High End Appliances - When are they justified?

Question

Opinions please. High end appliances, Yes or No?

I'm working on a Key West style remodel located one house from the Intracoastal Waterway, 6 blocks from the ocean in Florida.  The innards were shot when we bought it at $620,000 and it appraised at $646000 at purchase.  ARV is in the $800,000 price point.  However, the house looks a lot like a farmhouse.

@Karen Margrave, you had an older post on appliances, but the post is a bit dated.  What appliances are you using now?  My supposition is that anyone spending $800k on a beachside house would expect to see the high end appliances.

Cabinet bid $27000  Appliance bid $25000 (Wolf induction range, Wolf convection steam oven, subzero fridge, Fisher Paykel dishwasher, and a microwave drawer that we are going to drop).  Plan B would be a lesser package...say KitchenAid or Samsung (we've used in our last rehab, but at a $400k price point).

Has anyone had success in getting a discount on the high end appliances, such as Sub Zero, Wolf, Jenn Air?

The photo below is the kitchen that we are copying.

Opinions please.  High end appliances, or no?

David Faulkner · Answer

The short answer IMO is what kind of appliances are in the comps? Go to a bunch of open houses for similar properties around the area ... if they all carry high end appliances, then you probably need high end appliances. If you see only a few with more regular grade SS appliances, keep an eye on them and see if they sit on the market longer and/or sell for much less. I don't know your market, but my instinct is that you should be just fine with decent quality SS appliances.

Andrew Johnson · Answer

@Kerry Baird This is just a personal opinion but I'd want to know who the target buyer is for a home like this.  If this is a primary resident for someone then you can probably go the route of nice (but cheaper) appliances.  If this is an $800K second home for someone that has a $2MM primary residence with Wolf/Sub-Zero/etc. appliances then I'd stick with that.  That said, I have zero what the buyer looks like who wants a nice home in Key West.

I know it's an unpopular opinion relative to others but I tend to make value judgments about the quality of rehab when I look at appliances.  It's not "fair" and not logical but if someone dropped in a $15K Viking range I'm going to assume that the rest of the property has been updated/upgraded with the same level of fit/finish.  I personally hate walking into an expensive home and seeing Tier 2 brands.  It makes me look closer at the cabinets, fixtures, etc. because I wonder where else the rehabber/developer wanted to "save money".

Anyway, I'm probably the 1 in a 1,000 weirdo who makes those (likely unwarranted) assumptions but I can't help it.

Karen Margrave · Answer

@Kerry Baird The appliances we used in the duplex were about $5000 I think (kitchenaid) On the cabinets, I agree, that seems high, but depends on number of cabinets, layout, etc. Is that cabinets only, or cabinets and countertops?

Karen Margrave · Answer

On the new construction houses we just sold, one in San Clemente, CA (1,625,000) and the other in Capistrano Beach, CA (1,950,000) we used Thermador high end appliances (48" gas range/oven, 30" refrigerator column, 30" freezer column, micro drawer, 48" stainless over range hood, dishwasher) In the duplex we are selling for ($1,800,000 or $900,000 each unit which are 1662 sq. ft. each) we used Kitchen Aid gas stove, french door refrigerator, above stove microwave vented outside, and dishwasher. Cabinets in all properties are custom modern style cabinets, and all have quartz countertops, engineered wood in living areas, tile in baths and laundry, and carpet in bedrooms.  Hope this helps! You can look at the projects by clicking on my website. I've seen discounts on some high end appliances, but they couldn't sell to CA (of course) Good luck.

For ourselves, we are in the process of looking for more land for our next new spec build, and think it will be 3 units in San Clemente (fingers crossed)

@Kerry Baird undefined

Ronald Rohde · Answer

I think this is the best advice, don't even have to go to open houses. Just browse comps online, you'll be able to recognize the top brands vs good quality SS pretty easily just from a photo.

William McCulloch · Answer

We've done some work on our primary residence, and I found Thermador to be far more affordable than Wolf/SubZero in the high end market. Compare a $6000 Thermador double oven to an $8000 Wolf one. The quality of both companies is excellent. Stay away from Viking.

That said, Bosch makes fantastic stuff for a much lower price (owned by same company as Thermadore) that sill looks very high end and has really good performance (with the possible exception of their fridges, which are meh).

You could also accomplish something similar with nicer LG or GE Cafe, also at a fraction of the high end cost. GE Cafe is nice to mix with high end because it has a similar "professional" kitchen style. Electrolux also has a good mix of style and performance.

Kerry Baird · Answer

Love seeing all the kitchens!  Some great designs here, folks!

Nick Deutsch · Answer

In a house that sold for $555k in Houston I put in a high end, but refurbished, gas range that cost roughly 1/2 of new retail.  I bought the range on e-Bay and was very hesitant, but it worked out fine.  I bought the other appliances (including a refrigerator, not shown) as a package and saved some money that way.

Kerry Baird · Answer

I agree with you @Brian Pulaski and also took the comment from @Steve B.  into account.   It was a good reality check, and I'm glad I posted my query.   We are dropping to a lower priced package, that will be about $11,000.  I am still doing price comparisons, and may get that down lower.  Still, it is much more reasonable for the budget.

I'm grateful for your experience and opinions~

High End Appliances - When are they justified?

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