Sundries-Appliances

These are few of my favorite appliances. Without question, this is a totally biased column.

KitchenAid compactor: This unit compacts 4 bags of trash into 1. If your chore is to carry trash outside on a freezing cold night, hitting a button is a viable option.


Miele Nespresso: I almost became readdicted to coffee after we had one operational in the store. The coffee is fantastic, and it allows up to six different blends as options.


SubZero wine storage. For about the price of an upscale cabinet, try this instead. SubZero is the only product designed for proper wine storage with two distinct temperature zones, a low E glass door that refracts light and safeguards for proper humidity and vibration control.


Steam oven/module: By adding moisture(steam), none of the nutrients are lost like conventional ovens. The food just tastes better as well. You can even bake brownies in these ovens.


TurboChef Oven: Easy interface and a product with a hip retro design that cooks 3-15 times faster than a regular oven. It is new, so lets see if it works.


Marvel Icemaker: 35 pounds of clear ice in 24 hours...After all, you can never have too much ice.


Miele full size washer and dryer: It is larger(4.0 cubic) and uses only about 10 gallons of water versus 42 for a top loader. Miele also has a great control and a honeycomb drum that is the most gentle on clothes of any brand. Last year only 10 out of 19,000 service visits from our repair department were for Miele products.

The Best Appliances on the Market

I am not advocating that people should shell out 8,000 for a refrigerator or 5,000 for a wall oven. When renovating or selling a home at the top end of the market, buyers expect certain names in that category. They will not check the shingle or the heating system, but one look in the kitchen will identify to them the type of quality of construction.

Following are products to consider:

Refrigerator: SubZero, Thermador Freedom.

SubZero is the name in the appliance business with an 88% awareness level with consumers. They do manufacture a great product with 2 compressors, vacuum seal and magnetic crispers, which are designed to keep food fresher longer.


The Thermador Freedom collection is brand new. It is designed in "towers" or components meaning the refrigerator and freezer are not attached so they can be placed anywhere. The whole line is integrated, so it fits inside a cabinet.


Pro Stove: Viking, Wolf

Viking is basically the inventor of Pro ranges back in 1989. The Viking look is still a signature in most high end homes.


Wolf is owned by SubZero and is a real innovator in this category with 2 convection fans, light up knobs and retractable clock.


Wall Oven: Wolf, Miele

Miele is a great wall oven. The company outsources almost nothing so their repair rate is excellent, and Miele has a rotisserie, pizza stone and the Master Chef control system. Master Chef will allow a consumer to cook any dish using preprogrammed recipes. The interface is incredibly easy, but then again company does have 270 people just manufacturing controls.


Wolf is another interesting product. The controls retract and like their pro range, Wolf employs 2 convection fans for even baking.


Dishwasher: Fisher-Paykel, Miele and Bosch

There is something about dishwasher drawers that seems to intrigue people. Fisher-Paykel uses two drawers instead of the standard standard dishwasher one door. It is also offered as a single drawer as well.


Miele manufacturers the most upscale dishwashers over $1000. They have unique features such as plate guard plus and unique drying capabilities in an incredible reliable machine that is designed to safeguard china, crystal and silverware.


Bosch is the most popular selling dishwasher in the high end. Quietness and high temperature washing are the hallmarks of this dishwasher.


Induction Cooktop: Thermador

There are many induction tops in the market, but the Thermador has a center element that is lightning quick.


There are certainly other brands and products of note: Coffee systems, compactors, warming drawers and steam ovens, for example. We will cover them in later posts for further differentiation.

More stainless

So you have warmed to the idea of replacing your existing appliances with stainless steel. That is a good start. As I have said in my last post, it is cost effective, because there are no contractors, permits, etc. Of course, you should always check your options. Granite counters are another excellent investment for resale as are cabinets and bath fixtures. Stainless appliances are the least painful financially and time consuming.


At a certain selling point, a renovator has to decide whether it is worth spending money for more upscale equipment. In the Boston world of inflated real estate, the category is 450 to 750,000. At this level, you should consider a certain wow factor, so the appliances have a more active role in selling the unit. Consider this: we all know the shingle on the roof, the HVAC system and the basement are more important than the appliances, but when was the last time anyone ever asked about any of these critical features.

People understand brands. The upside of knowing this is picking the right brand, and you do not have to spend a fortune doing so. Buy a well known brand like Jenn-Air or KitchenAid and spend under $5,000

Here are two of my favorites

The Jenn-Air pro has a slide in convection range with a French door refrigerator, integrated dishwasher and over the range microwave. I love the handle style.


The KitchenAid package has a more "softer" handle style and a side by side instead of a french door refrigerator.


As we sit here in Feb 2007, these options are less than 5,000. Next couple of posts will be the most upscale products on the market

Basic Stainless Steel Kitchens

I was in appliance sales before my evolution(or demotion) to marketing. Its funny, but people who are very different would ask the same question. "What would you buy for your house" they would ask, looking for the magic answer.

The reality is that there is no right answer. People have different syles, spatial constraints and needs, so there can be no one size fits all remedy. The next few posts will be dedicated to consumers that either want to "flip" their units quickly or in the next few years

In the 90s and early 2000s, it really did not matter what people purchased, because real estate sold itself regardless of its offering and contents. When real estate slowed in 2006, buyers could be more selective. Sellers now have to actually sell or differentiate their units for the first time in almost 20 years.

But what if you purchased a unit at the height of the market and did not have a horde of money to invest in the property? The two best rooms to invest in a home are without question the kitchen and bath. Of these areas, the cheapest way to upgrade without spending much is by purchasing stainless steel appliances. Of course, I am biased, but there are no permits, contractors or hassles when simply changing existing units. The purchase price of a basic stainless steel kitchen with decent appliances is roughly $2000.


$2200 buys a pro style kitchen with a convection oven and larger refrigerator with icemaker


$3299 buys a french door refrigerator with decent equipment.


Quick tip: Stay within the same brand because rebates increase dispropotionately to the amount of pieces purchased. There will also be a uniformity of styles.