Kitchen Appliances

For a long time, I thought the kitchen appliance lineup was settled:

• 30" Range
• Microwave/Fan above range
• Refrigerator
• Dishwasher

That's fine, but there are other possibilities for the cooking appliances, thanks to my visit this morning with Jeff Blum of Albert Lee (Jeff.Blum@albertlee.biz, 206-282-2110 x5082). I think he expects color to come back. Everything is stainless steel these days due to supply chain issues, he said. Miele has some nice matte white and white glass finishes.

Jeff was very strong on induction cooktops--gas is a 19th-century fuel, you're either waiting for electric to heat up or to cool down. He likes a cooktop, oven rather than a range. Drawers and cabinets conveniently under the cooktop, oven at a more workable height. He doesn't think French door ovens are worth the premium; a regular door keeps you a better distance from the hot stuff.

• 30" Induction Cooktop
• Hood and Fan
• Oven/Microwave

Cooktop

I liked a Wolf Transitional 30" Stainless Steel Induction Cooktop (CI304TF/S) for $2840. It's 21" x 2" x 30". Samsung had an unusual burner pattern for $2600. I think my favorite was the KitchenAid Architect Series II 30" Black Induction Cooktop (KICU509XBL).

KitchenAid $2250 (21.31" x 3.13" x 30.75"

Hood and Fan

Well, sure. The microwave-over-the-range thing I've got now basically does nothing except make it too noisy to converse. Something simple like this, perhaps:

ZLINE 623-36 36", 4-speed ducted hood. ($900, Lowes)

KitchenAid has a much cleaner design (the fan hides in the cabinet above).

KitchenAid KXU2836 ($1300, Lowes)

Oven and Microwave

Do they make such combinations? They do.

GE Profile 30" JT3800SHSS ($4560, Albert Lee; $3400, Home Depot)

A microwave could sit on an open cabinet shelf just about anywhere. Peggy recommends the Sharp Microwave Drawer, which is designed for either a base cabinet or under a wall oven. You place food in and lift it out. Like a CD player, it opens and closes the drawer for you. Stirring is trivial and they say that liquids won't spill. The specs are only 1.2 cu ft (if that) and 1000 watts.

Sharp 1.2 cu ft Microwave Drawer ($1300, Lowes)

Compare and contrast the GE JES1657SMSS: 1.6 cu ft, 1150 watts. $186 at Lowes. The GE controls match what I'm used to (current model is a GE) and I could sprinkle six around the house for what the Sharp drawer costs and still save money.

Your basic oven. KOSE507ESS (MSRP $3100) The handle will become significant.

 

Refrigerator

I like a French door over freezer arrangement (cold air falls, so it makes the most sense thermodynamically). I like this extra drawer model in particular.

KitchenAid KRMF706ESS ($4050 on sale at Albert Lee).

With this KitchenAid model, the drawer on the left can be set for a number of functions, and the one on the right is the produce drawer. 70.125" H, 36" W, 36.25" D. MSRP $4500, $4015 at Home Depot.

Fetishize your appliances much? Wolf and Viking do it, why can't we?

I like the pulls. They are knurled stainless steel with distinctive red ends. One could pull a kitchen design together just using KitchenAid refrigerator, dishwasher, and wall oven. Let the cooktop be black and the microwave drawer be Sharp.

Dishwasher

Matchey-matchey.

KitchenAid KDTM404KPS MSRP $1350.  44dBA, FreeFlex third rack. $1214, Home Depot

Quick Costs

Scheme A - $7200

Cooktop, Oven, Microwave Drawer, Hood

Scheme B - $4909

Cooktop, Oven, Microwave w/Hood

Scheme C - $6000

Range, Microwave Drawer, Hood

Scheme D - $3709

Range, Microwave w/Hood

Cooktop - KitchenAid KICU509XBL ($2250 at Lowes)

Oven - KitchenAid KOST107ESS ($2350 at Lowes)

Range - KitchenAid KSIB900ESS ($3400 at Lowes)

Microwave Drawer - Sharp ($1300 at Lowes)

Hood - KitchenAid KXU2836  ($1300 at Lowes) - many are cheaper

Microwave w/Hood - Samsung ME19R7041FS ($309 at Lowes)

 

Past blog posts

• Storage-based Kitchen Design
• Kitchen Deja Vu
• The Ikea Kitchen

Living Room Sketches

The plan has shown two door-sized window units flanking the TV, but the one in the northeast conflicts with the existing brick veneer. So I moved the TV north and added back the French doors.

I like my ultra-low-profile crown molding, but Sarah Susanka suggests that running a headband all around the room and painting the upper wall to match the ceiling makes a room feel taller, so I thought I'd check it out. I kind of like it.

A frameless mirror, unlike the current one, really expands the room

Susanka also likes the idea of frameless mirrors to expand a room. 

By the way, moving the TV north seems to make it easier to see from the desk in the office and from the kitchen.

The Dining Room that wanted to be an Office

Sarah Susanka (on looking for her second husband: "Not So Big") likes soffits for defining activity spaces. This caused me to rethink the coffer grid I had been proposing. Maybe something like this:

Pretend the chairs in the office are Brno. The painting is Kathy Beal's, let's say.

New glass front cabinet at far right

I'd like chrome/rattan Brno chairs, but Chief doesn't have them 

Wouldn't that be a riot?

Sarah "Not So Big" Susanka touts the benefits of "visual layering, created by framing the view between spaces, helps the whole interior to feel larger than its actual square footage would suggest." Then she describes shaping space with color. The examples show the value of more punchy, intense colors in the distance, so I thought I'd mockup a deep green on the kitchen cabinets and an intermediate blue in the office, along with the white/gray living room.

Just doodling.

Color layering, created by framing the view between spaces

Coffee station on left; not sure what goes on right counter

What's everyone else doing for interiors?

I checked Zillow and found 8 houses currently for sale in my zip code, ranging in price from $1.1 to $6.7 million.

Every one had stainless steel appliances in the kitchen. Many had marble countertops.

$6.2M

$1.45M, note wood floor, laminate?

$1.35M wood floor; cool oven

$1.1M

$1.4M, marble floor and counter

$2.5M 2022 construction

Living rooms are all Coastal, if coastal means plain white walls and ceiling and cheap sisal rugs. There's a lot of white gloss woodwork out there, too. Light blue throws on white leather couches.

$6.7M

$1.9M, same house as next

$1.9M, same house as previous

$1.35M, not the same as the other pale green

$1.4M

$2.5M 2022 construction

In addition to these critical rooms, I got three more takeaways from the active listings:

• Gloss white woodwork is attractive to me and is not rare around here
• A room with clean white walls and ceiling and redone wood floors needs no moldings or accent walls to stage an open house, at least as far as realtors are concerned
• Carpeting in bedrooms has a cozy, quiet appeal that comes through in photos

$6.7M bath

$6.7M gloss white woodwork, that's the ticket

Finally, here's what Trees House looked like on the market in 2014:

White appliances. How 2010s.

Reference

• $1.1M - 11897 9th
• $1.35M - 11414 8th
• $1.4M - 12021 12th
• $1.45M - 797 Culbertson Dr
• $1.9M - 10036 Valmay
• $2.5M - 13755 1st; new 2022 construction
• $6.2M - 190 Madrona
• $6.7M - 645 137th
• 
  

Home office--further design development

 Flat crown molding...

But we could use it less in the living room...

Instead of two working desks, maybe we have a single desk, wall-mounted monitor, guest chair and a table. An architect or tarot card reader could entertain clients in such a room.

Kitchen to Living Room via Den/Office