dining room and with an open concept kitchen/living and just cased openings to the dining the sound echos a lot so we are considering options such as acoustic panels (https://www.acoustimac.com/acousticart). This is our first foray into high end appliances and had no idea the ovens had this “feature” so it was a bit disappointing when everything else is so nice...but our food comes out so much better and if you run the vent hood motor on medium or high setting it would totally drown out the oven fan, so there’s that solution i suppose, lol! Seriously, though, if we ever do another house I would seriously consider creating an oven alcove that helps reduce the noise and the direction it is thrown. another interesting discovery is there is a secondary fan that runs 24/7 (at least I assume as I have never not felt it running) that you can not hear and only barely feel a breeze when right up against the oven (comes out just between the upper oven and the control panel). It is cool air so it appears Thermador is vigilant about keeping the electronics from over heating even when off. finally, i forgot to mention how interesting the fridge/freezer column are in that you never hear the compressor kick on like a “run of the mill” fridge, just a fan kicks on very infrequently and only for about 30 seconds then quiet...oh and the ice cubes, love the pyramid shaped cubes and the fact they don’t stick/melt together (unless power goes out), but unfortunately almost an entire drawer is gobbled up by the bucket being centrally located and scoop off to one side for easy retrieval...but again we only have the 18” freezer column.

Thanks Michelle. My designer would like me to choose the appliances so he can proceed with the final specs on the cabinets. I heard the new Thermador ranges will be out in Jan 2019 from a salesman so that is a bit too far out. I wish there were some floor models available in the refrigeration as I do like what I have read about them thus far but again price is a bit more than I had budgeted out for the project. This is why I went with the counter-depth option for refrigeration given I can save a few thousand here and still have a decent range.