Beautiful Selections
With all of the options available, choosing appliances can be overwhelming. A professional can help guide you through the process ensuring you make the best choice for your budget.
Purchasing appliances that match your needs and budget is vital—so experiencing them in a live showroom before you buy is essential. And with increasing energy prices and a growing desire to reduce our environmental impact, the selection process can be overwhelming. So, let local appliance professionals help guide your decisions.
BRAND SELECTION
To help minimize your environmental footprint, it’s important to select brands that have a reputation for durability. You’ll save money and be a better friend to the environment if you buy appliances that don’t have to be replaced in just a few years. It’s also helpful to consider brands that practice sustainability and use recycled materials such as steel.
GUIDES AND LABELS
Fortunately, today’s appliances include a yellow Energy Guide label providing an estimated yearly operating cost, enabling an apples-to-apples comparison across models and manufacturers.
However, some appliances also carry the coveted blue Energy Star label indicating they offer unique savings on energy bills without sacrificing performance, features and comfort.
REFRIGERATION
Refrigerators are among the largest consumers of electricity in the kitchen as they are in constant use. To help reduce electricity demands in our hot and humid climate, consider selecting a model with an in-door ice and water dispenser to prevent excessive door openings allowing the cold to escape.
While beautiful and functional, see-through doors can also help keep the doors closed longer—and the cold in. Also, consider models with a top or bottom freezer as they tend to be more efficient compared to side-by-side refrigerator and freezer models.
Most importantly, right-size the refrigerator to your family needs. Purchasing a refrigerator that is too large results in empty cold space that quickly escapes into the room when the door is opened. Keeping the refrigerator nearly full maintains the cool thermal mass and limits the need for the compressor to frequently run—making your refrigerator last even longer.
COOKING
To save energy when preparing meals, consider an induction cooktop as they direct nearly 90% of the expended energy into your meal. Highlighting their efficiency, induction cooktops can boil water in just under one minute.
Induction cooktops also save you time as they require no preheating and use electromagnetism to literally vibrate the atoms in your cooking pan to produce instantaneous heat.
Not to be overlooked, the microwave oven is another highly efficient appliance for cooking and reheating meals of all sizes—particularly snacks and smaller portions.
Whether above the counter or below, we suggest searching for models with a built-in carousel or even a convection element to more quickly and evenly cook your meals.
POST-MEAL CLEAN UP
Today’s dishwashers are far more environmentally friendly than washing dishes by hand as most dishwasher cycles require less than four gallons of water—equivalent to leaving the kitchen faucet running for just two minutes.
