Awesome to read this now. Wife and I are building a house and will be in the market for all new appliances in a few months. I've been pouring through hundreds of models across all different brands for the past year and a half. My only goal is to find the stuff that will last the longest and suit my particular kitchen needs. Washer/dryer stuff is the wife's concern. There's nothing more annoying than a POS new appliance!
Well, like I said in the first post, it may not even matter what you pick since you can find lousy reviews for almost any appliance on the internet, much to my chagrin when trying to make decisions.
What I did learn, was that in terms of features and technology, it was not possible to find a single brand that had everything right across the whole model lineup. So we ended up with a mongrel mix of appliances, just trying to sniff out the best of each type for us. Some friends went with high end Wolf appliances for everything in their kitchen, and are now realizing that many of them are really not too hot. That is unfortunate, as they spent a lot of money on that stuff.
Here's what we ended up with, and some comments:
Dishwasher: the aforementioned Kenmore Elite that dropped its pump. Made by the Whirlpool/Frigidaire/Maytag/Kitchenaid/Etc monstrosity. Key features were quietness (42dB) and user friendly racks and controls. Does a fine job cleaning. Demerit for the massive failure, but I am hoping it behaves from here on out, as we do like it otherwise. Bosch units were higher rated, and would have been my choice, but my wife did not like the rack design and I defer to her on kitchen chores (else she'll make me do the washing).
Stove/Range: GE Cafe electric unit. Previously had bad experience with GE appliances at old house, but this was a high end unit and recommended by the supplier we used. It's a glass top, which I previously hated due to the wimpy heat response. But this one has a lot of power, and comes close to the heating response of gas. So far it's been good. It has a cast iron griddle tray that goes over two burners and cooks the best darn pancakes of any stove I've used.
Microwave drawer: Sharp. By a long shot, they make the best microwave drawer. High end brands like Viking and Wolf are four times the price but don't come close. This is probably the only appliance in the house I could recommend without any reservations. Great little unit.
Fridge: KitchenAid Architect side by side. Mainly bought it for the size (counter depth / tall) and looks (has commercial handles and looks a lot more expensive than it is). It mostly works OK, but many of the shelves are fixed, and should be adjustable. The ice maker water supply line (internal to the freezer door) freezes up a couple times a year and goes on arctic holiday for 4-5 days at a time. Despite that tendency, water from the door dispenser always comes out room temperature. Only idiots could design a fridge that sometimes freezes the water line to the ice maker, but lets the dispenser line get warm. Both lines are in the same freaking door!
Range hood: Viking. Surprisingly, it was the cheapest chimney style hood, less expensive than more down to earth brands. I think it cost 50% less than the GE Cafe hood that would have matched our stove. It has jet engine performance, good lights, and very nice filters. No real complaints, but the building inspector made us install it exactly 36" above the stove surface per specs, and I occasionally hit my head on it. For a 6'1" person like me, it should have been a few inches higher. I really should have bribed the building inspector on this one.
Washer/Dryer: LG. Mainly got these because the features were very good and they were highly rated. No real complaints other than it's a water-saver washing machine (top load) and we had to relearn how to do laundry. I prefer the ancient Maytag we had at our old house, that I used to load up like it was a commercial unit. Sadly, the Maytags of yore no longer exist.
We ended up shopping and acquiring appliances over about an 8 month period prior to moving into our new home. Basically watched for sales and jumped on deals. I think the best score was at Sears over Veterans Day weekend, where we got $600 off the dishwasher and $150 off the microwave drawer. Washer/dryer were Thanksgiving week sales at Home Depot. Only downside to this approach is that I had to stockpile those appliances at our old house for all that time, and we ended up converting the dining room to a warehouse. Then had to move everything to the new place when it was time to install before moving in. Stove, fridge, and range hood came from our builder's supplier, who had the best prices, and they delivered/installed for us.
