Liebherr is known for their quality duo compressor refrigerators/freezers. Their price is competitive. KitchenAid makes a good basic refrigerator also, as well as dishwasher.

Samsung refrigerators are highly rated too. I have no experience with them though.

The liebherr was my second choice behind a SZ but I got a floor demo for less than the Liebherr so I went with the SZ. On vents I have decided to go with the VentAHood. Quiet, no filters, highly efficient, American made and high quality at a really competitive price.

I like my GE Monogram double ovens and 36" 6-burner rangetop. Have had no problems at all. Like you, I saw the reviews and the prices and I opted to take a chance. They come with a 1 yr warranty after all. Glad we took that chance. As it turns out, the showroom we bought ours from had a cooking with gas demo day and tested the simmer capabilities of the Wolf & GE Monogram--the GE had a lower simmer! It also has the double stacked burners like the Wolf--just no the price tag. Also, at the time we bought ours (last August) GE was running a special-buy a rangetop, an oven and a vent hood get $1K back. The $1K basically covers the cost of the vent hood, so think of it as buy the rangetop & oven, get the vent hood free.

My sister has a GE Cafe refrigerator she loves, but I can honestly say that she is the only person I know with a GE refrigerator that loves it. I do believe she did have to have 1 service call on it, though.

We opted for a Kenmore badged Samsung SxS counter depth refrigerator. We really like it alot. Huge cost savings vs. a built-in + the built ins are even shallower. That's why so many people recommend the 42"-48" built-in fridge. Ours cost about $3K. Then we have our old fridge in the garage for any spillover. Truly, we used the space in the extra frige for Christmas and Thanksgiving and other than that, it holds restaurant leftovers (those styrofoam containers are so large!) and extra gallons of milk. Even if you did the same fridge we did @ $3K and bought a basic SxS for the garage, you'd still come out ahead vs. doing a built-in (which will likely require a second fridge anyway).

Dishwasher recommendations would be KitchenAid or Samsung. If you're going stainless, the base model KA works great and you should be able to get them for around $550-600 each on sale. We have 2 of the KUDC10FX. They're quiet & clean great--even baked on lasagna baking dish on the 1 hr quick cycle and it has a hard food disposer in it--no filter to clean! Our second choice was the Samsung 600 or 800 model which was extremely similar to the KA.

As you're looking, the best advice I can give is to not get hung up on the bells and whistles. Think about the features you will really use, and not the ones that are "really cool". It's the "really cool" features that you will likely find you don't use very often and they will drive up the cost.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the replies!

I haven't seen any Liebherr's in person but may look into it. Also, the Samsung's are very well-liked, I may go that route, but am really needing at 42" built-in.

Mydreamhome, I too like the looks of the GE rangetop and the double ovens. I am torn between the Wolf and the GE. I do like the reversible grate/wok on the GE and the fact that all of the burners have the same BTU's something I really want. The grates are pretty comparable on both.....tough choices for essentially the same price!

At this point I think we are going with a 42" built-in fridge, and am really looking at something other than a GE...perhaps a Thermador. I may even consider a floor-model to save money, they are expensive! Part of the appeal is the look of the built-in's. We will definitely have another fridge in our laundry room for those leftovers, extra milk and ....ahem....beer! We have that right now, but our outside fridge is 30 years old an in our garage.

I'm leaning toward KA dishwashers, I hear a lot of good things about them from my friends who own them, plus they are quiet, work well and reasonably priced. My head spins every time I try to figure this out!

I'll be sure to post updates as our build continues. Again, thanks!

We did a real mixture in our kitchen. Two KA dishwashers (KUDE 70 and 30), Wolf rangetop, SZ all fridge, KA Fridge/freezer drawers, Hoshizaki ice maker, and Electrolux Icon speed oven and regular oven. Everything is paneled except the rangetop, oven and speed oven.

We haven't moved in yet but I had heard such mixed reviews about the GE ovens that I wasn't willing to take the risk. We went with Wolf and SZ on the refrigeration/rangetop because they were expensive and we felt very confident about the customer service on these items. Also glad we went with KA dishwashers - not moved in yet but they are fully integrated in inset cabinets and I am excited about them! The Electrolux ovens (pro model) look fantastic and if they work as well as the reviews on this site, I will be thrilled. I have had a friend, building a home now, who walked through my house and wanted to know where I got them. They look great and from what I have heard work great too.

I'll know more next week after I move in - can't wait!

I have a GE Monogram 36" cooktop for almost a year now. Works great - has great very high and very low settings. I complained about one of the grates chipping and GE sent me a new one promptly no questions asked. Havent had that problem re-occur. It is similar to the rangetop but doesn't have 6 burners and the same 18K burner on all burners.

I also bought a Bosch fridge builtin FD 36" (similar but cheaper than Thermador one). Works very well. Dual compressors. Tricky installation but beautiful.

We have a GE monogram advantium and also hood. No issues with either. Work great.

Have you considered Bosch ovens? I have 30" single oven and it works great. Actually my favorite new appliance - such an improvement over my old dacor. 800 series. There are several positive reviews on bosch ovens (like mine).