Think about your lifestyle before you buy
Jul 27 '00
My husband is a building contractor. I have helped numerous customers design their kitchens. One thing is stress to these people is to try and combine what they like with how they really live...especially in the kitchen.
Wall ovens are beautiful and stylish. They eliminate having to bend over to get something out of the oven and you can turn the light for an eye-level look at what you're cooking. Many people love the built-in look and for good reason. They do look great in a kitchen.
However, the cooking chambers in these are usually very small when compared to the traditional stoves. When we built our home, we put in a double wall oven and a cook top on the island. If I had it to do over again, I would've put in a built-in combination wall oven and microwave (I saw one of these at Sears), and instead of a cooktop, I would've slid a floor model stove into my island. The cost is not much more than buying a separate microwave, wall oven and cook-top. Many floor stoves also offer the grilling option that the new cook tops do. Sure, you will lose some cabinet space in your island but you will gain counter space that you would've used for a countertop Microwave.
The reason for this? If you find yourself cooking for large groups, you just cannot beat the large sized cooking chamber the floor models offer. I wish I had one! In order to cook a 28lb turkey for a huge family dinner, I had to cut the bird in half and cook one half in each oven. This tied up my cooking chambers so I had to wait for at least half of the bird to be completely cooked so I could take it out and use the oven for the other dishes I was preparing. I nice big baking chamber would've allowed me to cook the bird in one piece and use my wall oven for the other dishes.
Another thing you want to look for is ease of cleaning. Make sure all baking chambers are self-cleaning and if your purchasing electric, watch out for the induction style burners. Again, these look great but don't use glass pots on them. If you buy a unit with traditional burners, make sure the pans come our for easy cleaning and are inexpensive to replace.
Finally, watch out for stainless steel when choosing a color for any appliances. Stainless is gorgeous but shows every fingerprint. If you have kids, a nice enamel finish is probably more practical unless you have an endless supply of time and Windex!
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Epinions.com ID:
cah725
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Member: Cheryl
Location: Barrington, NH USA
Reviews written: 45
Trusted by: 5 members
About Me:
Smart shopper, environmentalist, advocate for the elderly. Prefer quality to quantity.
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