No kitchen is complete without appliances being installed. But it’s not always a case of finding the nearest empty space and just installing your appliance there, you have to carefully consider placement of appliances. But before you can even do that, you need to think about the design - will the appliances fit perfectly into the kitchen and essentially become part of the design or will they stand alone? We’ve summed up the pros and cons for each for you.
Integrated Appliances
Pros
- They are easy to clean because food and dirt can’t escape down the unsealed edges between cabinets.
- They can bring a more ‘finished’ look to kitchens and help make them look more modern. And a modern look can mean better resale value for your client.
- Loud appliances like washing machines can also be quieter when they can be hidden behind a door.
Cons
- Integrated appliances can mean more time to install them, and if they go wrong - more time to fix them.
- They can also be smaller than stand alone’s since they need to fit where a normal cabinet would go.
- If your client moves house, their appliances won’t be able to move with them.
Stand Alone Appliances
Pros
- Stand Alone Appliances tend to come at less of an upfront cost as they require less expensive technology to work.
- If your client decides to upgrade their appliances or they inevitably break, it’s much easier to do so.
- There is much more variety available in terms of size, which makes it much easier to fulfil your client's needs and fit in what space is available.
Cons
- Stand-alone appliances can be hard to match with the rest of the kitchen, resulting in a kitchen that doesn’t feel quite right.
- With gaps around the edges where they have been fitted, they can often be easier to clean after spills and general dirt that gathers