Appliances can make or break your budget and the overall function of your kitchen. We love some of our appliances, but not all of them. Read on for a no holds barred review of our kitchen appliances.
My number one priority in picking appliances was having a killer range. I enjoy cooking and am constantly trying new recipes so having a quality gas range was important.
I also wanted double ovens but let’s be real, I knew I wasn’t going to actually use both ovens more than once or twice a year. With this in mind, I figured a range with a large oven and a smaller one would be ideal. I began researching.
Researching appliances is not for the faint of heart. There are so many brands – SO many – and it feels like companies are constantly acquiring other brands so it’s hard to keep up with who is actually making what appliance. I read reviews, looked at pictures, and talked to friends. Needless to say, I was overwhelmed!
To make matters more challenging, we live in a small town with fewer options for both appliances and service. We were lucky that our builder works with a great local appliance store (whose owners actually live in the neighborhood) so it was nice having the owner herself around to talk to.
When all was said and done we went with a suite of GE Café appliances. These seemed to have the best reviews, but I was mainly swayed by their range options. Now before you read these reviews I think it’s important to note that we have had an issue with every single appliance except our microwave since moving in, so my reviews are based on the appliances functioning correctly. Now without further ado….
Cafe Appliances 48" Dual-Fuel Professional Range with 6 Burners and Griddle
This range is AWESOME. When I initially started looking at professional style ranges, I took a long hard look at Wolf and Viking because they seem to be the go-to for high end appliances. These ranges are all the rage, but they’re expensive! I knew before we even broke ground that the kind of range I wanted was NOT going to be in budget, so the idea of spending an additional $10-15,000 on one appliance didn’t sit well with me. On the other side of the price spectrum I also considered some of the less expensive options available at Lowe’s, but was informed that there wasn’t anyone in town who would service those brands. That made it pretty easy to cross those off the list.
Finally we found the GE Café 48” dual-fuel pro range and it is perfection! It was significantly more affordable than some of the high end brands without being cheap. And when I say “cheap” I mean both in cost and quality.
It’s so easy to use, has two ovens (one large, one small) and 6 burners. Whenever I’m making Mexican food I always end up using a ton of burners so having 6 is clutch. The ovens have slide out drawers that make grabbing those hot pans super easy, especially if you have to put a pizza directly on the burner which I absolutely hate doing! Our pizza stone broke and I just haven’t gotten around to replacing it since it happened...5 years ago!
Even though there are a ton of cooking features, there aren’t a bunch of superfluous buttons or controls which is perfect for me. Like I said, it’s EASY!
Now the negative. Shortly after we moved in the range started rattling. It made an odd humming sound whenever I used it and would only stop once I removed the far left burners and let it cool down completely. It was the oddest thing and was pretty frustrating. The appliance store sent out a team to fix the problem and after some extensive searching, they found the issue. For the life of me I can’t tell you what that issue was, but they ordered a part and came back within the week to replace it. Voila. No more rattling!
GE Café™ Series ENERGY STAR® 22.2 Cu. Ft. Counter-Depth French-Door Refrigerator with Keurig® K-Cup® Brewing System
I like this refrigerator. We chose it simply because the appliance store had two floor models available at a cheaper price and I needed to cut some costs to make up for the range. It was between this and a Kitchenaid. I initially wanted the Kitchenaide, but after reading reviews it looked like we’d have better luck with the GE. This fridge has decent space, LCD screen controls, and can connect to Alexa. It also has a built-in Keurig which is good in theory, but we don’t use it.
When we first moved in we tried to use the Keurig but it didn’t work, no water would come out.
The appliance store sent out a service tech who tried multiple times to run the Keurig, but to no avail. Imagine our shock when he opened the doors to look at the inside panel and water came rushing out! Some hose had been disconnected and every time the Keurig was turned on the water would flood the inside of the fridge instead of coming out the dispenser. Again, like the range, they had to order a part and then come back and fix it. Now I’m gun shy and refuse to use the Keurig feature.
Otherwise we like this refrigerator. It serves its function and allows us to fit in plenty of groceries. I love it even more now that I’ve turned off the alarm that lets you know when the door has been open too long. It used to drive me nuts when I was unloading groceries, but now it’s not an issue. This refrigerator also looks nice and is complimentary to the other GE Café appliances we have in the kitchen.
Cafe Stainless Interior Built-In Dishwasher With Hidden Controls
Let’s not mince words - I hate this dishwasher. HATE IT. Please understand that in general, I’m not a person who cares much about appliances. My whole adult life I’ve just used whatever dishwasher came with the apartment or house I was living in. As long as it worked, I was cool, so know when I say that I hate this dishwasher, it has to seriously suck.
The latch on the door of this dishwasher is CHEAP. It’s a tiny little plastic latch that doesn’t shut very well and if the dishwasher isn’t installed 100% perfectly level, it won’t work. We placed multiple service calls for this dishwasher because the door wouldn’t stay shut. I’ve had to stand there and push on the door just to get the cycle to start and even then the door would sometimes pop open mid cycle if I didn’t stand there and hold it. How odd is that?!
I became obsessed with dishwashers. I’d visit my parents or in-laws and find myself opening and shutting their dishwashers to see how they latched. No surprise, they all shut and latched with no problem. That’s not the case with this appliance.
The service tech came over and leveled the dishwasher twice and even came a third time to install a new latch. None of these appointments fixed the problem. On our fourth service visit the tech ended up prying these rubber pieces off the side and somehow that fixed the problem. I’m still not sure how that worked, it was like a last ditch Hail Mary but it did the trick. Even now, however, you can still tell that the latch isn’t very strong. It’s just poorly designed.
The only thing I really like about this dishwasher is the third drawer for the silverware. I’m pretty sure that’s a feature available on most dishwashers so I certainly wouldn’t use that as an excuse to buy this POS. Harsh? Maybe. I’m all fired up about this dumb dishwasher.
Whirlpool - 1.6 Cu. Ft. Full-Size Microwave - Stainless steel
I didn’t have any particular feelings about the microwave when choosing appliances. I only knew I wanted it in the pantry and built in high enough that the kids wouldn’t be able to reach it. This microwave does what it’s supposed to and looks nice. Most importantly – it was in budget!
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