Kitchen Appliance Buying Guides

Learn about styles, types, and features of different kitchen appliances for your kitchen using BP's Kitchen Appliance Buying Guides.

What to consider when buying a kitchen appliance

Remodeling or renovating your home can give you the feeling of having moved to a new abode.

One of the biggest kitchen updates actually costs the least – the kitchen appliances. After installing new kitchen appliances though, you’ll benefit from not only a new look but new functions.

Appliance Costs and Budget

In general, the appliance updates should only take up eight to 10 percent of your total remodeling budget. Depending on how much time you spend in your kitchen and your love of cooking, prepare to spend a little more.

While you may think that you can spend a bit more money on the range or the refrigerator, then cut back on other items, that doesn’t quite work as well as one would like.

To get all of the appliances to match requires buying a suite of appliances from a single manufacturer. Even within stainless steel, many finishes exist, so they will not match unless they are from the same suite.

Determine how much you can spend. Once you have a firm budget, you can begin looking at the available options.

Make a List of Needs

Make a list of the appliances you want in your kitchen. The absolute minimum for a home includes refrigerator/freezer, an oven, and a stove. You may want a separate freezer though so you can store food long-term.

Other common devices include a dishwasher and a microwave. You may also want to update your small appliances such as your mixer and bread machine.

Creating a master list helps you search out matching appliances, plus it helps you judge your wants versus your allowable space.

Plan Your Kitchen Layout

This part is really easy if you are just updating appliances, paint and perhaps your backsplash. You can simply place your appliances in the same locations they’d already been.

If you want to completely remodel your kitchen space though, here’s when you plan the location of each major and secondary appliance. If you want a cooking island, you decide where.

Think about workflows, too. Placing the dishwasher next to the sink makes sense. Perhaps you’d like a stacked design with a convection oven above a microwave.

You'll need to measure your space to determine what will fit. Even if you knock out a wall to add more space, you need to know the available feet and inches you have with which to work.

Remember to measure doorways, too. You might have plenty of space inside the kitchen for an awesome new refrigerator, but you need to be able to get it inside the kitchen first.

Kitchen Style

When we say style, it refers to the look and design of the appliances. The five main kitchen choices include:

• contemporary,
• modern,
• retro,
• traditional,
• transitional.

Once you determine which style, you move to determine the color and/or finish. If you’re adding a backsplash or other focal point, you may want to match the appliances to the tiles.

Lifestyle and Cooking Style

You need larger model appliances if you throw dinner parties or host large family meals. You need heavy duty appliances if you cook often.

A large family also benefits from heavy duty appliances. Think about size needs, too. If you cook often or large meals, a six-burner range top can help. Larger families need larger refrigerators.

Related: Ductless Range Hoods

Another couple of lifestyle options to consider are energy efficiency and smart home appliances.

Purchasing energy efficient appliances saves you energy and money. You incur smaller electric bills. These cost a little more at the outset, but you save money over the long-term.

Smart appliances help you manage your life and can help save money by helping track grocery items, schedule meals and prepare food.

While your kitchen appliances represent less than ten percent of your kitchen remodeling budget, they comprise an everyday part of your life.

Choosing the right ones makes meal preparation easier and your kitchen cuter. Spend a little time planning your appliance update to maximize your kitchen remodeling success.

Most Essential Kitchen Appliance Buying Guides

We have prepared to buying guides of the most essential kitchen appliances to help you to choose the best appliances for your kitchen. Simply click on the topic you are interested in and you will be taken to the detail buying guide of the appliance and simple explanations which will help you make informative decisions.