When I was researching appliances last year I ran across Try-Hard's report on her appliances one year later and thought that was a great idea so I decided to report back on my choices. Our kitchen remodel and appliance replacement took place in phases over the past year but everything except the downdraft has been installed for 11 mos or more. We finally got the downdraft hooked up about 5-6 mos ago. I kept my Bosch dishwasher and Insinkerator disposal. Everything else was replaced.

Panasonic Convection Microwave NN-C994S countertop model from Buy.com. The door had a strange jiggle when I got it. I called Panasonic, described it asked if it was normal and they told me to take it in for repair. When I went to pick it up it was no different. I asked the woman at the counter if what it was doing seemed normal. She had someone come out and try it and they said they'd look at it again. They called a couple of days later and said it was done. When I picked it up it still did the exact same thing. They talked to the serviceman and he said they didn't do anything to it. There was nothing wrong with it. I went to several stores trying to find one but they were only available online. When I called Panasonic again, I happened to mention what I paid for it ($550?)and the rep said the price was too low, it must have been used, and basically told me they couldn't do anything else. They had already approved warranty work on it earlier knowing where I bought it?!?!? It has cooked fine and, thankfully, I haven�t had any other problem with it but I went through a lot of aggravation for nothing and I can't believe that customer service blew me away because of what I paid for it.

I like the timer and controls better than my previous Sharp Convection Microwave. The only thing that is annoying is that if you stop it in the middle of a cycle a green LED flashes forever unless you clear the oven.

Refrigerator Whirlpool Gold GB2SHDXT

This is 21.9 CF single door, bottom freezer unit with faux SS finish. I festered over having blacks sides but I never even notice it in my kitchen layout. I really like it the refrigerator. The faux SS finish cleans easily and I need my refrigerator magnets. The French door models look nice and don�t need as much door clearance but I didn't want to give up that much door storage space and it seems like it would be much easier to load and unload the refrigerator with the door opening next to the counter rather than in the middle of the freezer. I love the bottom freezer and I can fit a lot in the refrigerator.

Miele 30" Induction Cooktop- KM5753

I grew up with gas and had an electric coil cooktop for about a year and swore I'd never have electric again. I got gas with sealed burners when we built out house 19 years ago. They were easier to clean but still got gunky so I liked the idea of the smooth, easy to clean surface with induction. I also like the energy efficiency and the safety of induction. I've had my share of potholders singed. Induction is nothing like the electric hubs that take forever to heat up (and cool down). It's fast and hot (and these also go very low). The cooktop will get hot because a hot pan is sitting on it but it is much cooler than an electric coil. Another thing about the Miele that the sales rep mentioned (that I hadn't read anywhere) is that the small rim around the edge holds a lot of liquid if you spill. I think he said the 36" one holds a qt or something like that. That's important because I boiled over a lot of pans in the beginning because the water would come to a boil so fast!

I really like the Miele cooktop Even though I got it partially because of the individual burner timers, I haven't yet bothered to read how to use them. I also haven't bothered to set the power settings to half steps because it seems to do pretty well as is and it would take longer to go through the power levels that way. Starting at zero, you can go down to get directly to 9 instead of going all the way through the numbers. I had gas and don't miss it at all.

You do have to get used to it since you can't see the flame to judge how high it is and you have to get familiar with your pans. Some pans heat up faster at a given setting, presumably because they have more iron, and it seems like the temp builds a little after a while. I'll have a pot simmering at 4 and later on I'll have to drop it to 3 to keep it at a simmer. I'm not thrilled with the touch controls but most things have them now. I frequently have to touch it for a while to get it to register and I'm always rinsing my hands when I'm cooking so my fingers are frequently wet and that makes it harder to register, hat's annoying when a pot is starting to boil over and you can't get the setting to change. The thing also beeps a lot- and I haven't bothered to look up why. I think it beeps when you place something hot over the control section presumably to protect the controls. But sometimes it beeps when I put a cool plate or a cookie sheet on there and it beeps even though it's not on. Again, it hasn't bothered me enough to make me look it up.

I was lucky that most of my pans were already magnetic, including my wok. The only thing I had to replace was my pressure cooker and I wanted a bigger one anyway. I also had some Revereware but I just used it for boiling water. I kept them for use on our grill burner if needed.


When planning for cabinets, check the cut-out requirements for whatever unit you buy. The 30" induction DOES NOT fit in a 30" wide cabinet. It needs a 30 11/16" opening + the thickness of the cabinet sides. I never even though about that because my 30" gas cooktop fit into a standard 30" cabinet. Luckily, before I had ordered my cabinets, I read a post where someone mentioned that the GE (?) was the only model that fit a standard cabinet so I looked up the Miele and changed the cabinet width.

I haven�t been particularly careful with the cooktop surface but I did notice a pretty big scratch and several fine scratches on the surface last week. You can also see a pattern where the burner is unless you clean it and wipe it with a microfiber cloth.

Electrolux EW30EW55G 30" Convection wall oven

I had a Dacor convection oven when we built our house and I hated that thing from day one. It took forever to preheat and never cooked evenly so I was very wary of the convection ovens.

I read on the forums that ovens aren't really pre-heated when the buzzer goes off, and I understand their argument, but I never had that issue with my regular cheap ovens so why should I with an expensive oven? I chose the regular Electrolux oven over the Icon model because it actually has a bigger interior. The sliding racks are nice and the lighting is great.

I have been very happy with the oven. It preheats fast and seems to cook pretty evenly. I haven't cooked on three racks at once but I've baked two sheets of cookies at once and didn't have to turn the pans or swap racks midway through cooking.

A couple of tips: you just enter minutes on the timer. That makes sense on an oven because you aren't going to cook something for 10 min 30 sec but the display looks like this 00:00 so the first time I used it I entered 40 min as 40:00 but that is 40 hours and the oven won't accept that. At first I thought it was broken. Also, you have to hit timer, enter the time and then hit timer again to start it. Then other thing that still messes me up is setting the temp. You touch the panel to light up the options then you select the type of cooking (bake, broil, etc) and the temp. Then you have to hit start to turn it on and it pre-heats. I frequently set the temp and forget to hit start. Then I'll come back 10 min later to put food in and the oven is cold. That's happened at some inconvenient times but it's not the oven's fault. The one thing that is a concern is that the timer chime is really quiet. There is a volume control in the preferences and we cranked it all the way up but it's still really quiet. The first time it went off we didn't even realize what it was because it was so quiet. There is no way I would hear it if I wasn't nearby.

The digital clock readout had one section go out within a month or two. I called customer service and they sent a part out next day and they told me to call a repairman. He called me back the next day and scheduled the appt a day or two after that. He replaced the control panel. He said he had replaced several of them but they had a new part number so they must have redesigned the part. I haven't had any trouble since then.

Electrolux Icon E30DD75ESS 30" Downdraft Ventilation

I know some kitchen experts think a downdraft is unacceptable but sometimes you don't have a choice. I think my previous Dacor was 600 CFM and it was fair. We seldom used it so I hated spending money to replace it but it made sense to replace it with the new cabinets. I was worried about going with the Electrolux because it was much less expensive that the other brands and I couldn't find any comments from anyone that had it. The Electrolux was taller (10") than my Dacor downdraft and has 1600 CFM, both of which make it draw better. I like that the Electrolux only has the single on/off button on top with a continuous fan speed dial on the front panel once it's raised up. My previous Dacor had several buttons on the top that would inherently get greasy and hard to clean.

One thing I don't like about the Electrolux is that the on/off button is very easy to activate accidentally while cleaning. Then the vent has to rise all the way up before you can turn if off again. They should have recessed the button in a sleeve to protect it from that. I'm going o see if my husband can make something up for that because it's really annoying. The other thing that is weird is that the fan starts immediately when you hit the ON button. Likewise it stays on until it gets all the way back into the cabinet. I wish the fan would only turn while in the raised position. I�' turn the fan speed off by the dial but it doesn't go all the way to zero. For those that would like to get an idea of how well it draws, I made a video of it boiling a big pan of water and browning some hamburger and Italian sausage. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhohkT4l8ts

The cabinet for the outdoor section of the fan was plain galvanized steel. My husband took apart he whole thing and painted it with several coats of rustproofing paint before installing it. I hope it doesn't break during the warranty period. We used the existing 8" duct and it seems fine. We have a 4' drop, a 90 degree turn and a 25" horizontal run and it seems fine.

Overall I'm very happy with all my choices. Hopefully they will continue to work well. I'll try to check back if anyone has any questions but I'm leaving on vacation soon and I'm also trying to get my (almost) finished kitchen up before I leave.