kitchen appliances: choices, choices...

Lots of things to choose for the kitchen.  As far as appliances go, we're white stuff people in a stainless steel providers world. Nonetheless, there is, thankfully, white stuff to be had.

First off, the builder (and several friends) have said that you can't beat Bosch dishwashers (a bud who has one says that he honestly can't tell if it's on or not even with his ear up against it!!!). I think we like the clean look of this one:

but what's with that black base? Huh? Maybe we have to go with a custom panel version. 

As far as stove tops are concerned, we freakin love this one by Whirlpool:

Can you say "Eggs and tribbles, please!"? But (and it's a big BUTT) it comes from Europe (they call stove tops "hobs. Hee hee!), so the "electronic ignition" requires 230 volts at 50 Hz and thus requires a converter (but it's only $30!):

Would a getup like this meet code? hmmm... I tried to talk to a local Whirlpool distributor about this, and they thought I was crazy ("Where would I get parts?" "Ummmm: England?"). But they didn't give me a good reason to give up (like code issues), so I'm undaunted.

There are alternatives, but they are not nearly as cool. However, whilst trolling the interwebs, I did come across this beauty by SMEG (~$1,200):

Again, not available in the good ole (design conservative) US of A (aarrrgghhhh!!! Am I doomed!!!). Too bad it doesn't come in a linear arrangement... What's that? Huh?

Holy bug-bottoms! Why is the world so cruel?!? And that beauty is"only" $990! And would you believe another one I like is from SMEG ($1300)?

Probably not.

We don't have a strong preference for a fridge, but it does have to be white. We would love to have a built-in, but holy-sucking-on-a-dead-monkey's-tail are they expensive! They start at about 5K (no freezer...) and quickly rise from there. IKEA has a nice fridge (14 cubic feet; Whirlpool makes the guts) that's also "fitted" on the top and sides (and is counter depth) such that it can smoothly fit into the cabinets (and look like a built-in without the built-in price [applause]):

but the bride is anti-"crap-on-the-outside" when it comes to iceboxes, and I have to agree, especially when it's BLACK (although that might be OK when coupled with the stove and microwave, which have black windows when the lights are off...). This is a pretty expensive cooling appliance for IKEA: $1,599 (but a lot less than $5,000). Schindler would love the bottom of this fridge.

A slightly more expensive alternative ($1,649) is a Fisher & Paykel icebox (18 cubic-feet):

It's kinda cool and it isn't marred by blackness, but (look up to the top left): It has a stickie-outie hinge thing! Noooooooooo.....

Whirlpool has this nice white one (24.8 cubic feet) for a cool $1,300:

If we wanna upgrade to Energy Star and an outside ice and (filtered) water dispenser (with a touch screen!), there's this model ($2,200; 27 cubic feet):

Unless we find something better, we'll prolly stick with IKEA for the microwave:

We had been planning to get an IKEA white oven:

but they no longer sell them!  :-(

Other options are Whirlpool ($858):

which also has a combo with a microwave:

but $1829 is quite a premium to pay for the luxury of having a microwave along with an oven. Nonetheless, that's a good-looking couple.

This SMEG oven is totally hawt:

The only problem is that my bride, a horse person, associates SMEG with smegma. She's having some issues here. And then there's the $2,000 price tag...

Finally, there's the range hood. I have nightmares of getting stuck with a bad-looking range hood. If money was no object, we would have this beautiful thing [panting noises with occasional drool sops]:

But at (gulp) $3,359, it ain't gonna happen. 

This one is pretty fine as well:

but it costs even more: $3,774!

It comes in a smaller version:

with a smaller price ($2,264). Interestingly, she sucks just as much (450 cubic feet per minute) as her big sister.

Now this is pretty darn cool too:

and it goes for $1,800 to $2,000 depending on the size.

I'm also rather fond of this Futuro Futuro model:

which also runs about $2,000 to $2,200 depending on size. 

This one's pretty sweet (Futuro Futuro makes the coolest range hoods!):

and runs about $1,800. It would look great, methinks, with the spaceman range. 

Regardless of which one we choose, it looks like we'll need to spend two grand on a hood (ouch...). I lean towards one of the bottom three (and slightly more toward the block o white [surprise surprise!]).

For kitchen appliances, the builder has us allowanced at $6,200 and the architect had us at $6,700. We have us at $8,206. And so it begins...