How to Choose The Best Kitchen Appliances

Create an Appliance List for Your Perfect Kitchen Remodel

Has your outdated dishwasher started to fail you? Do the buttons or knobs on your refrigerator, oven, or microwave just don’t work like they use too? Declining kitchen appliances can often develop into a full swing kitchen remodel. As a homeowner, you may want to update the whole kitchen instead of trying to salvage existing and outdated appliances. Whether it is out of need or desire to remodel, your kitchen appliances are a very important decision.

Get Started With Choosing The Right Kitchen Appliances

There are many brands to consider when selecting the right appliances, but don’t focus too much energy on that in the beginning. Instead, shift the idea to how these appliances can enhance the overall function of your kitchen. Asking yourself some simple questions will assist you in narrowing down the choices of kitchen appliances that will function best in your well-designed kitchen.

Consider the following:

How often do you fry, cook, roast, or bake?
How many people are you usually feeding?
What are some of your favorite things to cook or bake?
What do you wish you had the ability to cook, but can’t currently?
Do you need more storage for cookware?
How often do you go grocery shopping?
If and when is it likely your eating and cooking habits may change?
How do you clean?

Once you have some general ideas for use and storage needs, you can focus on one aspect, or appliance, at a time.

What Type of Cooking Surface Do You Prefer?

When thinking about a cooking surface, consider these questions:

Does four burners suffice for your cooking surface?
Would you use a griddle if you had one?
Does your current cooking surface have a feature you cannot live without that we need to incorporate in your new kitchen?
Do you prefer cooking with electric or gas?
Have you considered another heat source, such as induction?

Once the cooking surface is selected, the ventilation system can be specified to best route air, heat and aroma to the outside.

Kitchen Ovens

Kitchen ovens are a vital part of any kitchen. Consider these questions when choosing a kitchen oven that is right for you:

Would you prefer or even benefit from having two ovens?
How often do you bake?
What types of foods are you baking or roasting in your oven?
Do you want to expand your roasting, broiling, or baking skills? Is steam an option you’d like to consider?

Microwaves

Microwaves are another common kitchen appliance. When choosing a microwave, as well as a location for your microwave, consider these questions:

How often do you use the microwave?
Do you use your microwave for cooking, thawing, warming, reheating, or just to pop a bag of popcorn?
Who uses it most?
Where is the best location for the main users; above, at, or below the counter?

Refrigerators

One of the most used and, debatably, most loved appliances in the home is your refrigerator. Your refrigerator not only plays an important role in your home’s kitchen design but they’re also an essential part of your family’s everyday life. Considering the large role that your refrigerator plays, think about these questions when planning your next refrigerator purchase:

Do you buy a lot of food that needs some type of refrigeration?
Do you buy in bulk?
Do you store a lot in the freezer?
Do you buy more fresh produce than frozen?
Do you need more or less capacity for food and beverage storage than your current refrigerator?

Kitchen Sinks

Taking up about sixty percent of the time spent in the kitchen, the kitchen sink is known as the kitchen’s workspace. Given everything from food prep to washing your hands, the best kitchen sink design should allow these tasks to be performed as efficiently as possible. When searching for your next kitchen sink design, consider the following:

What type of sink do you have now and how do you use it?
Would a single or double bowl sink work better for you?
Do you use hand wash cookware such as pans, pots, and sheets
Do you wash a lot of produce?
Would you prefer a garbage disposal in a separate bowl?

Equally important to cleaning is the dishwasher. While there are still some people who enjoy washing their dishes by hand, most people still prefer the convenience of a dishwasher. Despite the fact that dishwashers can obviously save you time, while they’re initially more expensive, they actually save money in the long run. When planning your next kitchen remodel, consider the following for incorporating a dishwasher:

How often do you run the dishwasher?
Do you entertain often and in large groups?
What do you insist on washing by hand?
Can your better place settings, such as grandmother’s china used at Christmas or Thanksgiving, be washed in the dishwasher?
Would you benefit from having two dishwashers?

Luxury Kitchen Appliances

As you contemplate these questions and begin to form your kitchen appliance list, consider luxury appliances as well that could elevate your home kitchen experience.

Convection Steam Ovens

Convection steam ovens are the modern replacement for microwaves. They cook with moist heat that offers faster preheating time, that is better tasting because it preserves color, texture, and flavor without drying out your meal; unlike a microwave, convection steam ovens steam a product that tastes as if it was made fresh in a restaurant kitchen.

Coffee Bars

Are you a coffee lover? What about a built-in coffee system? For some, coffee is a necessity and a coffee system that lives in your home is like having a personal Starbucks right in your very own kitchen. Built directly into a cabinetry unit that seamlessly allows you to grind, brew, and froth your perfect cup of coffee.

Kitchen Design and Remodeling in Richmond: Getting Started

As you explore the answers to these questions, you might find that more resolutions begin to pop-up as a result. At Jennifer Duncan CKD your experienced certified kitchen designer can help you further develop your appliance list into the remodeled kitchen of your dreams. From the start of the process to the delivered results of your kitchen, we are here to help, develop, and implement every step of the way to making your dreams a reality.

When you’re ready, we look forward to learning about your thoughtful list and working with you in the near future to bring you your dream kitchen remodel. Contact Jennifer Duncan CKD to get started.