If you follow my Instagram stories, you’ll know that we got all new kitchen appliances yesterday! We’re so excited about our shiny new toys, so I wanted to share a little more information about them as well as why we made the decision to get new appliances.
Appliances (especially all at once) are a big investment and it can be hard to decide if they’re worth a big chunk of your renovation budget.
I can’t say whether something will be “worth it” for someone else, but for us, it was important to invest in better functionality for things we use every single day.
Deciding to Splurge on Appliances
That’s a tough question. The appliances that the previous owners had were perfectly fine, they were stainless steel, and they worked.
But we knew right away that we’d end up switching out the range because Dustin loved having double ovens at our last house.
And then we started actually using the dishwasher and it was making us crazy—the top rack was poorly designed and our glasses kept falling over/into each other. We had just gotten a new dishwasher in the city house over the summer, so it was especially challenging to go back to having one that didn’t work great for us.
The Fridge was definitely the one we could’ve held out longer on, but we wanted to have a drawer freezer instead of the side-by-side because there’s just so much more usable space. Plus we wanted to keep a spare fridge in the basement since we like to buy part of a cow locally (for environmental and financial reasons) but we’ve never had room for all of our beef.
We likely could’ve waited a little longer before purchasing all new appliances but we wanted to take advantage of some Black Friday deals, so we just decided to go for it.
Ultimately, we have a budget set aside for projects in this home, and the cost of appliances is coming out of that. They were a large investment, but we know that the functionality of things we use every single day is a major factor in our happiness.
The things we interact with every day have so much more impact on our daily joy than we ever acknowledge, so making sure those things work great is crucial.
Plus, if these appliances really end up breaking the budget, we’ll just make cheaper choices on decorative elements or postpone certain projects.
How to Shop for Appliances
One lucky thing is that Dustin and I both love research. Before making a big purchase, we both like to know that we’ve looked at all the options and we’re making the right choice. Consumer reports is usually our first stop, but we also look at Youtube videos and reviews online.
Online reviews should always be taken with a grain of salt (the only people that write them are either very happy or very upset) but they can be a good way to take note of complaints that a lot of people mention.
Mostly, we focus on our priorities—the most important factor for Dustin’s new range was having double ovens again. So we actually bought the same GE Range (though the newer version) that we bought at our city house.
For us, function is the most important thing. If you really value a distinctive look, you should totally consider that and maybe get a matching suite of appliances. We really wanted to get the ones that would work best for us, even if they weren’t the same brand.
That said, it was important to me that our appliances still look good together. We made a point to choose a range and a fridge that had similar rounded handles and not to pick any appliance that had a super distinctive look. (As much as I love the Cafe appliances, you really have to do the whole suite.)
I think they look great and I’m so excited to see how they work for us.
Our New Appliances
The appliances we ended up buying are:
That’s it! Comment if you have any questions about our new appliances or appliance shopping generally.
