What do kitchen appliances have to do with your kitchen remodeling? Everything. While we focus on kitchen floor materials, countertops, cabinets, colors, and hardware, we forget one crucial thing. Appliances are a part and parcel of kitchens – all kitchens, no exception. The only difference is how many appliances are in each kitchen! What’s the size of your appliances! Or what appliance types you like to get!
Let’s start with an obvious question.
Do you need new appliances when you renovate the kitchen?
That’s a factor you need to consider before you even talk with your kitchen remodeler. Whether or not you will need new kitchen appliances is up to you. And it mainly depends on the age of the main appliances in the kitchen. How many years do you have the refrigerator? Is the wall oven working well? How many times did you have the dishwasher fixed the last two years?
The cost of the kitchen renovation may not let you buy new appliances. After all, all big appliances cost a lot and that’s an expense an average family cannot handle all at once. If this is the case for you, put priorities starting with the fridge and having the oven & stove follow. Who wants to breathe a sigh of relief once the kitchen remodeling is completed and then, have to find another technician to replace the old wall oven or dishwasher? And let me assure you. It has to do with much more than simply this inconvenience.
It’s all about the kitchen design
One of the crucial phases of the kitchen renovation is planning. This is the initial stage where you lay all things on the table and think about everything, decide about everything. This is the time when the kitchen renovation contractor would draw the plans, trying to figure the best layout for you based on the space and the furniture in the kitchen, the appliances included.
Let’s talk about the famous triangle first – oven, sink, and refrigerator. Surely, your kitchen remodeler will figure out the necessary distances to make this crucial ‘triangle’ functional for you, but will also ask you.
• What size and type of refrigerator you have?
• Do you own a range and if yes, what size?
• Or you’ve got a countertop mount stove and a wall-oven?
• And how about the microwave? Is it a built-in model? An oven-the-range microwave?
These are the first fundamental questions you’ll be asked and the answers would shape the kitchen design. You see, it’s one thing designing the layout of a kitchen where there is a range and another story designing a kitchen where there’s a wall oven and counter-mount stove. That’s just to give you an example. And then, it’s one thing leaving space for a narrow bottom fridge model and leaving space for a side-by-side refrigerator.
How busy is your kitchen – appliances-wise?
While creating a kitchen design that would incorporate the fridge, stove, and all main appliances is essential, there’s more to it. Although they are not of the same concern as the oven or the fridge, small appliances occupy space too. That’s important when you consider the countertop space and size.
Who likes to spend money on a kitchen remodeling and have the same clutter as before? So, how many small appliances do you use daily and likely keep on the counter? This is paramount to think before the kitchen design is completed. Even if you use many small appliances, the remodeler may find ways – like adding shelves over the counter where you can put all the small units. It’s also about having sufficient electrical outlets at all strategic spots around the counter but also around the kitchen island for the small appliances.
As for the big appliances, which occupy more space and are truly extremely useful daily, there are other considerations as well. For example. Are the appliances gas or electric? Freestanding or built-in? Such details may not have directly to do with the design but certainly have to do with the entire kitchen renovation. It seems that you have some serious thinking to do now, right?
