Okay my friends. I am building a house with my girlfriend. We have $6500 to spend on appliances. Not a good amount as we need a range, a built in wall oven and microwave, a hood for over the range, a dishwasher and fridge. I’m guessing will go over budget. It’s a huge entertaining kitchen, hence the extra wall oven. I’m seeking advice and if we should stick to same brand for all.

Same brand would be a huge coincidence and not a requirement at all for me.

I would identify best of breed for my intended purposes for each appliance. I would allocate a certain percentage (very roughly) of budget based on priority (similar to allocating a large portion of AV budget to speakers).

In my mind, I would prioritize range, fridge, dishwasher, hood, oven, microwave. Probably $2k for range, $1K for fridge, $1k for washer, $1k for hood, $1k for oven, $500 for microwave.

Fridgidaire sucks! That is what we went with when we built the house. All have since died in under 6 years except the fridge. Dishwasher is Bosch and is awesome went with Maytag for the others and have been quite happy and reasonably priced.
Fridges are expensive so hoping it holds out.

When We built 5 years ago I shopped local mom and pop shops, And the 2 brands we decided on both offered discounts if we selected the same brand throughout . The local GE dealer offered up a free extended warranty.

If she suggests an ice maker, I'd start worrying about the kidneys.

It's cool to have seen you go through lows of divorce, meeting the parents, now buying a home.

Don't know a thing about appliances, pretty sure they all suck nowadays. Good luck to the two of you.

If you're looking at large fancy ranges, look at larger than 36". I don't know what it is about 36" ranges and hoods, but they seemed to be pricier than their larger counterparts.

Simon’s in Franklin has a decent selection of Bosch dishwashers for very reasonable prices, as well as other appliances and furnishings. We bought a higher-end Bosch dw for less than the orange chain was selling the low end ones for. Plus they’re a small business.

Does Sears still have their appliance outlet at Rte 9 & 20 where the Christmas Tree Shops store is? Small dinger on the side of a $1700 fridge ended up net to me $650. And is wasn’t in a spot you could see when it was slid into the space.

I moved in my new house in June. We went with Stainless Steel Jenn Air appliances. 36" gas cooktop, Double Oven, microwave, dishwasher, and range hood. We spent about $6k. We kept the fridge from the old house.

Good appliances are not cheap. Cheap appliances are not good...

It is very sad appliances made today do not last anything near what appliances made a long time ago lasted.

I will be in the same boat in a few years needing to buy new appliances so I will be watching this thread.

This is what I would do if were to do this again.

Avoid a lot of flashy gee-gaws.

Start with the range. Get something large, functional, and easy to clean. Get a nice, powerful range hood. Make sure the exhaust piping is sized correctly for the exhaust fan.

Get a good functional double oven. Get a second Bosch dishwasher if you have the space. Don't get the top of the line Bosch, get a lesser model. Fancy racks look great, but simpler racks generally last longer.

Get a Maytag Gold fridge/freezer.

Think about the traffic patterns of cooking for entertaining, and build about twice as many cabinets as you think you can afford.

If stainless is in style, buy white appliances. I did that for my mother and father's house. I found a nice Thermador range and vent hood, and double oven, brand new, cheap on Ebay.

For a counter top, they used Caesarstone with a nice Caesarstone backstop behind the cooktop. The kitchen was torn out and completely rebuilt in 2007. The Caesarstone still looks brand new.

There often is a discount when you equip the whole kitchen with the same brand...you have to decide if the discount is worth the compromise.

I'd also prioritize based on usage.
The appliance I use every day is the frig, so I'd spend extra money on getting the "right one". I'm partial to the dutch door style...which goes along with the "entertaining kitchen."

Next would be the microwave. Luckily they aren't very expensive, unless you want one that also browns.

In an "entertaining kitchen" the range and hood will always be the showpiece; you have to decide on the "look" you're going for, arrangement of burners, and location of controls (I'd recommend along the side or along the front. 36" really is a good size

Go to a couple of the local appliance stores and see if you can score some scratch and dent stuff. I bought a high end fridge for our home (way more expensive than I was shopping for) that had a scratch on the right side of the cabinet (the side going up against a wall that no one will ever see) for something like 40% off retail. You can sometimes score some real savings if you're willing to be flexible and creative.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
Go to a couple of the local appliance stores and see if you can score some scratch and dent stuff. I bought a high end fridge for our home (way more expensive than I was shopping for) that had a scratch on the right side of the cabinet (the side going up against a wall that no one will ever see) for something like 40% off retail. You can sometimes score some real savings if you're willing to be flexible and creative.

This is great advice. My parents needed a cabinet-depth fridge for their kitchen. It took a few months, but they found a nice cabinet-depth Maytag Gold with a dent in the side. No one could see the dent once the fridge was slid into place. They saved at least $600, maybe $800, and had the full factory warranty.

We just did a kitchen remodel. Wound up going with all GE appliances. We walked into the appliance store and the wife instantly said that's the color I want! It was a slate stainless. Proprietary color to GE so that made it easy. I think most of the big box store brands are going to be pretty equally mid to low quality builds using cheap parts.

Were it me I would have gone with all commercial kitchen appliances but that gets a might spendy. As it was I think we dropped about what you are looking to spend.

Where I really got the sticker shock was on the kitchen sink. Went with the farmhouse apron sink in enameled cast iron. Upwards of 2 grand!!

I built my own house 21 yrs ago.
I got all GE appliances.
Dishwasher was junk after 4 yrs and replaced with Bosch. Still working.
Microwave was replaced after 8 yrs.
Fridge lasted 19 and range (gas) is still in service , only replacing the igniter twice.

WHIRLPOOL/MAYTAG/KITCHEN-AID, the rest are junk, Bosch if you want to stray from those three for the dishwasher.

Most of the components are built in the same place. Ownership of various brands changes hands every 3-4 years.

You essentially roll the dice anytime you buy a stove or refrigerator.

 
I would forget about a built-in oven. They are hard to get to and expensive to fix. I you're already going with a range, get one with a good convection oven in it. Add in an open space in your cabinetry for a microwave (again not built in, just a shelf, so you can easily replace the microwave easily when it goes tits up).
 
I posted this picture originally in the "dogs'" thread, but behind the Wolfhound you can see some mods I made. We originally had a smooth cooktop where the range is now, with a cabinet underneath (drawer and pair of doors). The built-in was immediately to the right, with an oven and microwave built in and one drawer below. When the microwave went and we discovered how expensive it was to replace or fix, we bought the range you see now, with a convection oven. I removed the cabinet that held the cooktop to make a space for the range, took off the door and drawers and used them to fill in the big hole the built-in left behind. I left an open space at the top with just a shelf for the microwave. I put the drawer from the old cabinet into the lower space as well (can't see that in the picture, though). This set up is much more future serviceable.
 

One note about going same brand vs. different brands is color and style.

It's most prevalent in the stainless versions, but even white will vary in hue between companies. They will usually stay true from lint to line and by year, so that makes upgrading one piece at a time more likely to stay in the same company.

I have stainless Whirlpool everything in my kitchen (came this way when we bought the house). A friend of ours decided to upgrade her kitchen and bout 2 pieces Whirlpool, 1 Frigidaire, and 1 piece GE.
Once installed, the shade and texture differences were very noticeable to me. My MIL had to replace her fridge in her all white kitchen, and ran in to a similar deal, so much so that she sent the replacement fridge back and switched to the same brand of stove to get a better match.

Someone elese mentioned staying away from bells and whistles, and I'll agree with that. Our Whirlpool range/oven has a flat top and convection features, but to get that sleek look and fancy control options, it has an internal fan to cool the motherboard during oven use (the board sits on top of the oven box!). If that fan slows down due to buildup it will shut down the oven function. Not so great when you are in the middle of cooking a meal!

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
If she suggests an ice maker, I'd start worrying about the kidneys.

It's cool to have seen you go through lows of divorce, meeting the parents, now buying a home.

Don't know a thing about appliances, pretty sure they all suck nowadays. Good luck to the two of you.

Especially if she suggests dual ice makers and building in the middle of nowhere where you can't get internet.