Hi Sorry about your fire - that sounds awful. And sorry for long response. I'm in similar appliance hunting mode and trying to pick the best appliance package for under $14K. We could probably pay more but already feel like our kitchen project is out of financial control and costing more than i ever thought! So what i did is that i really like the advantium and i like the bosch dw (thermador is same). Really all i want is the culinary rack (3rd) in DW so that limits the model #s. KA offers this as well. Miele - i just don't love for the price. The thermador package didn't work for me because i really wanted the advantium as my second oven (and thermador doesn't have equivalent). Plus the free DW isn't the one with the third rack. (you can pay $500 to upgrade to that one though) Bosch is offering 15% rebate by mail if you buy at least 3 800 series appliances. And monogram is offering $1000 instant rebate if you buy a cook/rangetop, oven, and hood. With my current quote that i am considering, I'm getting about $2300 off total by combining those 2 offers for 6 pieces (mg rangetop, mg advantium, mg hood, bs dw, bs fridge, bs single oven). Looking at your appliances here are my immediate thoughts: if price is no object subzero makes the best fridges if not antiquated stylewise. They are so solid. i have one that 23 years old and it runs great and still looks good. the service has been good. but i can't spend 2/3 of my budget on one appliance! wolf is good and stylish but i found the specs to be better other places: monogram then thermador - and cheaper. don't do downdraft ventilation if you can avoid it. look at hood companies - vent a hood, best hood. they are nice. my friend has a samsung fridge and its beautiful but the plastic is breaking and she doesnt recommend it. i like the electrolux ovens. very cool. but no package options. bosch and thermador are very similar if not the same for some products. i'm trying to figure out if the bosch 800 series oven i'm looking at is the same as the massterpiece thermador oven at a lower price. thermador is higher end brand than bosch. gaggenau is even higher end. rangetops are really nice - more burners and higher output and in monogram all are the same. but you lose a drawer underneath. i'm coming to the conclusion that the oven problems that some are reporting is due to fancy electronics being destroyed by self clean. thermador and monogram get terrible reviews here for ovens. with equal price and specs i would go with the subzero and wolf (i know this isn't true - sorry!). I would doubecheck what you are getting for free. it may be low end compared to everything else you are getting.

Here's the thing.. If a buyer is very particular, then they will likely replace whatever was there. We just bought a new house and we went into it assuming we'd replace at least the range since I'm pretty picky about the cooktop and my wife is picky about the oven. We have some really good friends who is also our real estate agent(s).. it's a family business. They always tell us that nobody walks away from a deal because they don't like the brand of the appliances. It can certainly affect purchase price but it's typically not a deal breaker. For resale, you want something that looks nice at a decent price. Now, if you plan to "take it with you" and leave a gaping hole in the kitchen, that might pose a problem. I think you have two choices. Buy a cheaper range and fridge you wouldn't mind walking away from and live with it for however long it takes for you to sell. Then just buy new appliances when you move. The second option is to buy the range and fridge that you love and plan to take them with you. Then when it comes time to sell, put them in storage and buy something cheap that looks decent. Which way you go depends on what stage you are at. Are you actively looking for a new place and plan to sell when you find a new home? Is your house already on the market or going to go on the market soon? Is the 90% selling and 10% staying because you don't know if you can sell your house or is it because you haven't made the decision to move yet? If you don't sell now, how long (minimum) are you going to wait before trying again? My wife and I planned to move 2 years ago and when it didn't work out, we decided to do some work on the house including new cooktop. At that point, we decided it'd be at least two years before we tried again. We put some money into the house that would both improve our resale value and make living there more enjoyable. The most frivolous item, from a resale value perspective, was probably the cooktop since we replaced a 6 burner Viking with a 5 burner Bluestar. I just couldn't take the old cooktop anymore and we decided it was worth the money to make those two (or more) years easier. Forward two years to today. Old house sold in 4 days partially do to the upgrades we did. I'm sure if we'd kept the viking that wouldn't have changed but I avoided two years of frustration with the old cooktop. Unless you've already found a new place, I'd nix the idea of taking your appliances with you. There's just no way for you to know if they will work or if it's what you want. If you find a place that has a kitchen big enough to accommodate a 36" range, what will you do with the old one. I'd say live with what you've got or buy something that you can leave behind. Also, let us know what you've got now. It may not be worth buying anything at all if you are almost certain to sell.

It's immediate w/ responsive cookware, anyway. Cast iron doesn't cool down quickly w/ any heat source! I had induction in my kitchen and will always pick it over the other options unless I can install a gas hob for the rare times it would be convenient. The lows and highs are comparable, lows often superior, to gas adjustments. FAR less ambient heat around the cooking area. Easier cleaning. Cleaner air w/o combustion by-products from the appliance. Canning and woking have limits, which is why I want to try woking over the grill...after trying a pizza oven on the grill ;) See if you can play w/ one to help make your decision. I like Bosch for d/ws and will be putting at least one in my remodeled kitchen. I don't mind waiting for plastics to dry. Refrigerators seem to have disappointments across the board. I think it's luck of the draw.

I agree with much of the advice given already. We did a complete gut job remodel of our 1920 colonial revival home this past summer. My appliances - 36" Wolf dual fuel with center griddle 2 sub-zeros, 1 fridge and 1 freezer, placed on different walls (I can't remember the sizes) built-in under counter dual zone beverage fridge Bosch dishwasher Microwave is inside a cabinet, I think its a GE. My thoughts - I'll start by saying I was a real estate appraiser for many years and the advice to know your market is spot-on. The industrial range look might be popular in one area but comes across as too exotic in others. People seem to either love or are perplexed by my range choice. I agree with the advice of sticking to standard sizes to appeal to future buyers. I cook, at minimum, two meals per day from scratch and entertain often. My husband (who doesn't even know how to operate the new range) wanted a 48" but I stuck to my guns and went with a 36". I am very happy with the size and have yet to regret not up-sizing to the 48". Do not scrimp on the exhaust system. Wolf/Viking/etc range put out a lot of heat. We are in the construction business and I got lots of valuable advice from peers. All my designer contacts suggested counter depth fridges. This might be region-specific. I love my subzero. Its shallow enough that nothing gets lost (a problem with the old fridge) and the produce drawers have changed my life. Almost nothing goes to waste anymore.