Lets talk appliances!

**gardenmommy** · 12-02-2009, 08:04 PM

I did a search but didn't find quite what I was looking for.

I'd love to hear about your appliances and what you love/hate about them. Most specifically the brands and types and features rather than stainless steel versus black. I need to pick all new appliances and am so overwhelmed!

ETA...Does anybody have the sharp microwave drawer?

**KiKi'sMommy** · 12-02-2009, 08:16 PM

All of our kitchen appliances are LG, with the exception of our refrigerator, which is a Samsung. I LOVE our oven/glass top stove. It is convection, which is fantastic! The microwave is good, I like that it the move tray goes from side to side instead of in a circle, because I can put larger dishes in without them getting stuck.
Our dishwasher is okay. Not sure I would get it again. My parents have a Bosch and it does a fantastic job. I really like our refrigerator and would probably buy it again. My favorite features are the alarm that sounds when a door is left open and the dual compressor that kicks on when one side is open.
Our washer and dryer are both Bosch and I love them. I think if I had to buy new right now, I would get something with the steam setting, but I am not sure that is really that important.

**Bloomwood** · 12-02-2009, 08:58 PM

I am all over this! All of our appliances were put in/we started using May '09.

Bosch dishwasher: hate it. It doesn't drain well, the touchpad is too sensitive or not sensitive enough (it is either turning on when it senses me or I have to find just the right angle to turn it on), it is too small (my fault), the tines that hold stuff in place come off easily. I'll get a Miele next time.

Viking range/6-burner: It love the gas cook top but don't love the oven. It is wide but not so wide I can get 2 cookies sheets in at once. It is a big oven that wastes a ton of space. If I had to do it again, I'd get the 8 burner (or 6 with a grill?) that has that split double oven - a small side and a big side. I do like that it is dual fuel and I don't like that it doesn't tell me when it reaches the set temperature. I have a thermometer in there. i do like the convection feature.

Wall oven: GE Monogram. It's fantastic. I love that it has a digital display: I punch in what my temperature is and it shows what temperature it is as it heats up then beeps when it gets there. Again, I like the convection feature.

Microwave: GE Monogram. It's fine. It's big and holds our dinner plates.

Warming oven: GE Monogram. It works, but I don't use it that often. I'm glad I have it.

Fridge: Sub-zero. It's lovely. I don't feel like it's all that big, but I do feel like it keeps my food fresh better and longer than any other fridge. We have the model with the ice dispenser in the fridge door and I really like it.

I also love my insta-hot and my pot filler. Oh, and my industrial strength range hood - I'm notorious for smoking up the kitchen!!

I have an LG Steamwasher front loader and hate it. It has that mold in the gasket problem. Dryer is a POS we inherited with the house.

(are you going to ask about bathrooms? Two words: body jets

)

**pride&prejudice** · 12-03-2009, 05:13 AM

Considering we finished our kitchen last year (but now pictures until DH finishes all the tiny details...lol). We have all GE Profile in our kitchen. I got this recommendation from one of my LJ buddies who had just redone her kitchen a year or two before we started on ours.

Dishwasher - Love it. My LJ buddy had recommended it because it has an option where you can put a bottle of detergent in and it self adjusts the amount you need based on water quality. We have to redo our water filter system in the next year or so, so for the time being this works perfectly. DH fell in love with it because of how quiet it is. I think you've seen pictures of our 1st floor layout, but we have an open kitchen/dining room/sitting area. I can sit down and watch TV without hearing the dishwasher at all. This is a big change considering our last house was larger, and the cheapo dishwasher that came with the house was so loud we could never turn it on till night or we were not there.

Counterdepth French door refrigerator with double drawer bottom freezer - For us the counter depth works perfectly because of the placement of our fridge (corner next to the entrance). It sucks because they have less space but are more $$. It has slide out drawers so I can push the top one back if I have taller items, love that. Also would never go back from french doors, love how I can fit bigger items in there if necessary. First time I've had a double freezer drawer, but love it. We had the bottom freezer before but there was a basket, and it seemed to be a waste of space. With this one the top one if perfect for small items I don't want getting lost at the bottom. DH is in love with the water dispenser (programmable), but that is his cup of tea.

Microwave - I don't really use it other than to melt butter, or heat up stuff. DH uses more than me, but it is good. We have ours above the stove rather than having a vent hood.

Convection wall oven - Even though it is a wall oven, we have it set up where the previous oven was, KWIM? I have pictures if you want. I love love love it! It even has a probe that you can set up to cook meat till it reaches a temperature you set. Plus you can lock the touch pad, which I love so that DD isn't playing with it. It also has where you can save recipes, etc.

Induction cooktop stove - Originally I wanted gas, but the house only has electricty, and then DH did some research on it and suggested induction. I was not so keen on it at first, but I love it now. It takes a bit to used to on cooking (it cooks faster than regular electric or gas) and the number scale. Since I cannot drink coffee now and have been drinking more tea, I love that the water is boiled super quick. Only think is that you have to make sure you have the right pots (I know you can test them by putting a magnet to them and if it sticks, it is good). For us that wasn't a problem getting new pots since we were still using ones that I had when I was in college. DH told me that they now have pads you put on the burners so that you can use pots you normally wouldn't be able to. Only think that gets to me is the touch pad. I have a love hate relationship with the touch pad, but the burners don't get hot if there isn't a pot on it, so it isn't a big deal if I accidentally turn the wrong burner on.

Washer and Dryer - Bosch 800 Nexxt series. A local store was having a great deal on them. I love them, but sometimes I overload the washer because it is a tiny bit smaller than the one I had at the old house. I love the sanitize and kids cycle that they have on there. The dryer that came with the house didn't have a delicate cycle, so I was happy to have that back. Oh and I forgot. The washer has a Eco cycel on it where you can wash at warm and hot and use the same amount of energy that you use for a cold wash.

Sorry if that got wordy! I know how overwhelming it can be, I think it took DH and I months to figure out the ones we wanted.

**jajacobsen** · 12-03-2009, 05:36 AM

Quickly without suggesting brands -

Convenction oven (fan assisted) I have had these in mu current and past house. LOVE THEM!

Front loading washer - I feel it gets the clothes so much cleaner. I had a no name brand in my old house which was a front loader and I do think it does a better job than the top loader top of the line Maytag that my husband had when we married (so we kept as it was "better"). I will go front loader next time.

**cactus** · 12-03-2009, 05:48 AM

We are going to need all new kitchen appliances eventually when we gut the kitchen (ugh) but we did just get a new w/d. We got the LG frontloaders about 2 months ago and I've been happy with them so far. I love how little water the washer uses -- I sort of knew this, but proof was when our latest water bill dropped by half. I haven't had a huge problem yet with the washer smelling or mildewing, but I sort of anticipate that since we live in a really humid climate and the machines are in the garage.

One installation note: make sure to put the dryer on the right and the washer on the left, if you can. Our hook-ups made that impossible, and now the doors open into each other which is really annoying when transferring clothes from washer to dryer.

**Bloomwood** · 12-03-2009, 07:20 AM

Originally Posted by cactus

One installation note: make sure to put the dryer on the right and the washer on the left, if you can. Our hook-ups made that impossible, and now the doors open into each other which is really annoying when transferring clothes from washer to dryer.

So true. I'm totally having my switch if/when we ever replace them.

**MsPeachy** · 12-03-2009, 07:21 AM

We have GE and they are okay. Our GE Profile Convection double wall oven is the best. I love having two ovens, the convection option is great and the probe feature is the best! The GE Profile fridge is okay. It does the job but overall I'm not a fan of the side-by-side as I don't like the small freezer side. Also, the ice maker/water filtration system can be wonky. We had to replace a part of the filter system ourselves after water stopped coming out and my mom's fridge has had ice-making problems since day one.

Washer/Dryer - I love my Fisher & Paykel top load washer as I'm not a fan of front loaders at all. Our dryer is the Maytag Drying Center which is sadly no longer made but I love having the upper drying cabinet.

I'm interested in hearing recs for dishwashers as our low-end GE is soooooo loud, not energy effecient, takes forever to wash, and has some water pump problem that causes it to sound like we're beating a sick walrus when it runs.

catcus - some dryer brands/models allow you to switch the door hinge side. Our Maytag dryer door opened the "wrong" way and my DH was able to change it (came with instructions even on how to do so)

**cactus** · 12-03-2009, 07:25 AM

MsPeachy, wow, I am such a dunce! I never even considered that you could move the doors. Duh. And thank you! I will look into it.

**kerrykate** · 12-03-2009, 07:57 AM

We bought a 1928 farmhouse back in January that my dh spent 8 months rehabing. So we got all new appliances at the end of the summer before we moved in.

W&D we got LG front loaders. I really like them so far, my favorite part about them is that they look like top loaders so the control panel is at the top back of the machines. It makes it nice that 17 month old DD can’t get to the buttons.

Cactus~ We had the same problem as you with the doors hitting each other until I realized that you can change around the door to the dryer so it opens from the other side, I did it myself and it was very easy. The manual has good directions.

Oven~ We got the Maytag Gemini freestanding double oven. Love, love, love it. I can't say enough good things about it! The smaller top oven heats to 450in 3 mins! It has great features.

Refrigerator~ Maytag French door full depth Ice2o. I really like the size and all the features it has, door & temp alarm, vacation mode, huge meat/cheese sliding drawer. But over the last couple months the refrigerator has started to freeze some beverages and food. I need to have someone come out and look at it I just haven't gotten around to it...

Microwave~ Maytag over the range microwave. It's been a wonderful microwave so far. It has the wide glide tray that moves back and forth instead of in a circle, it's a great feature.

Dishwasher~ Maytag jetclean talltub. It's ok, I think the racks feel kind of flimsy. Usually does a pretty good job cleaning the dishes and it's very quiet.