wtnhunt Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Thought we kinda had our kitchen appliances figured out. We had a line of ge stainless we were looking at at lowes for everything(range, convection/micro/range hood, fridge, and dishwasher), but looking at the cabinets sitting in the living room has now got me wondering if black would not look better. Cabinets are a dark cherry, set to be installed either tomorrow or Wednesday. With all the wood and dark countertops, got to thinking is the stainless gonna look out of place and would black look better? Will try to get some pics as soon as everything is installed. Also seeing some of the reviews on ge has me wondering if we might not need to do a little more research on brands. Looks like ge and whirlpool several lines don't have such great reviews. Seems depending on who you ask kenmore is not so great anymore either. So anyone got any input on new appliances, what brands to stay away from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92xj Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 I have had good luck with all my appliances (knock on wood) good thing I dont remember any of their names. I will check when I get home. I would also start here, sign up and start reading all the reviews and expert ratings. I will do some reading and research today to see what is out there. Other than that, I dont have much to offer. http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/appliances/index.htm?EXTKEY=SG72A00&CMP=KNC-CROAPPG&HBX_OU=50&HBX_PK=Best_Kitchen_Appliances&&mkwid=CROsNR9lAkRI&pcrid=5936225660 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted January 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/appliances/index.htm?EXTKEY=SG72A00&CMP=KNC-CROAPPG&HBX_OU=50&HBX_PK=Best_Kitchen_Appliances&&mkwid=CROsNR9lAkRI&pcrid=5936225660 Thanks Ben, but looks like you have to sign up for that website to look beyond the first page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92xj Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Dang it, it was free. Ok, back to researching...be back shortly.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92xj Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 This seems like a decent starting point for reviews. http://www.buzzillions.com/kitchen-appliances-reviews Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckrich Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 I would be careful buying appliances from Lowe's. Until recently, I thought they were the place to go, great selection, great warranty. Then some family members bought a new dishwasher from them. Everything was great, quick delievery and install, great product. This means a lot to them as they live about 45 minutes from town. Well, after a month or so the dishwasher starts malfunctioning, and an internal piece actually fell off. No worries, it's under warranty right? Well yeah, but Lowe's has a contract with an independent service company to come work on it and nothing can be done with the store that they purchased it from. They are told that someone will be contacting them shortly to go over directions to the house. Then a week passes, and a quick call to the store reveals that they are still trying to find someone in the area, a three state area, to come fix it. Another week passes, and after more phone calls my relatives decide to return the broken dishwasher and go through a different dealer. I am in no way bashing Lowe's employee's or an individual store, from what we can gather this is a problem that comes from the corporate level. Just thought I would relay what we have experienced and I hope it helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted January 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Will ask lowes who has their service contract for this area. May consider sams club, their prices are usually pretty good, but then may have the same issue you mention with lowes if we had problems with anything. Closest big town to us where there is a best buy and other of those type stores is about 35 minutes away, lowes is local. This seems like a decent starting point for reviews. http://www.buzzillions.com/kitchen-appliances-reviews Thanks Ben, that one works. Looks like the ge 25.0 in any color is one to steer clear of. Reviews on the next size up ge 25.4 look to be a bit better. Fridge we have now is a 22 cu ft model, don't want to go any smaller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 I'll have to take a picture of our stainless appliances up against our maple cabinets William. Our cabinets are not really reddish like cherry, but they are a darker type color. I think stainless would look fine against any color to be honest. As far as brands.....we got all of our appliances for under $4500 I think it was. We got a pretty good deal through Heather's work place. We got all Kitchenaid stainless. Of the 4 we got, 3 of them have had trouble already. A filter thingy on the dishwasher broke, that was covered by warranty, no problems since. We've had one knob on the range break, and the ice dispenser on the frig seemingly broke the other day, but now it's working. I think that was a water pressure issue though. When the service tech came out to do the warranty work on the dishwasher, he said LG makes the best frig these days, he said Kitchenaid makes a decent microwave and the oven we got is the best out there. I can't remember what model he suggested for the dishwasher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Looks like the ge 25.0 in any color is one to steer clear of. Reviews on the next size up ge 25.4 look to be a bit better. Fridge we have now is a 22 cu ft model, don't want to go any smaller. The service tech that game out to fix our dishwasher said he would not buy GE anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowtechTurkeyHunter Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 We have cherry colored cabinets with Stainless appliances our stove has a stainless front with a black top and the micro has black control panel so we have the black accents we bought our refridge from lowes no problems there the others we bought from a friends appliance store ... I would not be afraid of GE but I can tell you to stay away from LG dishwashers ... both my friend and I have one and have had major repairs withing 2 years to both of them. Fridgidaire is another brand you may concider. I think you need to put a little black into the appliances wether it be handles or what not. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevebeilgard Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 the place i would absolutely avoid is sears. horrible to deal with especially on warranty work. stainless will look just as good, or better, than black, imho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Sent you a PM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckrich Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 the place i would absolutely avoid is sears. horrible to deal with especially on warranty work. stainless will look just as good, or better, than black, imho. Black appliances = many fingerprints, smudges, splatter marks, etc. Although, if you can't stand it and clean it all the time it would be very sanitary.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted January 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 I'll have to take a picture of our stainless appliances up against our maple cabinets William. Our cabinets are not really reddish like cherry, but they are a darker type color. I think stainless would look fine against any color to be honest. As far as brands.....we got all of our appliances for under $4500 I think it was. We got a pretty good deal through Heather's work place. We got all Kitchenaid stainless. Of the 4 we got, 3 of them have had trouble already. A filter thingy on the dishwasher broke, that was covered by warranty, no problems since. We've had one knob on the range break, and the ice dispenser on the frig seemingly broke the other day, but now it's working. I think that was a water pressure issue though. When the service tech came out to do the warranty work on the dishwasher, he said LG makes the best frig these days, he said Kitchenaid makes a decent microwave and the oven we got is the best out there. I can't remember what model he suggested for the dishwasher. Kitchenaid makes good appliances, no doubt. Gonna have to do a bit of research on what they might have in our price range. Gonna also have to look again at our budget for appliances. The service tech that game out to fix our dishwasher said he would not buy GE anything. Ask different people and you get different opinions about one brand or another, wonder how much of it is "in the know" and how much is other bias. From what I understand whirlpool owns several brands including kitchenaid and jennair. Hear about how so many different brands using parts coming from the same factories. Not ruling out one brand or another, maytag and whirlpool are still considerations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Ask different people and you get different opinions about one brand or another, wonder how much of it is "in the know" and how much is other bias. From what I understand whirlpool owns several brands including kitchenaid and jennair. Hear about how so many different brands using parts coming from the same factories. Not ruling out one brand or another, maytag and whirlpool are still considerations. Yep, no doubt. This guy just told me what he makes more calls on I guess. I'm sure there's some bias there, but he had no reason to lie I don't suppose. Whirlpool makes all kinds, and they're all the same I think. Buddy at work just replaced his JennAire frig and he had all kinds of problems with it. My brother's GE frig only lasted 8 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted January 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Yep, can see that Chris and appreciate you passing that along. Funny, reading all these reviews at different places I cannot find one manufacturer that does not seem to have particular appliance that has substantial negative about it. Maytag, have read terrible reviews on their dishwashers, but the reviews for the maytag range/microwave, fridge, and oven I am considering are good. Suppose we may have to think about not going with all the same manufacturer, dunno. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruttinbuc Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 I often wonder about the reviews themselves. Are customers writing them or are they enhanced by the makers and the competitors......:shifty: Anyway, Hot Point is another appliance manufacturer. Don't let the relatively low prices fool you. They get good ratings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkneck Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 Parents remodeled their kitchen a few years ago and spent a fortune getting kitchenaide dishwasher, icemaker, fridge, range,microwave, convection oven too. Frig enamel is peeling on the inside and rusting, dishwasher has bit the dust (souped up whirlpool, I replaced heating element, touchpad, and the circuit board before condeming it the 3rd time). Icemaker has been service SEVERAL times. All of this stuff is less than 7 years old now. Just another opinion on a brand. My Sears/whirlpool/frigidaire SS stuff has been good to me..... knock on wood. +1 on the black smudging, although it does look great too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fly Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 (edited) Couple things I learned: buy an expensive dishwasher, the cheaper ones don"t work so well. Black stove tops are very hard to clean! Wouldn't get another one. Love the stainless look. If you paint the walls a lighter color I think it would be fine. I have stainless fridge, dishwasher, and range (with that dreaded black top). Medium oak stained cabinets. Our fridge is 5 years old now and works great - it is a GE side by side. Range is Frigidare - works fine. Dishwasher is a cheap frigidare that only works well if i buy the expensive cascade complete Edited January 25, 2011 by fly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted January 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 So black = smudging, got that. Wife and I looked last night at pictures of comparable colored cabinets and talked it over and have decided we are back to stainless. Probably gonna mix brands, not looking to go low end on anything, but also got to fit what we buy in our budget and looking at the mid range priced lines. Looking at the reviews on all the major brands looks like the low end lower priced stuff even on the higher dollar name branded greatly increase the likeliness of getting a lemon/defective product. Also looks like the smooth tops have reviews on complete opposite ends, people either love em or hate em. Not sure if any brand is gonna have one that is easier to clean than another, but does look like some have glass that breaks too easily. So far looking like maytag for everything but the dishwasher looking closely at a mid range whirlpool I want to check more reviews on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 I do know that kenmore, whirlpool, frigedare, and a few others are all made by the same company, in the same plant actually. There was a plant in a town a used to live in. Pretty much all the same product there. We have bought maytag appliances fairly religiously and I recommend them to the homeowners I build for, never had a complaint yet William. They do cost a bit more up front though. I like the looks of stainless with cherry cabinets also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruttinbuc Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 So black = smudging, got that. Wife and I looked last night at pictures of comparable colored cabinets and talked it over and have decided we are back to stainless. Probably gonna mix brands, not looking to go low end on anything, but also got to fit what we buy in our budget and looking at the mid range priced lines. Looking at the reviews on all the major brands looks like the low end lower priced stuff even on the higher dollar name branded greatly increase the likeliness of getting a lemon/defective product. Also looks like the smooth tops have reviews on complete opposite ends, people either love em or hate em. Not sure if any brand is gonna have one that is easier to clean than another, but does look like some have glass that breaks too easily. So far looking like maytag for everything but the dishwaser looking closely at a mid range whirlpool I want to check more reviews on. And then there is the other end. http://www.electroluxusa.com/welcome/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 I would also recommend checking with a local appliance guy William. We did and they were right in the ballpark on price. I know at one time our guy here in town was running a special, we bought our fridge and stove then got up to $400 bucks rebate towards a dishwasher. We also bought the maytag netune washer and dryer, I highly recommend them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted January 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 And then there is the other end. http://www.electroluxusa.com/welcome/ lol. Probably just a bit out of our price range there Mike, would be nice if we could do electrolux or jennair but not something we can afford right now. Surprisingly even electrolux and kitchenaid do have some bad reviews out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruttinbuc Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 I knew you'd balk at that suggestion William, lol...Most of us would. Again, the reviews are questionable at times. Pros and cons being equal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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