Let's Talk About Appliances!

Appliances are probably the most important part of the entire kitchen, but especially to Chris. He is a serious at-home cook who not only enjoys making meals every night for our family, but we invite people over a couple times a week, as well. There were only a few particular items on his must-have appliance list: 1. More than one oven. 2. A large cooktop, greater than 36". 3. An all-refrigerator (with a separate freezer in the pantry) to maximize space for fresh foods.

Initially, Chris had eyes only for the Viking/Wolf brands. That's what he really wanted. We even included a 48" Viking range and all-refrigerator in our initial kitchen mood board, but we could never really get used to the price. The range and fridge together were close to what we had planned on spending for our entire remodel! Soon after we posted that mood board, we actually got an email from the nice people at Viking. They thanked us for including them in our kitchen plans and offered us VIP pricing on the appliances. It was a generous amount, but we still weren't sure if we could make it happen financially. We started looking for other options.

I started looking around for an all-refrigerator since those seemed harder to find outside of the Viking/Subzero brands. I went through nearly every brand when I stumbled upon Frigidaire's professional line. They had an all refrigerator with a built-in trim kit option! It looked good and professional--the handle was nearly identical to Viking's! Even better, it was the right height to fit into the Ikea cabinets we had planned, while the Viking one was a little too tall and would require some special carpentry on our part.

I showed Chris and he was completely on board with it, especially after I showed him the trim kit option and the price. Knowing we liked the look of their professional fridge, I poked around the other appliances in the line hoping I'd find a 48" range. Well, I had no such luck. But, I did really like the look of their professional 30" gas range.

The squared off edges, front dials, and long industrial handles--it was designed very well. And that's where I got a crazy idea; Could we put two of these together? With the grates on top going all the way to the edges and the extremely squared edges, could it look seamless? Would we need to leave a gap between them? Has this ever been done? Is this even allowed? Chris loved the idea, but wanted to make sure it was possible first.

I started a google image search and couldn't find any good examples of two 30" ranges side by side, but I couldn't get the idea out of my head. I thought I'd contact Frigidaire to see if this was possible according to the appliance's regulations, also I wanted to see if they would be willing to offer any VIP pricing since Viking was so willing. #shameless

A few days later I got an email back saying that they'd love to have a conference call with me, their master contractor and their head of marketing the next day. I jumped on the call and they had all good news for me. We could absolutely put two of their gas ranges right smack up against each other. There needs to be an 1/8" gap between cabinetry, but other than that--we could go for it. The contractor gave us a lot of good pointers on exactly where the gas lines need to be run and good range hood options. They were actually really excited about the idea and asked what else we had in mind. After discussing with them a few more details on our kitchen plan, and them sharing more information about their Professional line, our visions were very much in sync.

So, full disclosure time. We've partnered with Frigidaire and they've been generous enough to supply all of the appliances for the kitchen, and even want to work with Chris a little on some food posts for their site. They've honestly been a dream to work with and their team is so on the ball, but I hope all our readers understand that, even without the partnership in place, Frigidaire was our choice. The design, the function, and the price points - it all fell within our original budget and we couldn't be more excited to not only show you how they look in the finished kitchen, but for Chris to cook some great food to share with all of you using the appliances, as well.

We'll be using the entire Frigidaire Professional line, except our range hood insert comes from Electrolux, their sister brand. I don't share the total dollar amount of items we're receiving lightly or to brag or anything like that--it actually makes me terribly uneasy. I share it because all of the appliances for our kitchen together cost less than one 60" Viking range. And that's how I know we landed in the right place. We are designing a home cook's kitchen and Frigidaire's Professional line is a great way to do that for, literally, 1/4 of the price of the other "high end" brands.

Our appliances are scheduled to be installed the week of the 24th--2 weeks! And we can't wait to see them in person, especially those side by side ranges in action. C'mon! Is that the craziest idea you've ever heard of?