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msl511

Critique my appliances, please.

msl511
10 years ago

After immense amounts of help from many of you, I have tentatively selected a set of appliances. I have placed an order with AJ Madison so that I can get my MW immediately (ours died last night), but items are absolutely subject to change if need be between now and delivery some time this summer.

I'm trying to go for the Honda Accord of appliances. We can afford more function, reliability and style than the cheapest things out there, but we don't have a SZ/Viking kind of budget.

What do you think?

Cooktop: Bosch 500 induction, 30"

Double wall oven: Bosch 500

MW/Convection: Bosch 800 (I know this is more than $700 and that it's probably not much different than something much cheaper, but buying 3 Bosch appliances gets me a great rebate and the effective cost of this oven because it gets me the rebate is about $200, which I think is an excellent price for a well regarded MW/convection.)

Dishwasher: KA KUDE48FX (I considered a Bosch DW, which is so well regarded and which would have solved my 3 Bosch appliance problem, but the configuration of the racks doesn't work for us as well as a KA does. It's true that you can get in pretty much the same number of dishes, but because of the bigger spaces between the tines on a KA, baking dishes and similar things which are deeper than a dish fit into the KA along with a day's worth of dishes and that's just not true for the Bosch.)

Refrigerator: LG LMX25988 (The choice came down to Samsung or LG and I actually preferred the Samsung models, but I spoke to my appliance repair guy and he won't repair Samsung appliances because the parts problem is so bad. While parts aren't great from LG, either, at least he repairs those. I want to know that once I'm out of warranty and can choose my repair person, I can use the guy that's done a good job for us for years.)

Hood: Zephyr AK7136ASBF 36" with baffles. (This is probably my least certain choice. I'm concerned about heat from the halogen lights. I've asked here and many people say it's not a problem at all, but there's a sufficient minority of people who are bothered by the heat that it's giving me pause. I may switch to a Kobe, which has LED's. The sales guy at AJM says that Kobe is good, but Zephyr is better and that halogen isn't a problem. I will do further research.)

All in, including sales tax (I live in NY.), the $100 shipping charge for having them bring the stuff in the house, and assorted rebates, the whole package comes to about $8200, which seems pretty good to me. And they're sending out the MW next week with no delivery charge, while putting all the Bosch appliances on the same invoice, which is what I need to get the rebate. I appreciate that they worked with me on this.

Comments (6)

  • philwojo99
    10 years ago

    I will only comment on one item, the vent hood. I have the Zephyr DCBL hood line and it has LEDs in place of the halogen lights, and so far after a few months of use we love it. We have the Monsoon DCBL, maybe check that out to see if any of the DCBL stuff fits in to your budget and is to your liking looks wise.

    Phil

  • bpath
    10 years ago

    We have a Bosch 300, not 500, for a couple of weeks now and we love it. Quiet, cooks evenly, nice cooking features (separate roast setting! Proofing!), and I like using knobs (can't remember if the 500 has knobs and touchpad, or just touchpad). We bought the 300 over the 500 for budget reasons.

  • Holly- Kay
    10 years ago

    I am not trying to confuse you because God knows appliance selections are frustrating to say the least. I would run, not walk, away from an LG fridge. I have two friends who bought a FD model that they loved only to have issue after issue with them. I was going to go with the Samsung or LG but my friends' horror stories convinced me to not take a chance on the LG and I just stopped feeling confident in the Samsung after reading bad reviews. I also am realistic enough to know that all brands have their lemons and just because one person has issue after issue the next customer may have a good experience. I didn't go with a Frigidaire but my appliance dealer says that Frigidaire has the least repair calls of any other brand they carry..

  • jadeite
    10 years ago

    We've had an LG FD fridge for almost 2 years now, and it has worked perfectly so far. I don't know the OP's model, I think ours is the LG LFC21776ST.

    When it arrived, we were concerned about the time taken to get down to the temperatures we had set, so we called customer service. They had a serviceman at our house within 24 hours. He told us the fridge was working perfectly. With the energy-efficient compressor, adjustments to the thermostats take a longer time than we were used to. We haven't had a reason to call for service again.

    Cheryl

  • homebuyer23
    10 years ago

    I need an almost identical group of appliances and have been looking at some of the same models, though a 36" cooktop and single wall oven, so I will be watching this thread. We are also in the Honda Accord budget point, and I also prefer a KA DW interior! So good luck with all these choices!

    I have an Electrolux CD REF in my AJ Madison cart right now, not sure if you need counter depth or not, but it got a lot of good reviews & after adding to cart came to like $1650, and its one of the largest capacity Counter depths.

  • MizLizzie
    10 years ago

    I have come to really trust my appliance guy (small independent shop) and he begged me to buy the counter-depth Elux over the LG. He said LG just would not work with them on warranty issues and they did not even keep them on the floor anymore. He will sell them but only on request because of warranty issues. Dunno.

    If it helps, our budget was much like yours. We are going with the Bosch 300 i-cooktop and the Bosch 500 panel-ready DW. We liked the Bosch ovens but amazing reviews here at GW persuaded us to go Elux. I think we will be very happy. Good luck.