Luxury Appliances - Recommendations/Warnings?

[VladtheImpaler]

Any thoughts on Wolf/Sub-Zero vs Brigade (former Viking) vs Jenn-air? Mostly interested in gas range and fridge reviews...

[MoneyGuy]

Actually, we're looking at the same thing, except electric range instead of gas. We've shopped a bit but no decisions yet. I'll watch this thread. Man, you can spend a lot of money on kitchen appliances and my wife has expensive tastes, but she chose me.

[calgarygeologist]

Check out DCS by Fisher & Paykel. Their stuff was highly recommended and should be good. See if you can find a Garland dealer to see what they have.

[redforever]

I can't specifically comment about a range or fridge, just on make of appliance.

I would not get a Jenn-Air oven as they are very small in capacity.

I have a professional Viking induction cooktop, 6 burner, and have been more than satisfied with it, in fact, I just love it. I have had mine going on 6 years without one problem or repair.

[TurdFerguson]

Hardley an expert on this but we just did jenn-air stuff in our new place. Asked around a lot on taking the next step up to wolf/sub-zero/Viking and was pretty unanimously told you're not paying for better performance but just for the super high-end look. Fairly blanket statement which in sure isn't fair but thought id pass it along anyway.

[OldDutch]

Our reno'd home came with Jenn Air in 2009. I have no complaints.

The only thing that has broke is the gasket on the water dispenser on our fridge. Which sucked cause it caused a slow leak that was only found out after our hardwood floors started buckling. The repair guy said this is common since the gaskets are cheap plastic.

On performance they have been excellent. The oven and stove are gas and work flawless.

I actually stay at condos in Hawaii that have had Wolf and Viking everything. I have used them a bit. I actually like my jenn air better. I find outside of sub zero fridges, which rock, the appliances you mention are what BMW is to cars, just more refined. Jenn Air is like a Accord, not top fit and finish but great overall bank for buck.

[spetch]

Had some issues with Jenn-Air but I think I got a lemon wall-oven/microwave combo. Plus always reinforce the hoses on the d/w as it came off on mine. Also I recommend getting a surge protector at your panel. Cost me $500 bucks to do, but on ly after a surge took out my display board on my wall over costing my $1200 to replace

The warming drawer, win cooler and gas cooktop have all been excellent.

[Jedi Ninja]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

Any thoughts on Wolf/Sub-Zero vs Brigade (former Viking) vs Jenn-air? Mostly interested in gas range and fridge reviews...

A couple of years ago, Consumer Reports gave the Viking gas range a "do not buy" rating, which is pretty rare. Of their 2 test units, both had electrical problems, one, I recall, ended up with a major electrical short or fire.

Their tests are interesting, they do the same baking and cooking tests across all units, and a surprising number of the "pro-sumer" gas ranges performed quite poorly, as I recall. Check it out.

[Northendzone]

Came in looking for a one percenter joke or reference....leaving disappointed.......

[DFO]

We have a Jenn-Air 42" built in fridge and a Wolf 48" dual fuel range (6 burner & griddle). Two years in and no complaints with either one.

[Ducay]

Just took delivery of our 36" Blue Star gas range. From everything we've read it can't be beat for the money and performs well above most/all the other "low range" "Lux" brand items.

We exhaustively looked at appliances, and you realized pretty quick that there are in essence very few actual appliance manufacturers, with models being endlessly rebadged with slightly different looks/features.

Jenn-Air is part of the Whirlpool company, which makes all of these Maytag/Kenmore/Electrolux/Frigidaire/Kitchenaid/Jenn-Air/GE/IKEA

Samsung, LG round out the consumer space, and then you've got all the smaller more "Lux" brands (Miele, Wolf/SubZ, Viking/Brigade, Thermador).

[VladtheImpaler]

I definitely like the price of Blue Star and the reviews I have seen. Part of the issue for me is re-sale. Will we be punished for having a BS in our house when the time comes to sell, instead of a Wolf or a Viking, which seems to be standard these days at a certain price point? I guess what I am getting at is - does BS fall within the "luxury" category?

[calgarygeologist]

If I'm not mistaken Blue Star is part of Garland which is highly regarded in the commercial space. I would have no issue with Blue Star in a luxury home.

[VladtheImpaler]

Excellent. Now riddle me a fridge.

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Just took delivery of our 36" Blue Star gas range.

Did you just get it from Costco or a fancier version?

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

Did you just get it from Costco or a fancier version?

Yup

Costco ones are at least $1k-2k cheaper, and are literally identical to the ones you'd get from an appliance retailer, save they only come with 15k BTU burners, but you can always go aftermarket and add an 18 or 22k burner. (Which is getting into the overkill catagory).

[calgarywinning]

Blue Star has some huge cleaning problems in my opinion. If you don't care about the appearance of the grill, or are able to clean it as it gets dirty should be fine. Any boil overs, etc, will go subsurface, where as viking and wolf it's all contained. Easier to clean.

[Kjesse]

vlad we currently have a gas Wolf cooktop, I really like it. A quality piece of equipment, very basic really, and easy to pull the pieces apart for cleaning.

In the old condo I had a Bosch induction cooktop. The induction is more efficient and heats things faster than gas, but I still prefer gas.

Consider the new Samsung fridges that have a soda stream built in, a cool feature. That said, subzero is a higher end product. Our fridge is a KitchenAid and it's nice but not subzero nice.

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by Jedi Ninja

A couple of years ago, Consumer Reports gave the Viking gas range a "do not buy" rating, which is pretty rare. Of their 2 test units, both had electrical problems, one, I recall, ended up with a major electrical short or fire.

Their tests are interesting, they do the same baking and cooking tests across all units, and a surprising number of the "pro-sumer" gas ranges performed quite poorly, as I recall. Check it out.

I'd second that. I had Viking appliances in many of the kitchens I worked in, and they were excellent. The town home I bought in 2008, was built in 2006, and came with Viking appliances. It was a major buying feature for me, but the joy quickly subsided. The dishwasher quit working, and pretty much everyone I called to look at it were quoting me prices of what a new dishwasher would cost, and that wouldn't guarantee it would be fixed. I ended up buying a Miele Inspira dishwasher, and couldn't be happier.

The four burner gas stove doesn't work properly either. The back left burner is fine. When any of the other burners are on, the clicking won't stop. I've tried every suggestion to get them to stop, but nothing works. The hood fan is very weak, and basically doesn't work. The door on my fridge had the pin break, so now it flies open. I sold my place last month and am moving next month, so I'm happy to be out of these appliances.

In a few months I'm having construction start on a new house, and I will likely be going with Miele appliances for most of the kitchen.

[VladtheImpaler]

Based on the reviews i have seen and research I have done myself, I am currently leaning toward a 6 burner Blue Star range, probably a sub- zero fridge (though I definitely need to do more fridge research), Kitchen - Aid Architect dishwasher (seems to be universally best reviewed) and Ventahood hood. Kind of a mish - mash of brands, but nobody seems to be good at everything. Thoughts?