Appliances – Form & Function

The first major upgrades to our new house were the kitchen appliances. We decided that the most urgently in need of replacement were the refrigerator, dishwasher, and microwave. The fridge that came with the house was leaking water inside and somehow freezing in the lower fridge area (plus it kinda smelled bad). The dishwasher smelled also and didn’t really clean well, and the microwave was just old, ugly, and dirty.

          

We decided on stainless finishes and also figured that the microwave and dishwasher should be the same brand so they match (being on the same wall). The fridge just needed to fit in the space we had, which was about 33″ wide and 68.5″ tall. We also wanted the fridge door to open on the right. That setup just seems to make more sense when cooking. Beth wanted french doors, but none of those fridges fit the space. Plus, the single door keeps the style a bit more vintage looking.

Another consideration in our selection of cooking/washing/food storage implements was that they all needed to be quiet. Our kitchen is open to the living room, and it would be more than slightly annoying for noisy appliances to be running while we try to enjoy the upstairs living room space.

We ordered all of the new appliances through Sears.com. Their site was easy to navigate and it seemed like they had a good selection. It’s a little bit of a crapshoot to buy appliances without seeing them, but it worked out in our case. It’s also hard to shop for appliances at a store, since it’s hard to compare sizes and features side by side. We were limited by the spaces available in the kitchen since we didn’t plan on doing on a full remodel just yet. We decided on a Bosch microwave (HMV8051), Bosch 500 series dishwasher (SHX55R55UC), and a KitchenAid fridge (KBLS22KW). I installed the dishwasher myself and the microwave with Beth’s assistance.

          

Having never had a dishwasher before, it is taking a bit of getting used to. We are certainly loving it, though. The dishwasher is pretty quiet (rated at 46 dBA) and has a LED light that shines on the floor to tell you it is running. We haven’t had much of a chance to use the microwave, but it seems to cook nicely with its 900 watts. I heated up some pizza. It got warm. Mission accomplished. I will say that the light this microwave puts out over the cooktop is much brighter and more evenly distributed than the old one. The fridge looks great, has lots of space, adjustable shelves, and seems to be quiet and efficient. We opted to not get a fridge with an ice cube maker or water inside. It seems those are the first parts to break on most fridges. There is an optional one for our model of fridge, but I doubt we’ll grab it. We would have to run a water line, since there is not one over there.

As you can tell, we are still trying to unpack and get organized. So no comments on how messy the place is, please!