Have Some Control

Ah..JennAir. JennAir carved its niche with downdrafts in the 70s and 80s. In the 90s, it was french door shallow depth refrigeration and then...nothing (except rebates on older designs).

The parent company, Whirlpool, actually retooled and spent some dough. The centerpiece of the new line is this wall oven...



Frankly, I am impressed.

Best controls on the market...BTW, sorry Mom.

Whats Hot...Whats Not

No, this is not tabloid journalism. Its interesting to see what people are buying and what they are not. From a merchandising point of view, you want to show desirable items.

From your point of view, you do not want to buy a dog especially if you are reselling

Hot..Viking Designer Series.

I am somewhat surprised, because Viking blew the launch 5(?) years ago, but they have redesigned the aesthetics and lowered the pricing to truly market this as a less expensive Viking. This microwave, wall oven and warming drawer is $3999.

Not...GE Single Double

I love this product. Its 2 ovens in a single oven footprint. Actually blogged about it as the next new thing. You do not like it either because you want one bigger oven or two real double ovens. Mea Culpa. The display now exists in outlet at 30% off.

Kitchen Of The Year...Part 2

Welcome to Monday

Part 2 of our renovation of the House Beautiful "Kitchen of The Year" (video below). In part 1, we specified the best. In part 2, we deliver a very nice kitchen on budget.

Have a Look:

Refrigeration
House Beautiful: JennAir JB36NXRW
Yale Beautiful: Bosch B22CS30

Ok, its a side by side...but the Bosch B22 is attractive, counter depth and stainless. At $1700+ after rebates, this unit is around 5-6,000 cheaper than the JennAir.

Wall Oven
House Beautiful: JennAir JJW2830
Yale Beautiful: Bosch HBL3550

Bosch does not have gadgets, just stainless steel and convection. At $2300, it is also $3,000 cheaper than HB.

Cooktop:
House Beautiful: JennAir JED3536
Yale Beautiful: Frigidaire FPCC3085

Lets see, ours is 2 burner induction...Theirs is not. Our vent is easier to clean and way more powerful.

Sinks:
House Beautiful: No idea
Yale Beautiful: Majestic M24 and Franke NAX110

Simple, popular D-shape sinks...If I had to guess, you would save probably $3,000-5,000 between this and the HB.

Lights:
House Beautiful: German import
Yale Beautiful: Tech Lighting canopy with your choice of pendants...

I have been thinking about this one all weekend. Ok, part of the weekend. Look at the canopy and combine it with any pendant to customize your own light.

House Beautiful video



Well, we are at least $15-20,000 less expensive than House Beautiful.

What do you think?

RIP JennAir (For Now)

As of today, we will no longer be carrying JennAir at Yale. The JennAir kitchen is now Frigidaire Pro...



The display pieces are in outlet...






So what happened? Jennair was very popular at this store since the 1970s and occupied the affordable luxury niche recently. They have had a couple of challenges over the last 8 years.

First, they have been completely out-marketed by Viking and Wolf at the high end, as well as Electrolux, Bosch and GE in their core market. Every one of these companies has introduced new compelling products while JennAir stuck to their dwindling downdraft segment.

Secondly, the brand has been commoditized beyond recognition. I am not critical of Whirlpool as a manufacturer. They are the best appliance factory people in the world. That's the issue. They leverage their factories, so the same product is produced for 6 different labels. There is absolutely no reason to now buy JennAir other than their new overpriced walloven...all the other products are co-branded with other brands.

For JennAir to succeed, Whirlpool needs to start from scratch and create unique products branded exclusively for JennAir. Can they? Absolutely. Will they....?

Two Fans Are Better Than One?

In the 1970s, convection was introduced in wall ovens. Simply, convection is fan forced heat, so a more even heat is spread through the oven. Thus, food is more consistently cooked. We bake cookies at Yale 6 days a week, and each cookie has the same texture and flavor (not that anyone seems to notice.)

Flash forward 30 years and Wolf designs a new system employing 2 fans with more cooking modes and programs.

Have a look:






Great item, but at $7,000, it could be expensive. Surprisingly, there is now a new alternative from Frigidaire Professional with 2 similar fans...






One word of caution: Just because it has 2 fans, it does not guarantee performance. We will have to cook with this product, before we consider it a worthy alternative.

Wall Ovens...Again

Let's end the wall oven quandry...

Wall ovens like most appliances fit cabinet specifications. New construction typically fits a 30 inch cabinet, and older sizes can be 27 or even 24 inch.

In 1975ish, convection became the new feature in high end cooking. Convection as you know is fan forced heat for more even cooking. 35 years later, there hasn't been much in the way of significant inprovement from the original design.

With this much easier task at hand, I would consider the following:

Super Premium:

Wolf and Miele - Wolf has two convection fans and a ton of cooking modes for people who want to cook. Miele has the best controls, which eliminate the guesswork out of almost any recipe.








Premium:

Thermador and Electrolux - Both have good controls as their value proposition. Thermador has the best rebate program (yes a free dishwasher would help sway me as a consumer)








Sleeper:

Bosch - I dont understand the marketing, but their products are attractive, functional and a great value.

Breaking Up Is Hard (And Expensive) To Do

Great tune. Happy Monday, I guess.

Let us presume that you will be planning/consummating or otherwise considering a remodel, renovation or new construction. Let us state further that your budget has been cut.

If you want a seriously different piece of advice guaranteed (not in a telemarketer type of way) to save you some dough, then do not split your appliances.

A single wall oven, which is defined as a stove without burners in a wall, is $700-1800 on average. A very good freestanding range with burners will cost less.

Have a look at a pictorial:

The GE Profile single wall oven with digital LED controls $2289





The GE Gas stove with convection, 17,000 BTU burner and griddle $1299

Free With Purchase.

You remember Cracker Jacks. Back in the day, I would buy boxes of that stuff just for the free prize (still love caramel popcorn).

Anyway, in a recession manufacturers have two solutions to declining sales. They could build more compelling products, which is a long range fix.

In the short term, however,they could package current products and bonus an item at no charge. Have a look...

Dacor..Buy a wall oven and a cooktop, and the $1300 warming drawer is yours for no extra charge.



Thermador...This company seems to have a whole bunch of promotions. For simplicity sake, buy any 36 or 48 inch professional stove, and receive a integrated $1300 dishwasher with their compliments.



Starts in February....

Wall Ovens On The Fly

Have a Look



We must have 20+ of these units on display. All have convection oven (fan forced heat for more even cooking)

Brief marketing differences:

Wolf: Two convection fans for more even cooking, reversible control panel and pizza stone.

Miele: Best, most intuitive control panels, rotisserie.

Bosch: Style and price.

KitchenAid: Decent controls and price point.

Electrolux: Great racks and wave touch control panel.

Viking: Pro look.

Gaggenau: Side opening(easier access) and ultra modern style.

Small Spaces For Less

Meet Dave Kiley. Dave serves many purposes. He is (the best) part friend and part customer. Dave is also my next door neighbor and is a nut about home improvement, especially lighting and appliances.

He is also extraordinarily talented and perhaps the best contemporary renovator in Boston. Look what he does in a small space.



Samsung French door refrigerator, Miele dishwasher, Bosch cooktop, Thermador wall oven and Best hood.

Dave is a style conscious, upscale guy. In a $4500 per month rental, it is somewhat expected...but lets spend less and still have a great look.



By replacing the Thermador with a Bosch oven, Zephyr for Best, Bosch(or GE Monogram) for the Miele and LG for Samsung, we can save about $3500.

Meet Ed

Ed is a customer who finally decided to replace his 50 year old Frigidaire drop in range. A drop in range is a product which is supported (dropped in) on a base cabinet. There are still tons of these stoves around the area especially from the 1950s and 60s.



How do you replace a 50 year old stove without spending a fortune on renovation?


Try this:

Slide in...To switch, the electrical must be converted and the base cabinet eliminated.




Wall oven/cooktop: Decent option, but the countertop needs to be reworked.




GE: GE still manufactures the style. Easier option since the cabinet just needs some modification, but the product is not as compelling as the others.

Wall Ovens

Consumers understand regular ranges. Typically, they are 30 inches with 4 burners, oven and drawer. The product becomes hard to understand, when the same oven is in a wall. The features and brands seem different than a regular range....or so it seems.

First, the reasons to buy a wall oven are multiple: The oven is off the ground, so there is no bending. Secondly, a consumer can buy double ovens within a 30 inch cabinet. In a freestanding application, there is obviously a limitation of one(the drawer does not count).

So lets pick a few.....I have actually four favorites out of the 20 or so we have on display.

1. My favorite is the least expensive at around $2100. Bosch is stylish and features the same Euro convection as the more expensive pieces. Here is another tip to saving money: Most of the commodity companies like KitchenAid (narrowly missed my list), GE or Frigidaire will offer massive rebates, if you buy their oven.



2. With the most interactive control panel, rotisserie and really great quality control, Miele would be my second favorite. This wall oven will prompt you for everything.



3. Wolf features 2 convection fans, a flip down control panel and a pizza stone. The pizzza actually tastes pretty good.



4. $3000 is the magic number. 50% of the ovens are around this price point. Of these pieces, Thermador is my favorite.

Steam It....Washers

The new feature in the appliance industry is steam...It is now an item in appliances like wall ovens, washers, dryers and dishwashers. I like cool new stuff, but only if it is usable...Lets look


Washers: Introduced by LG, steam is now a featured item for Whirlpool and Maytag as well.

The Return Of Gaggenau?

Back in the 1980s, if you wanted to buy an upscale kitchen, you purchased a SubZero refrigerator and probably Gaggenau appliances. They had very precise cooking modes and were designed by Bang and Olufson, the elite stereo firm.

Lets flash forward to 2004, and the brand is almost dead. Why, because it was the same product as 20 years ago. All of a sudden, the cutting edge look is dated, their sizes are smaller and the burners are not as powerful. Happens when you spend zero on product development for almost 20 years.

Someone on Germany has awoken, because their new wall oven is decent. I like the side opening door, as it allows easy access to your food(as well as being ADA approved). The look is updated as well.

Our First Green Kitchen

About 1 year ago, we installed the first all glass kitchen in the country. Our idea was to show the latest and greatest products. We also wanted consumers to understand the installation behind a wall oven or an undermount sink while they were comparing products...







Now we are on to greener pastures...literally, with the first totally green kitchen










Its a little unfinished, as we just layed the flooring. A totally Green kitchen is not that difficult.

First, for flooring try bamboo. Bamboo actually grows 3 inches per month and replaces itself in one year

Second, cabinets and counters can be replaced with reclaimed materials used previously. Don't think junk...think antique.

For lighting use LED or fluorescent (as I have blogged continuously), because they use up to 80% less energy than incandescent

Lastly and most easily, EnergyStar appliances will save a ton of energy. We will be using Bosch for this display, but there are many other brands

I will post the completion in May

Rebates...How to Buy A Bosch Kitchen

I am dedicating this weeks posts to the manufacturers penchant to rebate their own product. Todays contestant is Bosch. Lets look at a suite of really upscale appliances from this brand.



You are looking at a 30 inch ceran, double wall oven with convection on the top, a fully integrated french door refrigerator(love that look), an over the range microwave hood and a fully integrated dishwasher.

Bosch is a great value for a premium brand. This kitchen of appliances sells for about $10,000, but Bosch has $2,400 in rebates for the month of March...and this is an expensive package for this brand.

For people renovating with a smaller budgets and still wanting marquee labels, Bosch, like JennAir and KitchenAid is a great alternative.

Which Wall Oven?

Do you remember when microwaves were first marketed in the late 1970s. Well the original ardor has diminished somewhat, but it still is crucial in kitchen planning, especially in built in designs...


There are two choices for microwave placement for this type of configuration.


Microwave over the actual wall oven:



Double wall oven and the microwave separate:



Consider these questions before committing to a design:

A. How much do you use the microwave
B. How much do you use the ovens
C. Will children be using the microwave
D. How much space do you have


A and B may seem obvious, but if you are a die hard user of a microwave, you can buy Advantium and other very interesting convection microwave combinations. If you are hitting the popcorn button, buy a double oven and build in an inexpensive microwave.

If children are using the microwave consider building it into the island as there are plenty of options.

For more info please take a look at our Electric Cooking Buying Guide.

Steam Laundry

Steam is the new feature in the appliance industry. You can even buy a steam wall oven(next post or so)

But what does steam actually do? After all, a by-product of heat is steam.

Steam assists in cleaning by blasting at tough stains. Another lesser known function is refreshing clothes without ironing.

There are two manufacturers actively producing steam laundry


LG: The first involved with steam. Great controls and capacity





Whirlpool/Maytag: Similar to the above, but Whirlpool has recently added steam to the dryer. Of the two, this pair would be my preference.

The Toughest Renovation Decision Part 2

This post is actually part of a series of posts starting last Monday. To paraphrase, the hardest decision for planning appliances in a kitchen is cooking.

We covered wall ovens under cooktops last week...Now lets look at them split, which has become very popular.




The advantages are a profusion of brands offering every feature such as speed cook, steam, double convection and microwave. Cooktops have also become incredibly advanced with professional and induction becoming more popular. The key advantages are the ergo metrics, meaning no bending and the entertainment value. With today's kitchen islands and peninsulas, the user can face their guests.

The disadvantages are expense and space. The minimum space for a regular wall oven and cooktop is 60 inches. The pricing for even a single wall oven alone can be more than a regular free standing range

Toughest Renovation Decision Part 1

This is a continuation of Mondays post. Lets look at the cooktop over wall oven selection. Like any other decision, it has its upside and downside.

First, it looks better than a regular range. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder just not in this case. The reason? This type of cooking arrangement allows for the counter and toekick to remain intact unlike a range.


However, there are fewer options, sizes, and it is more expensive than a similarly featured slide in range....