Home Appliance + Lighting Blog

Whirlpool introduced the first French door refrigerator in the 1980's but discontinued them. In the 90's, refrigerator options were limited to having either a side-by-side fridge or a top freezer. Now, you have the option of a bottom freezer refrigerator, a French door refrigerator, or a French door double drawer refrigerator. 

Double drawers are a bit harder to buy than a regular French door refrigerator because the inside and extra drawer differ between manufacturers. It can be confusing. We will look at the four most popular double drawer French door refrigerators and then compare them.

You do not have to spend a ton of money for good looking appliances. It's quite the opposite, especially over the last 5 years. KitchenAid has a whole new look. Bosch has a new refrigerator. Samsung is now the number 1 brand in the US because of their beautiful design and advanced technology. Jenn-Air still has their most popular full-featured package around $5,000.

A counter depth refrigerator does not protrude from the cabinets. It is more aesthetically pleasing because you won't see the sides.

It is also a benefit to have a shallower refrigerator in a galley kitchen or with an island design. There will be more room between the refrigerator and the island itself. 

Simply, counter depths look better. We will look at the different types and then the 7 best to consider.

Counter depths are much less expensive than in years past.  Rebates are especially good around holidays like Memorial Day

When I wrote this article 2 years ago, there was a shortage of 33-inch counter depth refrigerators.    

In fact, you could not buy a pro type with a compressor on the top like Sub-Zero or Viking. You also could not buy an integrated refrigerator so it fits within the cabinet, which is a popular trend. Neither products are offered in 33-inch models. 

Long have been the days when Almond, Avocado, Bisque, and Off-White were the standard options for finishes on appliances. Stainless Steel made its debut in the 1990s and since then, it’s been the preferred choice of finishes in over 90% of today’s upscale kitchens.

Available in all tiers, from very basic to luxurious, stainless is here to stay. However, that hasn’t stopped manufacturers and their efforts, in trying to tap into something new. With that, we welcome Black Stainless Steel.

There was a time 20 years ago when side-by-side refrigerators were considered the premium refrigerator. Then about 10 years ago, French doors became popular because it offered more refrigeration space and a newer, cooler look. The French-door refrigerator was the standard for the high-end refrigerator.

Quite a bit has changed since the last time you bought a dishwasher. The premium dishwasher companies like Miele, Bosch, and KitchenAid can be purchased for less than they were 5 years ago.

The Korean companies like LG and Samsung have become more popular. In fact, Samsung is now the most popular appliance brand in the US. However, most of that volume is in refrigeration and laundry. How does their dishwasher compete against the premium KitchenAid?

Thermador had the first real innovation in the market by offering a borderless cooktop without traditional burners. What this means is that you can place the pan anywhere on the cooktop's surface, or move it while cooking, and the cooktop will automatically adjust to where the pan is placed.

Samsung released their first ever induction cooktop this year. It has some pretty nifty innovations like Wi-Fi and BlueTooth. So we will compare both. First, let us look at induction itself.

The next generation of appliance upgrades is Wi-Fi, without question. One day in the future, you will be able to call your appliances and have the food ready when you arrive home. We are almost there with some Wi-Fi wall ovens like Dacor and Jenn-Air.

Curiously, Samsung has introduced an induction Wi-Fi cooktop. In theory, you can connect your phone to the cooktop and monitor the burner settings as well as use time functions. Before we look at Wi-Fi, I want to see if this cooktop is competitive on features like output.