Built in appliances?

In our just over two-year-old house, we specified spaces under counter for refrigerator and freezer. It certainly made it easy when we replaced the freezer a few weeks ago.

(The only thing I did was replace a 13-A socket with Schuko to avoid using the rather bulky Schuko-to-13-A adaptor supplied.)

Dishwasher, though, we had a fitted one.

Do not, DO NOT go for a frost free fridge.

My D/W in the USA was built-in, was there when I moved in and still working a treat when I left 12 years later.

I did think that an issue with built-in was that you can't see the control panel or display when it's in operation. But the new one we got with the new kitchen projects onto the floor and gives, in fact, all the information one needs. It's very quiet, too.

I correct myself. I think that all under the counter fridges are frost free. This is because they reach temp and automatically defrost the evaporator plate. Sorry for my f*ck up.

Whatever you prefer, but our stand-alond dishwasher (Hoover DYM 762T) holds 16 place settings - how many do you need?

SteveW

Having had to once replace a fridge/freezer with a peculiar door split ratio that had to be matched (or the fitted doors simply would not work)

- I hate fitted stuff. It limited me to exactly one model from one manufacturer.

How easy it might be next time to find no available suitable unit.

With a properly designed space, there's no disadvantage IMO to having free standing appliances and it's so much easier to get them out if they need servicing.

If looks matter, I'd rather have a door over a slightly deeper space that a free standing can be slid into.

Certainly, our under-the-counter fridge is frost free as was its predecessor. The original being bought in 1988!

There are plenty of unfitted appliances: endless choice, new or used, buy anywhere, whatever you want, change what you've got there without a worry. The same is not true of fitted.

NT

We went ?built in ? may be 10 years back when we had the kitchen refitted. The appliances were all AEG, other than the cooker hood.

They certainly look good, even 10 years on.

I?m not so sure about the capacity being greater. I?ve certainly never noticed it. We?ve an separate under counter fridge and freezer and the fridge is a bit of a pain to find stuff in. We?ve another, upright fridge/freezer in the garage and finding stuff in there is far easier. The drawers in the under counter freezer alleviate the problem there, it is better than our chest freezer.

We?ve replaced the dishwasher (at least once, maybe twice) and built in units tend to be more expensive.

Our experience of AEG isn?t that good. Induction hob has been brilliant, ditto main fan oven. Combo microwave initially had a lot of issues but was eventually fixed. Fridge and Freezer have had hinge trouble. Dishwasher was a pain.

I'm sorry for my language.

Integrated dishwashers are generally more expensive and are a pain when they break and need pulling out to get at.

Ingergrated fridges are pretty good tho

The built in ones slide in and out too. They aren't actually built in and are fitted after the units.

To get more capacity, get a 700mm wide instead of 600mm (I'm not talking about a so-called "American fridge"). We got a Beko FF of those dimensions about 9 years ago and it's great, it's in the utility room out of the way. It has one of those freeze-and-twist ice trays, which is the only way to go for ice.

We've had one for several years now. Absolutely no issues...

why?

The only bit of "intergration" with our dishwasher ia a wooden panel fixed on the front and the continuous plinth. How do you access a non-intergrated dishwasher without puliing it out from between the units?

When we were re-doing our kitchen, we initially contemplated a built-in fridge freezer. The overall dimensions were similar to the freestanding one that we were replacing, but the capacity figures were so much lower that initially I thought I had miscalculated. I checked further and it was partly the greatly increased thickness of insulation in modern appliances, and partly the space taken for the housing, and the door having to line up.

We were so nearly caught out, but eventually went for a 2 m high freestanding Miele, with which we are very pleased. A substantial piece of work, the interior arrangement seems to accommodate all we need with ease (1). Although this is not a cheap fridge, it came in less expensive than a built-in plus housing.

Washing machine and dishwasher are Neff built-in, and after nearly 11 years are still working well.

We went for built-in because we thought it would look tidier, but, since one is advised to leave the washing machine door ajar after use to let it dry out, this is only partly achieved.

(1) Eventually supplemented by an upright freezer in the garage. This is also full, and we don't know how we managed without it - we do lots of batch cooking.

Chris

A good reason to get a wider 700mm unit rather than 600mm. A large increase in capacity.

The layout was pretty tight. Given a mansion, I would have looked at that, and also not located the freezer in the garage.

Chris

I've got one of those now - holds the temperature well at 4C and as a result we are quite generous with "use by" dates, with attention paid to what type of food (eg I'll let chicken and fish go a day over, red meat longer and un prepared vegetables, I ignore completely and just see if they're hairy or not. Ditto most dairy products barring soft cheese which I am a bit wary of.