Kitchen appliances (specifically fridge/freezer)

Shaz]sigh[

Shaz]sigh[

Shaz]sigh[

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I'm about to refit my kitchen and am in need of a new oven, hob, extractor, dishwasher and fridge.

After spending a few nights, I've swung towards the BSH side of things and although Bosch and Neff are cost comparable, have swung towards Neff as I understood their brochure better!

At the mo, I have the following in my head:

Neff B15P52N3GB Pyrolytic Oven
Neff T45D40X2 Induction Hob
Neff D39M55N1GB Chimney Hood
Neff S51T69X3GB Dishwasher

Are there any major issues with Neff as a brand that I should know about before I place an order?

The only decision I've yet to make is the fridge freezer. I keep swinging between built in or not and have a budget of around £700 standalone or £500 builtin. I'd need a 70/30 split.

I was originally looking at the Samsung RL58GPEIH for standalone.

As for integrated, I'm at a loss. I don't want to spend the money required to get Liebherr or even any of the BSH offerings. Someone told me Hotpoint were good fridge freezers but then I also seem to remember their brand being awful..

Thoughts?
 
Worth mentioning that I don't want an American FF as I have a freezer in the garage - a tall (1900~) standard width one for standalone is what I'd be going for if not integrated.
 
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Currently looking about also:

Fridges Im mainly looking at samsung at the moment, lookingh at 90cmx2m max
Oven Im looking at a Smeg SUK91MBL7 (1yr warranty is annoying of a 1k oven :( )

Dishwasher Im tempted by the Ikea offerings, nowt comes close for the price to the 5 year warranty. Apparantly most of the Ikea appliances are made by whirlpool or Bosch.

For the fridges I went looking in local stores and the samsungs and panasonics looked to be the better quality looking ones.
 
How are you buying the kitchen and from whom?

Are you buying all the appliance yourself?

I'd buy the F/F from whoever is fitting the kitchen and leave it to them, especially if it's say a Howdens kitchen then get then to supply and fit a Howdens F/F (lemova??), all the cabinets work together and work well.
 
I'm buying the kitchen from DIY-Kitchens and the appliances myself.

If I go integrated, it'll be housed in a tall unit (2150mm+150mm legs) and essentially ships with a support that you cut to lift the appliance so the bottom door is in line with the cab doors.

Any gaps at the bottom top can then be hidden with a filling panel.
 
~Divine~Wind~ said:
Currently looking about also:

Fridges Im mainly looking at samsung at the moment, lookingh at 90cmx2m max
Oven Im looking at a Smeg SUK91MBL7 (1yr warranty is annoying of a 1k oven :( )

Dishwasher Im tempted by the Ikea offerings, nowt comes close for the price to the 5 year warranty. Apparantly most of the Ikea appliances are made by whirlpool or Bosch.

For the fridges I went looking in local stores and the samsungs and panasonics looked to be the better quality looking ones.
Click to expand...

I wanted a minimum of 2 years warranty throughout so had to discount a number of manufacturers.

I would go with a Bosch or Neff builtin FF but the cabinet adds another £200-300 on to the order so really trying to keep the costs in check.
 
My old kitchen had Neff oven and hob. The element in the oven blew a bit too often given the usage. Other then that they were okay but given the premium the Neff brand has not sure it was really worth the extra money. New kitchen going to AEG oven and hob and Zenssui fridge/freezer and washer dryer.
 
Just had a quick look at door sizes over my lunch break and it appears Beko do an integrated version that would fit in the cabinet without customisation. I'm guessing this is a bad idea... ? :)

I also found a good offer on a Siemens integrated FF but it would need raising by 80-100mm to line the doors up.
 
BombayMix said:
My old kitchen had Neff oven and hob. The element in the oven blew a bit too often given the usage. Other then that they were okay but given the premium the Neff brand has not sure it was really worth the extra money. New kitchen going to AEG oven and hob and Zenssui fridge/freezer and washer dryer.
Click to expand...

Are Zanussi supposed to be good for fridge freezers? I can't work out who owns who/which are the good brands anymore :(
 
I've got Neff and Bosch in my kitchen, and we've found them to be good. The fridge/freezer and dishwasher are standalone. Fitted ones were simply physically smaller so we didn't want those, plus it's easier to service or replace standalones. Neff are good quality, but according to their website, they do have an expensive call out charge if you need a repair without a warranty.

General things to mention (apologies if I'm teaching you to suck eggs):

1. The outside of pyrolytic ovens can get really hot when you clean them (80 degrees C + ambient). Make sure the surrounds are up to the heat. Make sure any of the Neff ovens are installed with the correct venting and spacing underneath, up the back and out the top. I've measured the outside door of our combi microwave/oven at up to 96 degrees at the end of the cleaning cycle.

2. Non-pyrolytic ovens are only self cleaning on four of the six sides of the oven - you will have to scrub the bottom, which is a pain. The slideaway door and slide out tray are excellent on the bigger ovens. It makes cooking big thing (like the Christmas turkey) much easier.

3. You need good solid pans to work properly on induction hobs. Look for solid steel bases with some weight to them. The aluminium pans with a thin patterned plate pressed into them are a bit rubbish, and as well as needing more power to heat them, will not be so easily detected on the hob. We found the Meyer pans to be great, and cheap without solid steel plates to be naff.

4. Induction hobs are a doddle to clean as they only get hot from a hot pan sitting on them, so nothing gets carbonized onto it. I recommend Hob-Brite from Tescos for a couple of quid - it lasts ages.

5. If you have a vent to the outside on the extractor fan, make the pipe as big as you can. If you have to use smaller than recommended sizes, make them small from the extractor end, but this can choke down the amount of air the extractor can pull out. Neff extractors are more powerful than cheaper makes, so as long as you aren't pushing through miles of conduit, you won't have a problem.

6. Check how much space your fridge door needs to open. When we looked at the Samsungs, we found that because of the way the door is hinged, it needed 40mm to open the door - far too much for the space we had. New Samsungs may be different. The Bosch hinges further in, so the door opens within a smaller space. We had to go to the manufacturers websites and check the exploded diagrams to get info on this.

We went for the Bosch fridge/freezer because it has separate compressors for the fridge and freezer. With one compressor, you have to try and balance both cooling systems on the one compressor. It was a better size for us as we could actually get in in and then open the door! Some parts of it are a bit plasticy even though we bought the top of their range. The stops on the freezer draws are particularly easy to break off if you are a cack-handed. They are probably designed that way to stop you breaking the inside of the freezer.

7. Make sure you get everything wired in professionally. Induction hobs use a lot of power, and need their own big isolation switch switch. The Neff ovens also use a lot of power and should be on their own separate isolation switches and slots on the breaker box. They should not be fused, as they can draw enough power to melt domestic fuses, which is why they are connected to their own breakers. We had the kitchen completely rewired and a new fuse box/distribution panel to deal with all the extra power needed when switching from one gas cooker to induction hob/extractor/two ovens.

8. Look out for deals. One of the reasons we went with Bosch is that they were offering cashback, 2 year warranty, plus another 2 years if you registered the product with them. That was a bargain for the dishwasher and fridge/freezer. We shopped around on the internet for good prices, and our kitchen supplier matched prices, so we saved a lot on the standard Neff pricing.
 
Thanks for that.

One bit that caught my eyes was:

1. The outside of pyrolytic ovens can get really hot when you clean them (80 degrees C + ambient). Make sure the surrounds are up to the heat. Make sure any of the Neff ovens are installed with the correct venting and spacing underneath, up the back and out the top. I've measured the outside door of our combi microwave/oven at up to 96 degrees at the end of the cleaning cycle.
Click to expand...

How do you mean surrounds are up to the heat?

It'll be built in to tall unit near a corner with the units going along the other wall approx 70mm away at base height (ie, lower than the oven).
 
Shaz]sigh[;24965220 said:
Thanks for that.

One bit that caught my eyes was:



How do you mean surrounds are up to the heat?

It'll be built in to tall unit near a corner with the units going along the other wall approx 70mm away at base height (ie, lower than the oven).
Click to expand...

According to Neff on the combi's fitting isntructions:

Fitted units must be heat-resistant up to 90 degrees C, and adjacent front units up to at least 70 degrees
Click to expand...
So in a tall cabinet, the cabinet itself must be good to 90 degrees, and any side panel or adjacent door good to 70. On the microwave combi, the design of the door goes right to the edge of the unit. On the larger ovens, the door doesn't go all the way, and there is a sort of heat deflector built in.

It has to be said the combi using pyrolytic cleaning gets significantly hotter than their self-cleaning ovens, but they do clean better too. With the combi it's kind of necessary. You can't use harsh chemicals on it without damaging the inner surface, and with the microwave emitter, fan and heating elements, it's not practical or possible to clean it by hand - there's just too much clutter in there.

Installers can make the mistake of putting these ovens too close to the rear wall, or not have a vent in the bottom and top, and so not have airflow underneath and up the back of the ovens. This can cause a safety issue, and if you ever need to call out an engineer, the first thing they will do is say the oven has not been fitted as per instructions.

As a side note, I also found the combi to be noisier when running. Both the combi and the normal ovens (we have a combi and a series 5) suck air in at the bottom of the door and blow it out the top. The series 5 is very quiet, but he combi has a louder and more powerful fan, presumably to make sure the magnetron is properly cooled.

Actually, now I come to think of it, there are also ventilation requirements for the induction hobs. I remember the back of the cabinet for the hob was cut out lower to allow for airflow, and on a few occasions I've noticed the cutlery of the drawer underneath has been warm when we've had the hob running full tilt.

All of this stuff is clearly laid out in the installation instructions, so as long as you don't have cowboys putting it in, they should be able to get it right. You might want to look over their shoulders to make sure they do it though.
 
BTW, when I said the hobs/ovens use a lot of power, I should have said they can potentially use a lot of power. They are actually a lot more efficient and cheaper to run than gas or non-induction electric. If you've got solar panels, you'll get some free use out of them, but I wouldn't recommend checking your electricity meter when running a cleaning cycle. I've never seen a dial move so fast!

You might also want to change electricity tarrifs if you've moved from gas cooking to electricity. We had economy seven, but after moving from gas cooking to electric, and a new combi boiler for heating, we were simply not using enough electricity at night to make it worthwhile, and a flat-rate tarrif worked out cheaper.
 
Just ordered the oven, hob, microwave and dishwasher (although I went for the Bosch variant as it was £30 cheaper to start with, had a £50 cashback offer and also 6 months of free tablets! :)) so now need to decide on the fridge...

I've just checked the manuals and can't see anything about clearances so slightly concerned but I've only gone for the C57M70 which is essentially a Microwave with hot air and grill so not sure if it's as potent as yours...

I'm good for power, I have a run to an existing built under oven and induction hob which will solely be used for an induction hob and I have my electrician coming next week to set me up a new feed for the oven and microwave.
 
Shaz]sigh[;24968119 said:
I've just checked the manuals and can't see anything about clearances so slightly concerned but I've only gone for the C57M70 which is essentially a Microwave with hot air and grill so not sure if it's as potent as yours...
Click to expand...

If it's any help, the one we got was a Series 5 C67P70, so it's microwave, fan oven, top & bottom grills, etc with the pyrolytic cleaning surfaces. The clearances should be in the installation guide. If it's any help, the oven cleans at (IIRC) 475 degrees centigrade, so we always open the windows, kitchen door, and do it on a cool day. It can throw out some incredible heat, but we only need to clean it 3-4 times a year.

BTW, the first time you run the power up on the thing for installation, it smells terrible, but that's apparently quite normal.
 
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