When considering options for kitchen appliances, there was one thing that was very important to me - no stainless steel. The home is very small and open. In order to keep the European Cottage feel, everything needs to have a sense of warmth and comfort. To accomplish this, the microwave is being built into a pantry cupboard and the AGA range will be in a cream color.

The refrigerator brought on the next challenge. We need one that will be fully integrated with a custom panel so that it would look like part of the kitchen cupboards. Fully integrated is a new term meaning that it is counter depth with no excess trim and custom door handles. After much debate and reviews, we chose a Liebherr 36" French door with freezer drawers on the bottom.

Liebherr is a company in Germany known for its outstanding refrigeration products. This refrigerator has a special system called BioFresh.  This system offers separate refrigeration compartments for meat and fish which require dry humidity and a fruit and vegetables area that offers high humidity for longer freshness.

The dishwasher will be a Bosch Integra 800 that is fully integrated with a matching cupboard panel and custom handle. After reading all of the online reviews between this Bosch and several competitors, this was an easy choice.

We considered other appliances like a steam oven, warming drawer, and a mini oven/microwave. Our final decision was simply to keep high quality basic appliances.   The one appliance I would include if it existed would be an automatic "kitchen cleaner". The "kitchen cleaner" would be a contraption that would do the dishes, clean the counters, and sweep the floors. This would make the room perfect and life a lot easier.