A Guide To Choosing Appliances For A Home Renovation

A kitchen remodel is an exciting home renovation project. It's fun choosing your cabinets, flooring, countertops, and tile. Designing your ideal dream kitchen is a project that can reflect your aesthetics and creative vision. One of the highlights of any kitchen remodel, especially if you love to cook, is appliance shopping.

Home Renovation Kitchen Ideas

If you love to cook, your kitchen is where you entertain friends, cook meals for your family and make memories. Like any endeavor, working with the right appliances can make the job enjoyable and easier. Beautiful professional level ranges, refrigerators, and dishwashers can help you step up your game. Chances are, you've been planning and anticipating your new kitchen for a long time. You've poured over sites like Houzz and all of the design magazines researching appliances in anticipation. It can be time-consuming, but research is the right first step to take when it comes to choosing the best of the best in appliances for your home renovation.

Let's look at some information you should gather before you start your home renovation.  Here are some talking points to discuss with your design build contractor or kitchen designer to determine the best fit for your needs.

Do Professional Level Appliances Make A Difference?

The short answer is yes! Spending the money for pro level appliances buys you more cooking options, like timed-start ovens, temperature probes to ensure the perfect roast every time, as well as quality and durability. Lower priced appliances may not offer all of the advantages and options that make cooking more fun, creative and efficient. Professional level ranges offer 40 or 6 burners along with a griddle, multi-setting convection oven and more. They can be set to cook your meals so that when your family comes through the door, it's time to eat. And if you're late, they'll even keep it warm for you! Look for quality makers like Viking, Wolf and GE Monogram. Speak with your designer; they'll have the scoop on reliability.

Cooktop BTUs, What Do You Need?

BTUs or British Thermal Units is a measure of heat produced by natural gas burners. Commercial cooktops can provide maximum heat at every burner for high-heat cooking, but the best professional level cooktops have multiple options like smaller burners for keeping delicate foods warm without burning. Look for a variety of sizes. Burner options are important, especially if you'll be cooking multiple items at the same time. Know each burners maximum BTUs. You'll want some that can stay low, and at least one that can crank out 12,000 to 18,000 BTUs for boiling large pots of water for potatoes or pasta.

Double Oven, Yes or No?

If you love to entertain, cook large family meals and have the space, a double oven can be a godsend. Unfortunately, unless you have the space for a 60-inch range, that means separating the cooktop and oven. If you only use it during the holidays, you can probably make due with a single oven and a convection microwave.

Is a Warming Drawer Worth The Investment?

Again, if you have the space! It's a great convenience in the kitchen. You'll use it when entertaining, in the morning to keep breakfast eggs warm while the kids are in the shower and when cooking multiple course meals for friends. If space is an issue, consider buying a larger microwave with a built-in warming function instead.

Choosing Your Refrigerator: It's a “Cooking” Appliance Too!

Your refrigerator is one of the most important decisions you'll make when it comes to choosing appliances for your home renovation project. Consider your lifestyle when choosing your refrigerator. If you love to make large meals and freeze leftovers to eat all week, a side-by-side might be the best choice. You'll need to make your decision when designing your space. A side-by-side can take up a lot of real estate in the kitchen. If you don't have the room, consider a smaller fridge and add a freezer door or two. They aren't as deep as a bottom mounted freezer, but you'll have plenty of space for freezing soups, sauces and stocks. Today, you have other conveniences like see through doors, four door refrigerators where you can assign a space as an extra freezer if you need it, even refrigerators that keep track of your supplies making shopping easier. Do your research!

Plan Your Home Renovation, Know Any Space Limitations and Do Your Research!

Work closely with your kitchen designer and design build contractor when planning your home renovation and kitchen layout. You'll need to decide the placement and sizes of your appliances, and this can be a limiting factor in your choices. For example, a professional range is usually wider than a standard kitchen range. They can range from 36” up to 60” wide compared to the typical 30” wide consumer range. Make sure you have the space before you buy!

The same holds true for refrigerators. Your fridge needs to fit your space. Too big or too small and it just won't work. If you've decided that double wall ovens are a must have, make sure you have the space to comfortably house a cooktop without losing valuable real estate. By working closely with your design build team, you'll know your space limitations before you begin shopping and can then focus on buying the highest-quality appliances you can afford. That will perfectly fit your space.

Make sure you consider your lifestyle, how you use your kitchen and how often you entertain when choosing the perfect appliances and you're sure to create the dream chef's kitchen you've always wanted! If you have questions regarding kitchen appliances for a home renovation, contact our design team. They can guide you through the process.

Forward Design Build is a residential design-build firm in Ann Arbor, Michigan that is known for its commitment to craftsmanship and communication. We are committed to improving our neighbors quality of life with inspired design and creative remodeling. Our homes are highly functional, exquisitely beautiful, and remarkably comfortable. Contact us to speak with an expert about your new home or remodeling project.