For me, appliances was the highest importance in the kitchen after layout. I wanted control and flexibility and peformance from all of my appliances. Definitely function over form. I would suggest that you look at how you plan to use the equipment and how the features can help you cook better and your family's enjoyment of food and eating more pleasurable. That being said, I also bargain hunted majorly and sometimes a good deal on ebay or something would force the choice. Yur mileage may vary. Cooktops - 36in induction. Shortlist = Miele or Gaggenau. Bought Gagg display model induction on ebay. Single gas woktop - Miele or gaggenau. Bought Gagg on closeout. Really wanted one gas burner with high BTU for wok cooking etc. Refrigerator - Wanted Dual compressor. And a lot of control on the produce bins. We eat a lot of varieties of vegetables and I wanted to be able to control the moisture levels and the temperature. Decided on 30in counterdepth all fridge by Miele. Counterdepth keeps things visible and avoid science experiments in the fridge. Also liked Liebherr and the SZ with the glass door. Separate Freezer drawer by SZ. I wanted a bit of counter next to the fridge as a landing zone and went with a freezer drawer. Microwave - Preferred a good quality separate unit on a shelf as this is the appliance that is used most and often needs replacement before others. Panasonic with invertor. Warming drawer - Preferred one with low temps for bread proofing and moisture control to keep crisp foods warm and crisp. GE profile warming drawer from CL (The manual and functions are identical to Monogram) Ovens - I am never going to cook a massive turkey. But really wanted a steam convection. Went with 24in Gagg Combi steam and 27in Gagg convection. Dishwasher - Miele La Perla on closeout. Wanted the better drying that the models that automatically open the door provide. Also a smaller single second dishwahser by Fisher Paykel. Hood - Wanted a really high CFM that is not too loud. Cook a lot of "fragrant" ethnic food and have cooks with hearing issues. Abakka roof mounted 1600 CFM blower with the quiet kit. The hood has baffles that can be popped off and tossed into the dishwasher.

I am considering the CS1200. I called someone that installs them. His main negative was that the fridge may have a tendency to tip forward because it's very light weight. It also tends to move when opening and closing the door. In other words, it's a challenge to keep it held in one place. Is this something any of the owners have experienced? He said sometimes there's a bracket to hold them in place, but that would mean the fridge has to be placed close to the back wall. Placing it close to the back wall may be not work for me because the cut out for the fridge in my house is actually quite wide and deep. But I like small things...I think the stuff that's being sold these days is too big.

April, I understand your goals - get the most kitchen you possibly can with your reno dollars - but I think you're crowding too much into your space, reducing ease of function with these versions. My feedback is blunt, sorry, but I want to see you get the most functional kitchen you can for your money. Versions 1 & 2: You've lengthened the table and right hand bench to 58" or 60" (is that grey thing a 2" spacer?), which means that there's only a 12" or 14" gap between table and 24" deep pantry for someone to slide into the left hand bench. That's tight. I can't determine the width of the table but I recommend one no wider than 42" to give you enough room for benches with padding or pillows. These two versions also only give you a 34" to 36" aisle between peninsula and right hand bench and the full sized fridge across the aisle. I'm assuming your fridge is 36" deep - box, doors, air gap and possibly handles included in that measurement. Even if your fridge is slightly shallower, that's still a pinch point, potentially impassable when the fridge doors are opened. You wrote that one of your beefs with your current kitchen is that traffic jams up in the narrow aisle around the fridge. You're going to recreate that same frustrating scenario with versions 1 & 2. Version 1: I'm not sure what purpose a 12" side cabinet will serve on the left side of the fridge, other than to take away valuable counter space between fridge and range. Because you're opting for a 33" Susan, not a 36", you will only have 9" between sink and open oven door. In other words, no one can be at the sink when you open the oven door. That limits your kitchen to a one-cook kitchen. I thought one of your goals was to create a kitchen that could accommodate multiple cooks during family gatherings. Simple fixes: Move the fridge to the left end of that run and add the 12" from that cab to the cab between fridge and range. Shorten the right hand bench and table to 48", eliminate the peninsula, move the oven cab to the left of the DW, change the 33" Susan to a 36" Susan and put a 30" cabinet where the oven cab was. Hmmm, one problem with this is that you now have the oven doors opening right behind anyone seated in the right hand bench. If someone leaned back or flung their hair back ... well, that could be a problem. You can address this issue with a high backed bench. Version 2: The sink/DW area has ample room but it's at the cost of the fridge/range & oven side. 9" on either side of the range doesn't provide enough room to set a pot down or enough clearance for many pot handles, nor is 9" wide cabinet space that useful. I think you'll find this a frustrating set-up. Simple fixes: I've never used corner Susans but I've seen enough posts here that one with too small an opening is frustrating to use. If you eliminate the peninsula in this version, you have enough room to swap a 33" Susan for a 36" Susan. However, that does not address the space issues of the fridge/range, oven wall. I don't think this plan is a viable option. Version 3: Part of your sink will extend beyond the window. Will that bother you? Based on comments made here, it does bother the majority of people. They want to see a sink under a window or not under a window, not partially under a window. If I'm following your key correctly and doing my math correctly, the banquette is version 3 is only large enough for 2 people, one on each side of the table. Is that your intention? I fear you're trying to make this large enough for 4 people but it really isn't. The corner is unusable, which means the bench along the sink wall is only 52" long. That's enough room for 2 people - each need 24" of room - but that leaves only a 4" gap for people to slide onto the bench. Unless you're really, really skinny - skinnier than Twiggy (that dates me) or Kate Moss (for the younger crowd) - that's not possible. Easy fixes: Move the fridge down, eliminating the 9" cabinet. Exchange the lazy Charlie (never heard this term before, funny!) for a 36" wide Susan, which puts the sink under the window. Put a 30" cab where you show a 24" cab in your plan. Go with a 36" square table to create a banquette for 2 with room for people to slide onto the bench. To seat 3, reduce the pantry to 36", lengthen the bench on that wall to 94", and opt for a rectangular table, 36" x 52" - an odd size so likely custom. I realize that in one of my earlier plans, I had suggested a 60" long table but that was when I was incorrectly remembering that a table can overlap a bench by 6", not 4" or 5". I also suggested that 18" was enough room to slide onto the bench because the pantry in that plan was only 18" deep, not 24", which does make a difference. You may be able to make 18" work between table and 24" deep pantry - you'll have to do a mock-up. None of these plans show the doorways moving. Is that beyond your budget? That's understandable but it does make squeezing everything into your space a challenge. ;-) Here's an idea to try: This pretty much reflects the changes I suggested for your version 1 and for the banquette area. The key thing I did in this plan was to move the ovens to the top left corner with a 26" cab next to it. You can store baking supplies, pans, etc in this cab, plus the counter gives you landing space for items coming from the ovens. I moved the pantry to the left of the DW, which means it shrinks from 48" to 32", unfortunately, but it no longer has to house the MW - that's in an upper cab on the DR wall - so that helps. Plus some of the items you may have stored in the pantry can now be stored in the cabinet next to the ovens. You should end up with about the same amount of storage as before. This lay-out will allow more than one person to work in your kitchen. The 42" x 48" table overhangs the bench by 4" on each side. You can add additional storage if you add a drawer to the right hand bench.

Well, I placed my order. I went with samsung's counter depth french door model. I was able to see it in person and I believe I will be able to open the right door far enough to access the right vegetable bin pretty well, though cleaning beneath it will require moving the refrigerator. In the end I was swayed by it being counter depth--I really didn't want the refrigerator sticking out a bunch from the cabinet box. It had mostly very good reviews online. Also it was a Black Friday special so I got it for under 1k, which fit my budget nicely. I do have thirty days after delivery to return so if it is a dreadful mistake, I have some remedy. Thanks for all the suggestions and help trying to sort out this challenging refrigerator space.