EPISODE 1: SLEDGEHAMMER THERAPY - RENOVATING MY TORONTO VICTORIAN HOME

The front window of our Toronto Victorian Home that we are currently in the process of renovating!

TORONTO VICTORIAN HOME RENOVATIONS

IT’S FINALLY HAPPENING!

Today I am so excited to be sharing the first episode in my new YouTube series about my Toronto Victorian home renovations!

If this is your first time visiting my blog, last year my fiance and I started the process of buying our first home in Toronto.

It took us a stressful 6 months and a total of 11 offers until we finally won a bid on a beautiful Victorian home in Old Toronto’s trendy Little Portugal neighbourhood. Since moving in last August we have been planning a number of home renovations including a major first floor gut and remodel.

Finally, after weeks of waiting and months of planning, we finally got our Toronto Building Permit and were able to start. Since the house does need some structural work we did need to apply for a permit but I’ll wait to share more about that in my next episode!

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In this episode my fiance and I talk about how we are feeling going into our home renovations, the prep work that needed to be done before we could start and I vlog the entire demolition process. In total, it took 5 days to completely gut the first floor (don’t worry I saved the beautiful mouldings and doors) and remove the sun-room at the back of the house but you won’t believe what we found during the demolition process!

Although Adam, his dad and I did the demo in the basement, we did hire Manpower Demolition Inc. to help us gut the first floor and complete the first stage of our Toronto home renovation. Since the basement was drywall and only two walls, it was super easy for us to do ourselves but when it came to super messy lath and plaster, and saving my decorative mouldings, we decided to hire seasoned experts.

In the end, we were super happy with the work and professionalism of Manpower, and how accommodating they were. Prior to even starting, I did a walk through with one of their project managers and showed him everything I wanted saved, protected and stored. They were also very accommodating during the documentation process, moving time lapse cameras around for me and letting me on site to take photos while they work.

Obviously, when you do a renovation like this you also want to make sure that you aren’t being excessively disruptive to your neighbours. Since we didn’t have a permit to leave a disposal bin on the street we had to do a drive by bin and I was happy to hear from my neighbour that Manpower cleaned up after themselves and didn’t leave any mess behind after loading each bin. I also requested for all the garbage from the demo to be brought through the house instead of down the shared lane way as to avoid damaging or scratch my neighbours newly painted house, which they did as well. All in all they did a great job and I would totally recommend them to other friend and family, and use them again myself!

P.s. If you are starting a Toronto home renovation and need some contractor recommendations Adam and I have put together a stellar list of contractors and tradesman for this project! I’ll be sharing more about our renovation process in upcoming episodes and the companies we are using but if you can’t wait, feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an email via my contact form for a recommendation!

PICTURES OF MY OLD VICTORIAN HOUSE

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Although I do walk you through the main floor of the house prior to the demo in this episode, here are some picture of the rooms we will be demolishing. We did keep all the decorative crown mouldings around the windows in the front room and pulled off the decorative crowns on the doorway frames but things like the baseboards and door frames we are planning on getting milled/replicated. We are also planning to reintroduce the decorative bullnose wall corner details you see in the middle photo (above) as a way of paying homage to the houses original character.

The old main floor kitchen that we are planning to completely remodel!

One thing I am super excited for is renovating our kitchen!

The house currently has two kitchens and the main floor kitchen definitely leaves much to be desired. I am so looking forward to modernizing this room in our Toronto Victorian home and bringing it to life with the help of Domani Design Group. We went all out on this part of the house and purchased the best of the best kitchen appliances, so I’m super excited for those for those to arrive at the end of the month. Especially my La Cornue stove!

TORONTO HOME RENOVATIONS - MODERNIZING A VICTORIAN HOME

During the demolition we did uncover a few cool things! For one, the boys at Manpower uncovered the remains of a tin ceiling under the drywall in the kitchen. Turns out it wasn’t actually tin but a faux tin material that was raised to give the same aesthetic. We didn’t save it but I thought it was a pretty cool discovery especially since i’ve been contemplating doing a tin cieling in the kitchen and talking about this idea on Instagram. Perhaps it’s a sign!

The faux tin ceiling we uncovered during the demolition of the main floor kitchen! Learn more in my Toronto Home renovation series on YouTube!

Another thing we discovered during the demolition was some old school coat hooks hidden in the abandoned staircase! This we definitely did save and I do plan on re-purposing them in the front foyer later on in the renovation! First I’m going to strip the paint off them though!

The antique coat hooks we found during the demolition of the abandoned staircase in my Toronto Victorian home.

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PICTURES FROM AFTER THE DEMO STAGE IS COMPLETE IN MY TORONTO HOME RENOVATIONS!

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So there you have it!

With stage 1 complete, we can now move onto structural changes that needed to be made to make the house structurally sound. We are going to be remove a load bearing wall in the next episode and installing some steal beams so if you are curious to see what goes into that , stay tuned!!

For now we left up a lot of the old framing so we can continue to give the house some support while we order the new LVL and steal beams but all that and more will be revealed in the next episode of my Toronto Victorian home renovations series!

Make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you don’t miss out!

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Thank you so much for joining me today and for checking out my new Toronto home renovation series on Youtube. I am super excited to be modernizing a Victorian home while still keeping the charm of an old Victorian house. If you have any questions about my Victorian house renovations, what it’s like to live in Little Portugal, Toronto or recommendations for Toronto contractors, hit me up in the comments below!

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Episode 1 in my Toronto Home Renovation series on YouTube is now out! Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode!

DIY WREATH FOR SPRING!

My floral wreath for spring!

DIY WREATH FOR SPRING

After a cold winter, spring is a time of revival. A time to reinvigorate your life and for new beginnings. A time where evidence of dormant plants begins to appear and hibernating animals awake from their slumber. Much like the outside world, I too awaken in the spring with a new sense of energy to create, decorate and prepare for warmer days, but this year things felt different. More purposeful. More rewarding.

Since moving into our new Toronto Victorian home last August, each season has been a completely new experience and opportunity to decorate. In the fall, I used pumpkins to dress up my front step. In the winter, I added festive garlands, planters and ribbons to add holiday cheer. Now with spring upon us I have the urge to add decorations once again, but this time I thought an outdoor spring wreath for the front door would be a perfect accessory. Outdoor spring wreaths are a great way to add a pop of colour to any entrance way and a great way to excite those who see it of warm days ahead.

Having never made a wreath for spring before I wasn’t sure how this project was going to turn out but after a quick trip Michael’s to pick up a grapevine wreath base and a few additional supplies, I was excited to begin creating.

As it turns out, creating an outdoor spring wreath isn’t hard at all! It’s actually super fun, easy to do and took me maybe 40 minutes max. I think the most difficult part of the whole experience was deciding what colour palette I wanted to use and which artificial flowers I was going to buy.

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HOW TO MAKE A WREATH FOR SPRING

To help me get inspired, I went over to Michael’s spring crafting section which had a bunch of pre-made spring outdoor wreaths ready to go. I paid attention at the colours used, the flowers chosen, and how they were constructed before cross referencing with a photo of my front door. Doing this allowed me to confidently pick a colour palette that would not only suit my home but help me determine the size of wreath I wanted and how I would hang it.

Once I decided on the colour palette, I returned to the artificial flower section to make my selection. Since lavender is one of my favourite colours and a popular Easter colour, I knew I wanted to stick to a cool tone palette, so I picked a variety of stems that added a variation of size, texture and colour with this in mind. To help me narrow down the options, I would lay them down on the wreath visualizing how they would go together and their placement. In the end I bought a total of 8 stems which ended up being the perfect amount.

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Upon returning home, I laid all my flowers out on my crafting table along with a sharp pair of scissors and some floral wire I had also purchased. Using my hands, I started to manipulate one of the stems around the grapevine wreath, tying it into place by wrapping wire generously around both it and the grapevine. Once secure, I cut off the unsightly bottom of the stem and repeated the process with my largest flower, a faux hydrangea. After the first stem (my base) and largest flowers (my anchor) were securely tied to the grapevine, I was then able to start using my scissors to cut off the other flowers from their stem and just push them into the small crevices within the grapevine wreath to secure them. Between the tightness of the wire and the density of the grapevine, all additional flowers stand in place without requiring additional wire or glue to secure them which ended up making the rest of my DIY outdoor spring wreath progress very fast. It also made placement of the flowers forgiving as I was able to try different positions easily.

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HOW TO MAKE A BOW FOR A WREATH

In addition to flowers, adding a bow to your wreath is another great way to add variety and dimension to your design. Making a bow can easily be done at home and doesn’t take much time at all. If you are unsure of how to make one yourself or have a hard time remembering, here are two easy tutorials that demonstrate how to make a bow for a wreath.

HANGING YOUR OUTDOOR FLORAL SPRING WREATH

Once I finished placing all my flowers onto the wreath, I now needed to figure out a way to attach it to the door. Using my floral wire I created a small loop around my fingers and fastened it to the grapevine by twisting it around both the loop and grapevine. Doing so allowed me to create a small hanging loop for my now completed wreath that fit perfectly over a small nail already protruding from my front door.

In the end, my DIY wreath for spring turned out amazing and I am so happy with the results. If you are thinking about creating an outdoor spring wreath for your home and have any further questions about how to make a wreath that I did not answer in this blog post, feel free to leave them in the comment section below!

Happy crafting!

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SPILLING TEA: ALL MY JUICY RENO PLANS & INSPO!

My Romanesque style Toronto Victorian home

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It’s been almost six months since we moved into our Toronto Victorian Home and yet waking up and walking from one room to the next still feels so unreal sometimes. The spark we first felt when we initially toured the house is still very much alive and it all just goes to show that our crazy first time home buyer experience was worth the struggles. In the end, we found a beautiful house in a great neighborhood that we have been loving learning more about and exploring.

OUR CREEPY HIDDEN STAIRCASE

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Being over 125 years old, our Romanesque style Victorian home does come with its fair share of quirks. For one, we discovered a creepy hidden staircase in a wall while planning out our main floor renovations! We suspect it was closed off to hide plumbing to the second floor bathroom and make room for a new staircase to the basement, but given it features the same high baseboards you see in other parts of the house, the staircase was likely part of the original house.

Additionally, when we bought the house we noticed that the floors sagged. This is a common characteristic of old houses usually equated to their age, but upon further inspection by our structural engineer, we began to suspect that load bearing walls in the basement had been removed by a previous owner at some point. Thankfully the foundation of the building is sound and our renovation plans will address this issue.

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One thing I am 1000% doing is preserving the historical charm of the house as much as possible. Both the entrance way and drawing room feature high baseboards and crown molding centered around exquisite Victorian ceiling medallions. I also love the original ornamental molding that can be found throughout the first floor that embellishes the doorways including the main entrance. Unfortunately, a lot of these decorative molding features have been removed from the second floor, so one thing I’m definitely including on my ‘to do’ list is custom mill work to incorporate it back in.

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Speaking of ‘to do list’, the reason why I am sharing today’s post is not only to expand on my pre reno tour, kitchen appliance tips, and share interior design inspiration for my upcoming renovations but it’s also to introduce a new Youtube series I’m going to be filming, documenting our renovation journey! I feel like this house and first floor renovation is going to be an amazing opportunity to share about my love for design and create entertaining content to excite you. There no doubt will be challenges but it’s in those challenges that great stories are made so I hope you will join me on this journey.

Of course, by way of this blog post I also wanted to give you a sneak peak into all the beautiful inspiration I’ve been collecting, what we are planning, and why we called in a structural engineer to help us. SPOILER: it goes beyond sagging floors!

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RENOVATING A VICTORIAN HOME

Given our budget after buying the house and the fact that it is currently split into two units, Adam and I decided the best way to approach our top to bottom renovation is to split each floor into phases. This way, we can continue to live in the house during the renovations while still having a working kitchen on the second floor.

As you have probably guessed by now, phase one of this project is going to include a complete first floor renovation. Structural changes to support this, including widening the staircases on both the main and lower floor, will also be taking place as well as reintroducing an entrance way from the front hallway into the drawing room and removing unoriginal walls to create an open concept layout towards the back of the house where you will find a new kitchen, powder room, and bar. The sun-room at the back of the house will eventually be demolished so as to reclaim more of the backyard and a larger door opening will be created to replace it allowing for maximum natural light.

I will be elaborating further about these design choices throughout this blog post as well as providing inspirational images to help you visualize what we are planning. So without further ado, let’s start with diving into each element our renovation plan starting with structural changes.

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KITCHEN BEFORE RENO

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DINING ROOM BEFORE RENO

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STRUCTURAL CHANGES

I knew prior to starting our first time home buying journey that I loved Victorian homes so while on our quest we visited many renovated Toronto Victorian homes. A common repeated feature we noticed was an open concept layout on the first floor which, when paired with high ceilings, not only made the house look bigger but grander! Since original walls only seem to exist at the front of our house, Adam and I had no hesitations when deciding to alter the main floor layout by removing walls to make room for a larger kitchen and overall entertaining space. We learned that making these layout changes would require additional steel beams to provide stability and prevent structural issues that could arise later in the other phases of our renovations.

Additionally, since we wanted to demolish the sunroom and reclaim more backyard space we saw this as an opportunity to install a larger opening for a new doorway leading to the backyard. Doing this would require a steal frame to be installed to support the brick wall at the back of the house.

Pre Reno Kitchen and Sun Room - Photo Cred Raffi Tutundijan @jaggedlens

CRITTALL STYLE DOORS

Originally, Adam and I were thinking of doing a large steel Crittall style doors as the back entrance door, however after pricing it out and seeing what the lead times would be to have one made big enough for the opening (it would have to be custom made) we got cold feet.

Living in a cold climate, steel Crittall doors aren’t known for being the most energy efficient door systems since they aren’t great at preventing heat from escaping or blocking the cold from coming in. The Toronto Building Code does have a minimum thermal break requirement for all external doors which is why aluminum doors or fiberglass doors are more common (they offer superior energy efficiency when compared to steel) as well as cheaper. Alas, we are still undecided which way we will go but here’s some inspiration of what we are thinking.

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Further, it wasn’t until we moved in and tried to get furniture to the second floor and basement that we realized how narrow our staircases are! When it comes to staircases, Toronto’s current building code requires staircases in new builds to be a minimum of 36 inch wide. Historically, staircases were never this wide and although our staircase is not original, the opening was never widened by a previous owner. Our staircase comes in at 27 inches making it extremely hard to fit assembled furniture upstairs. For the longest time Adam and I wracked out heads trying to figure out how the previous owners managed to get the kitchen appliances up to the second floor. It wasn’t until we finally measured the width of the doorway to the small front balcony off our master bedroom that we figured out they must have removed the door temporarily and craned them in through the small balcony! Crazy right!? One of the biggest and possibly most pivotal decisions we had to make when putting together our renovation plans was figuring out whether we were going to address our narrow stair issue, how it would impact the structure of the home, and how much widening and replacing both staircases would be.

WOOD STAIRCASE DESIGNS

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After finally deciding to move forward with widening the staircases, Adam and I debated whether to go more modern or keep it classic with the new stairs. We both love the look of floating stairs but given how much traditional character the house has, we ended up going for a more traditional design. But I’m sure we will add a modern twist somehow.

Lastly, structural issues in the basement that caused the floors on the main level to sag needed to be addressed before we can lay down a new subfloor and install new floors. To do this it seems that a few new beams will have to go in on the lower level - especially at the front of the house - to ensure the new floors won’t buckle a few years down the road. Installing these new beams will be also help us address the issues on unsupported over-spanned joists that we believe were caused by the removal of a load bearing wall in the basement by a previous owner.

Speaking of floors, I’ve been obsessed with mosaic and herringbone floors for years! Prior to buying a house, I told Adam that I hope whatever we ended up with needed new floors so I would have an built in excuse. During our viewings we saw a few Toronto Victorian's with mosaic and inlaid floors that only continued to fuel my obsession.

CURRENT FLOORING

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Currently, the main floor has three different types of flooring going on, one of which does look original. However, it’s only a small section at the back and they aren’t in the greatest shape. If there was more of it and it was in better shape I may reconsider redoing the floors, but in our case this is one ‘out with the old in with the new’ sacrifice I’m willing to make. Traditionally herringbone floors were made of oak and these days you can get them in engineered oak in many different sizes and colours. Narrowing it down to a size was exceptionally hard given the size of the space. Too large and you don’t notice them, but too small and it’s all you notice. It needs to be balanced! In the end we went with a 90 mm natural oak herringbone colour which I am so excited about. It’s going to add warmth back into the space and match beautifully with what we have planned for the kitchen. I can’t wait!

HERRINGBONE FLOOR INSPO

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I’ve shared a little bit about the kitchen appliances we ordered a few months back but when it comes to designing my dream kitchen you can bet it won’t be all white! In order to ensure flawless execution for this part of the project, I brought in the big guns, Domani Design Group. Not only does Domani distribute luxury European brands like Pedini but they also specialize in custom cabinetry for both kitchens and bathrooms as well as custom millwork! Just what I needed!

To us, the kitchen is truly the heart of the house and both Adam and I love to cook and entertain. With 10 foot ceilings and an open concept layout, I wanted the kitchen to feel airy but still anchoring, warm and full of natural light. Currently we have two big beautiful windows in our hallway that we plan to position the island between. For cabinetry we are keeping it simple, timeless, and classic but modern with a shaker style kitchen in a dark French navy to match our La Cornue range in the same colour with brass accents. The La Cornue range is going to be the centrepiece so I wanted cabinetry to compliment it, but not compete.

SHAKER STYLE KITCHEN INSPO

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A warm porcelain countertop in a Calacatta with brown-gold warms up the space and plays on the natural oak herringbone floors. Floating shelves in a cool natural wood surround a simple and understated range hood which extends all the way to the ceiling to accentuate the height of the room. Bar seating will surround the kitchen island sink. I have even gone so far as to start to think how I will organize the kitchen and have submitted special millwork request to Oscar at Domani including a pull out spice rack and cabinet pull out drawers for my small appliances! I’m so excited!


KITCHEN STORAGE & ORGANIZATION IDEAS

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I obviously don’t expect this renovation to go smoothly. I’m actually banking that it’s not so that I have some great stories to come back and share, but I am super excited for all that is to come. I’m also super excited to document and create my Youtube series around it so you guys can get a sense of the process too! If you aren’t following me already make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me on Instagram for updates on this phase 1 renovation and more design projects I have in mind!

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DIY CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS: PAPER SNOWFLAKES!

DIY CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS: PAPER SNOWFLAKES!

There is nothing like a little Christmas crafting to get you and your space into the holiday spirit! Am I right?!

Since moving into our new Toronto Victorian home a few months ago, I have been so focused on getting our first floor renovations started that I didn’t expect to be able to celebrate Christmas in our new home. Perhaps overly ambitious on my part, I expected to be in the throws of renovations, unable to host festive soirees this year with friends and family but instead, I was given the gift of time. Time to slow down, settle in and savour the season.

So yesterday, I popped out to the store to grab some crafty materials to create these super cute paper snowflake to jazz up my space for the holiday season. I love how each paper snowflake has its own unique shape and look, and how impactful this inexpensive Christmas decor DIY can have on your space!

If you are looking for a fun and craft way to get into the holiday spirit, you are going to love this simple DIY Christmas decoration and new paper snowflake hack!

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ITEMS YOU WILL NEED FOR THIS SIMPLE CHRISTMAS DECOR TUTORIAL

Makes 1 Snowflake

MATERIALS:
8-10 Paper Lunch Bags - I purchased a variety of colours and sizes from the store
A Hot Glue Gun
1 Glue Sticks - this is plenty and more then enough for making one paper snowflake
Scissors
Tape or String to use for hanging/fastening the snowflake to the wall

Additional Optional Fun Materials:
Spray Paint - I spray painted some of mine silver and it looked really cute
Glitter
Adhesive Pearl Stickers

SIMPLE CHRISTMAS DECOR THAT MAKE A BIG IMPACT!

In the shape of a ‘T’, add hot glue to the backside of a paper bag before sticking another paper bag on top.

Repeat until you have done this for all 8-10 bags.

Using your scissors, cut a unique shape into the bag - it doesn’t have to be even or symmetrical.

Open and glue ends together to reveal your unique snowflake which is now ready to be taped to the wall, or added to your space!

Check out this video below for further clarification!

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I hope you enjoyed making these super cute DIY Christmas decorations as much a did. If you have any questions about this simple, paper snowflakes Christmas decor hack, feel free to share them in the comment sections below.

Happy crafting!

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TIPS FOR PICKING THE BEST KITCHEN APPLIANCES!

Want to hear a funny story?

When Adam and I moved into our Toronto Victorian home, so many appliances didn’t work.

The washer and dryer were both broken, my dishwasher was a glorified drying rack, my freezer was frozen shut. At one point, I opened the island cupboard and the door completely came off in my hand. The previous owners didn’t even put screws to attach the hinge! It was comical!

We knew the house needed work when be bought it but I didn’t expect our appliances to be in such bad shape when we moved in. Thankfully, Adam’s response to this series of unfortunate events was to give me the green light to start planning an entire first floor renovation which, if you haven’t already guessed, included a new dream kitchen and a slew of new appliances.

KITCHEN INSPO

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Now, something you should know about Adam is that he loves to cook as much as I do so designing a ‘chef’s kitchen’ and upgrading the range was a must for us. This meant I could splurge on a gas range with high BTU’s and a large electric oven but didn’t need nor want to go for expensive designer brand appliances for everything. As a matter of fact, if there is one thing I learned from the research I did comparing price to function to design for each appliance, it’s that there are tons of really beautiful, sleek appliances out there with great consumer reviews at palatable prices. You don’t need to spend $17,000 on a fridge to have the best kitchen appliances, trust me.

Fast forward to today and your girl has ordered all of her appliances! Since I know first hand how grueling the process of picking appliances can be, I though i’d come back and share a few tips for purchasing appliances, what I found to be the best brands for each appliance category (research backed) and what I ended up purchasing!

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TIPS FOR PICKING THE BEST KITCHEN APPLIANCES

TIP 1: FIGURE OUT YOUR NEEDS & BUDGET

If you are looking to buy the best kitchen appliances my first piece of advice would be to figure out your needs and budget before visiting showrooms, and doing your research. Appliances come in a range of prices and designer brands like Sub Zero and Wolf, La Cornue, Miele, Bosch, and Thermador offer super sleek designs with superior functionality but can come with a hefty price tag.

On the other hand, brands like LG, Samsung, Kitchen Aid and GE are considered more affordable and offer a larger range of products with great ratings at decent prices. These more affordable brands still offer great appliances with good capabilities but they tend not to have as many bells and whistles as the designer brands and aren’t as ‘sleek’; although they have gotten way better in recent years!

Adam and I ended up giving ourselves a healthy budget for kitchen appliances knowing that we wanted to splurge on a designer duel range while also still needing a new microwave, dishwasher, fridge, hood vent, washer and dryer. We also knew mixing and matching designer appliances brands with non-designer brands would help us keep our cost down significantly while still allowing us to build our dream kitchen with the best kitchen appliances.

Kitchen Inspiration - Sourced from Pinterest

TIP 2: PICK WHICH APPLIANCE TO UPGRADE

Once you have outlined your needs and budget you can then pick which appliance you feel you would benefit the most from upgrading (if any). Do you hate doing dishes? Perhaps a high performance dish washer will be the most beneficial. Do you love cooking and need a stove with high BTU’s for searing? Perhaps a designer range is the item you should splurge on. Do you have a big household and need a larger fridge or freezer to accommodate all the groceries you buy? Asking yourself these questions will not only help you pick the right appliances, but will also help you narrow down budget allotments for each appliance.

SINGLE VS. DUEL RANGES

One thing I learned while visiting showrooms for the best kitchen appliances is that designer ranges tend to offer higher BTU’s than more affordable brands. Additionally, many designer brands also offer duel systems meaning you can have a gas range AND an electric oven. The benefit of having an electric oven is that the temperature for baking is more accurate and even compared to gas because the temperature is measured using inferred in gas ovens, making temperature harder to control and less accurate relative to electric. However, when it comes to the range, gas allows you to cook at higher temperatures and brings things to a boil faster than electric. For this reason, duel ranges tend to be more expensive than single ranges and since this was the kitchen appliance Adam and I decided to splurge on we allotted the largest proportion of our budget to it.

A La Cornue ConfuFé 110 duel range in white with brass trim

Although Sub Zero Wolf, Thermador, and Miele all offer great gas ranges, I fell in love with the look and capabilities of the La Cornue CornuFé 110. The range itself features 5 powerful burners - one 17,500 BTU central burner, three 12,000 BTU burners, and one 6,000 BTU burner for simmering; two electric convection ovens - one of which is a seven mode multifunction oven; and one large storage drawer. We ended up going with the classic French dark navy blue with polished brass trim accents which we plan to build the rest of the kitchen around. It’s like a piece of art you can cook with! Adam will have the searing power he loves and desires while I will have the two electric ovens for optimal non-stop baking. I can’t wait!

TIP 3: GET CONSUMER REPORTS

Once you have figured out your budget and what appliances you would benefit most from upgrading, I would highly recommend going online to Consumer Reports to check out the rankings and reviews for each appliance category you are interested in. Doing so will help you narrow down which brand is making the best kitchen appliances for that specific category and make choosing the right one for you less overwhelming. I love going to this website when purchasing any electronic or kitchen appliance because it ranks its performance, its reliability, how environmentally friendly it is and the overall customer satisfaction with the product.

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I turned to Consumer Reports for help choosing the remainder of the appliances and that’s how I ended up going for another designer brand appliance - the stainless steel Bosch Ascente SHX3AR75UC dishwasher. The reviews for this dishwasher were amazing and the price was surprisingly reasonable for a designer brand appliance. According to consumer reports, Bosch makes great, high performance, reliable dish washers with great load capacity that are super water and energy efficient. After watching a few review Youtube videos and seeing how well it ranked, going with the Bosch Ascante was a no brainer. In addition to Bosch, Thermador also rose to the top as one of the best kitchen appliance brands in the dishwasher category according to Consumer Report rankings.

TIP 4: GO INTO THE SHOWROOMS

After doing your research and narrowing down which brands make the best kitchen appliances in each category, you should then go into the showroom and check them out in person. Doing so will help you visualize what your kitchen will look like and help you narrow down the features and visual aesthetic you want to go for. I actually learned a lot more about fridges by doing this including the difference between ‘counter depth’ and ‘cabinet depth’.

MORE KITCHEN INSPO

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COUNTER DEPTH VS CABINET DEPTH

One of the biggest differences between designer brands and non-designer brands (other than the massive price difference) was that designer brand appliances come in ‘cabinet depth’ whereas non-designer brands tend to be ‘counter depth’ or deeper. This means that designer fridges are shallower in depth and look more seamless or flush when installed alongside cabinetry. I also noticed that designer fridges tend to be taller then non designer fridges and the compressors usually don’t eat into the freezer space as much as non designer fridges. Just something to think about…

Although important, a designer fridge was not something Adam and I thought we needed to splurge on (they can go beyond $17,000). This, in addition to not being fussed about it sticking out beyond the counter by three inches or not having extra height (finally it pays to be short), we decided something more budget friendly would suit our needs and aesthetic which is why we started looking at non-designer French door fridges.

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To my surprise and after further research, I learned that LG actually outperformed many of the designer brands when it came to overall customer satisfaction. Although their fridges may not be as tall or shallow as a designer fridge, LG makes great, energy efficient fridges that have temperature uniformity and are reliable. Adam and I ended up choosing a counter depth french door LG (LFCC22426S) fridge in stainless steal which not only matched our Bosch dishwasher quite well but performed really well against other top non-designer brands in this category like GE, Samsung and Kitchen Aid, in addition to designer brands like Dacor, Thermador and Jenn-Air.

TIP 5: MATCH AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE

My last tip for picking the best kitchen appliances for you is to try to make your appliances match as much as possible. This will add a cohesiveness to the space and make it look more visually appealing. You can do this easily by picking all stainless steal appliances, by going with the same brand for everything, or by choosing appliances with similar looking handles. Adam and I chose to get everything in stainless steel to make matching them together easy and lucked out with our fridge handles matching our dishwasher handle despite being from different brands.

Further, for our washer and dryer, we ended up going with matching LG units because not only does it give a cohesive look but the reviews were really great. LG recently came out with new front load washer (LG WM4500HBA) and electric dryer (LG DLEX4500B) with 5.8 cubic feet load capacity - the largest yet. It got a 5/5 for washing performance, energy efficient and water efficiency and can easily be stacked on top of one another if you want to eventually put it in a closet like us.

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Lastly, for our microwave, we wanted to have something that looked built in so we went with the Panasonic NNST663SC and added on a stainless steel trim kit so it would match our other appliances. It was more expensive than what I expected a microwave to cost but Panasonic as a brand performed well in this appliance category especially when it came to defrosting evenness, speed of heating and overall reliability. Other brands that performed well in this category include GE and Oster.

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So there you have it! My tips for choosing the best kitchen appliances and recommendations for kitchen appliance brands in each catagory. I know figuring out what appliances are reliable and high performing can be a daunting/grueling process but the last thing you want to do is spend your hard earned money on complete crap that has to be replaced in a few years. I hope this blog post helped you along a little bit and provided additional knowledge on the differences between designer brands and non-designer brands, as well as which brands are performing the best in each category. Feel free to share what appliances you ended up going with below too! I would love to know!

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