Appliances

When we applied for our construction loan we were required to put together a budget with detailed cost breakdowns. One of the required categories was appliances. We took a  trip to a couple of big box stores and I felt pretty capable of equipping our kitchen with appliances for around $5000. I figured about $1400 for a nice side-by-side, a 36" range for about $1200, $500 for a dishwasher, and $500 for a hood. This would give us a contingency of over $1000; what could possibly go wrong?

Unfortunately, at that point we had not yet completed our kitchen design. We often share the cooking duties  when we have the time. When we prepare a meal together I generally do the cooking and Flora does the prep work and handles the oven. One of the things we discovered was that most of our conflicts while cooking occur when Flora needs to open the oven while I am working on top of the stove. The logical solution is to separate the cooktop from the oven. I also really wanted the stove to be located in the center island. Unfortunately, separating the cooktop from the oven pushes the cost from $1200 for a range to several thousand dollars for separate appliances. Also, I did not realize that the cost of an island hood adds another thousand plus dollars. Then, when we decided that a double oven might be worth investigating, the budget was a total shambles.

Ultimately, we decided that a gourmet kitchen really deserves a high-end range-top. I was able to procure a display model of a Wolf 36" range-top with four gas burners and an infrared charbroiler, exactly what I had been wanting for decades. Above this is mounted a 42" island hood. Along with the double electric oven, cooking in this kitchen will be epic!