Lansdowne Life

Kitchen update: New appliances!

by Erin Heaton

There’s a whole lot of new and shiny in my kitchen! So far, we only have the refrigerator and the range installed. The dishwasher is waiting in the wings until the new countertops on order are installed. 

We were locked into a certain size of refrigerator. And I really, really wanted a bottom drawer freezer. Not really for the freezer so much, but because the refrigerator is at eye level now. I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that they actually still make the dimension we needed, since most of the options are so much larger now. (In fact, if we had space to play with, we could have gotten a larger refrigerator for less than what we paid. Don’t ask me how that math works.) I’m so glad we weren’t forced to move or alter any of the cabinetry. That would have been a real pain.

I must say that I feel completely spoiled using new appliances. Safe to say, I have never cooked on a stove as nice as this as an adult.

  • The oven we just got rid of would sometimes randomly spike 100 degrees in temperature and burn what I was baking.
  • The lemon of a stove we had in the apartment before we moved to this house took an hour to get up to 300 degrees. Plus if you were using the stove top and turned on a second burner, the flame on the first one would get cut in half.
  • And I seem to remember a stove we had in college shot flames out of the broiler on occasion. 

Now cooking is almost enjoyable! The first time I used the new stove, I had three burners going and the oven still pre-heated in under 10 minutes. Unimaginable with my old range. Tools that work are a revelation!

We still have to install the new stainless hood fan. The old one is not vented outside and the new one won’t be either, but I am hopeful it work a little better at keeping the grease at bay.
I was disappointed to find out there isn’t enough clearance for a microwave above the stove. I know a lot of people don’t like over-the-range microwaves, but I was hoping to get it off the counter. No such luck. We’re stuck with a countertop model. As a consolation, we’ll be upgrading that too, to match the stainless appliances. And I’m working out an idea in my head to make it look more built in.

And a sneak peek at the new countertop I just ordered. Yes, it’s laminate. Our neighborhood and housing prices wouldn’t support natural stone. Besides, I’m not too good for laminate. Not sure when everybody got all crazy about stone countertops being a necessity. I blame HGTV.

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