Planning Your New Kitchen...First Steps

So you have decided to plan a new kitchen. Kitchen remodelling is the best investment for your home by far, and it does not have to be that hard. You have to find the right contractor(the wrong one will create tons of problems), and then the right cabinet and/or counter top store. They will all have the same question. What are you buying for appliances? The choices are maddening, but lets break it down so it is easier.

Appliances are manufactured to fit cabinets. Seems like an obvious statement, but think about it. Dishwashers, sinks and refrigerators(three basic sizes) fit standard cabinet specs. Specify them last as they will have little bearing on the overall design of the kitchen.

Cooking, on the other hand, will affect the design of your kitchen tremendously. Lets briefly look at the biggest decision in your kitchen: Cooktop and wall oven versus stove.

Here is the skinny:

Cooktop and wall oven works in larger kitchens and is great for ergo metrics (meaning you do not have to bend). The choices are better as well. In cooktops, you can choose induction, which is not available on a stove. In wall ovens, Miele, Wolf and Turbochef are products unavailable in regular ranges. There are also more venting possibilities as well:



Ranges certainly work better in small to mid-sized kitchens. Since the cooking is not being broken into wall oven and cooktop, there is 30 inches saved at the very least. The range does centralize cooking, but the biggest positive is the cost savings, which can be substantial:



This is the toughest decision in kitchen renovation. After this, appliance buying is simple. For readers of Reddit and Digg, welcome to our blog, we focus on objectively critiqueing appliances and lighting, showing you the latest and greatest(and not sometimes) as well as Green energy saving tips. Feel free to leave a comment and we will respond.