Kitchen Appliances: Choose by Daily Routine, Not by Data Sheet

Why choosing appliances begins with daily life

A kitchen appliance is a decision for ten to fifteen years. In that time it will be used thousands of times, or hardly at all. The most expensive mistakes we see in existing kitchens are not broken appliances but unused ones: the steam oven that serves as a shelf, the warming drawer full of baking trays, the wine cooler holding drinks cans.

That is why we ask about patterns first, not wishes:

• Who cooks, and when? A quick weekday supper calls for different appliances from a long Sunday cook.
• For how many? Two people on ordinary days, eight at the weekend, or four all the time?
• How is the shopping done? One big shop a week, or fresh every day at the market?
• What gets baked? Bread, cakes, pizza, or mostly bakes and vegetables?
• Who clears up? And how much crockery accumulates on a normal day?

These questions also stand at the beginning of every kitchen plan, as our guide to a new fitted kitchen describes. With Family K., it turned out that during the week the father does most of the cooking, quick and healthy, with plenty of vegetables. At the weekend the mother bakes bread. The result was a combination steam oven at eye level with a conventional oven beneath it, no second fridge and no warming drawer.

The right choice of appliances is rarely the most complete one. It is the one in which every appliance has a job that comes up every week.

Buying by data sheet has a price that only shows up later. You pay every day for an appliance you do not use, in space, in cleaning and in the small irritation of a cabinet that holds nothing useful. And you carry it for a decade. So which appliances earn their place?

Oven, steam oven, combination appliance: what is really needed

The oven is the appliance with the most variants and the greatest misunderstandings. A good standard oven with fan, top and bottom heat and grill covers most of everyday cooking. The question is what is worthwhile beyond that.

The niche sizes are guide values; each appliance dictates its exact installation dimensions, and we carry these into the working drawings. What matters is the logic behind them: within the 45-centimetre family, compact appliances can be stacked so that they form a calm, continuous line in a tall unit wall.

One point that data sheets rarely show is self-cleaning. Pyrolysis heats the oven cavity to a very high temperature and burns residues to ash. That is convenient, but it needs energy and requires the surrounding furniture and fronts to be suitable for the heat given off. In the tall unit wall we plan for this with ventilation cross-sections as specified by the manufacturer.

At what height appliances should sit

The fitting height decides whether an appliance is comfortable to use. An oven beneath the worktop forces you to bend; an oven in the tall unit wall at eye level does not. The rule of thumb: the appliance opened most often belongs at the most comfortable height.

This is how we approach height planning:

1. Record body height: We measure the elbow height of the people who mainly cook. From that we derive the working height and the appliance heights.
2. Fix the main appliance: The most used appliance, often the steam oven or the oven, is placed so that the open door lies roughly at forearm height.
3. Raise the dishwasher, where possible: A dishwasher fitted 30 to 40 centimetres higher noticeably spares the back. This needs its own cabinet unit and is not possible in every kitchen, but it is often one of the best decisions.
4. Check the fridge shelves: The most used shelves should lie between hip and shoulder. That often argues for a tall built-in fridge rather than a combination with the freezer at the bottom.
5. Think about children and older people: Who should be able to operate what, and what should deliberately be out of reach?

Imagine unloading the dishwasher in ten years' time without bending, and taking the roast out of the oven at the height of your elbow. This consideration is particularly worthwhile for people who want to stay in their home for a long time. You will find further thoughts in the article on age-friendly living without the care-home look. Next comes the hob, where a big decision is waiting.

Hob: induction, flexible-zone induction and extraction

In new builds and renovations we now plan almost exclusively for induction. It is fast, precisely controllable and easy to clean, because the surface itself is warmed only by the pan. Induction needs suitable cookware with a magnetic base, which for older aluminium or copper pans can mean buying new ones.

Flexible-zone induction detects the position of the pan anywhere on a larger surface. That is practical for large roasting pans or many pots at once, but not a must. Anyone who usually cooks with two or three pots manages well with conventional cooking zones.

The bigger decision concerns the extractor. A hob with an integrated extractor changes the planning of island, base unit and lighting. Whether it suits your daily life is described in detail in the article Hob with integrated extractor.

Cooling, freezing, storing: the often underestimated question

When it comes to cooling, the differences between households are greatest. Anyone who shops fresh every day needs less volume than a family that does a weekly shop. Anyone who cooks ahead and freezes needs more freezer space than someone who almost never uses frozen products.

A few questions help with the decision:

• Is a large built-in fridge with a small freezer compartment enough, or is a separate freezer needed?
• Does a zero-degree zone for vegetables, fish and meat make sense because a lot of fresh cooking is done?
• Are there drinks in large quantities that are better stored in a pantry or a small drinks cooler?
• Should wine be stored at a controlled temperature, and if so, how many bottles really?

Often the cooling question resolves itself together with the storage question. Anyone with room for a small Speis (larder) relieves the fridge of fruit, vegetables, drinks and provisions. How this is planned today is covered in the article Larder and pantry.

With fully integrated refrigeration behind furniture fronts, ventilation is important. The appliance gives off heat that has to be carried away via the plinth or the top panel. If this is neglected, the compressor runs longer and louder. We plan the ventilation paths according to the manufacturer's specifications, and so that they are inconspicuous in the front. What about the appliance that decides the rhythm of every evening?

Washing up and clearing away: the dishwasher as pacemaker

The dishwasher sets the rhythm of the kitchen more than one might think. Does it run once a day full, or twice half-full? Is there dirty crockery in the sink in the evening because it is not finished yet? In households with children or frequent guests, the question of a second appliance, or one with a particularly short programme, is worthwhile.

The width is usually 60 centimetres, in very small kitchens 45 centimetres. We recommend the narrower format only when there is truly no alternative, because large plates and pots fit in less well. In a small kitchen, a 60-centimetre appliance with a narrower drawer beside it is sometimes the better solution than two compromises.

Position counts as well. The dishwasher belongs directly next to the sink and close to the crockery cupboard, so that unloading takes only a few steps. Anyone who likes to entertain will find solutions for large quantities of crockery in the article on the kitchen for hosts. And behind all of it, the wiring has to carry the load.

Technology in the background: power, connectivity, service

Before any appliance is ordered comes the electrical planning. The induction hob, oven, steam oven and dishwasher each need their own, correctly fused circuits. In Viennese Altbau buildings the existing electrical installation is often not designed to run several large appliances at once. The electrician checks this before planning, not after delivery. Why sockets and connections are planned before the furniture is explained in the article on electrical planning.

With connected appliances we advise restraint. A notification when the dishwasher has finished can be useful. An oven that can be preheated by app is rarely used in practice. More important is that an appliance remains fully operable without the app. You will find more on this approach in the article Smart home you do not see.

Finally, service. Built-in appliances are bound up with the furniture. If an oven has to be replaced in ten years, a successor should fit the same niche. Standardised niche sizes help with this, and we document the installation situation so that a replacement can be made without alterations. That is where our own workshop pays off: Tischlerkultur, part of a Viennese carpentry tradition since 1935, builds the niches itself, and you have one contact person from the first sketch to the handover.