The Best Appliance Features for Your Money

If your household appliances are a few years old, it might be time for an update. There’s no need to simply make-do with old appliances. Everything can be done more quickly and efficiently with the right in-home tech, from the dishwasher to the washer and dryer. There are some amazing features to choose from that turn these reliable old tools into timesavers that you’ll wonder how you ever lived without.

Appliance Features to Look For

It’s all about options. You don’t have to settle for the first appliance on the list - look around at the features that are available and find the functions that are the most convenient and work best with your family’s busy lifestyle. You may be surprised at what’s out there, if you know what to look for. There are a few basics that you can look for across every type of appliance out there.

Energy Star

When shopping for new appliances, always look for the Energy Star symbol. The Energy Star program works to provide reliable standards that ensure energy efficiency in a wide variety of products, such as refrigerators or dishwashers. Consumers and businesses save money on their energy bills while also saving vital resources like water and electricity. Energy Star certified appliances even save time, with improved technologies in appliances like a washer and dryer set designed with efficiency in mind.

How it’s useful:

• Save Money - Using less energy and water means spending less on the utility bills every year. It might surprise you how easily the savings add up.
• Save Energy - Electricity is expensive to produce, so for every household that uses less energy, or less water, on daily tasks, the local energy companies can better meet the demand. It saves these resources and allows the community to build up reserves.

Smart Home Technology

Found under many different names across multiple companies, smart home technology works to allow you more personalized control of your daily tasks by syncing the traditional appliances with modern tech. Many types of appliances can work with their own individual apps for phones or tablets, and others even work with smart hub systems like Nest, Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant so you can command the appliances by simply speaking. With bluetooth integration on your appliances, you can control them from nearly anywhere in the house, while wifi connection allows you to monitor the status of your appliances from anywhere in the world.

How it’s useful:

• Cooking -  With a wifi enabled oven, you can safely turn the oven on to preheat in preparation for dinner while you are at the store buying the ingredients. Appliances can interact with apps to help with cooking or baking by following specific recipe instructions. By simply scanning the barcode, for instance on a frozen pizza, or a cake mix box, modern ovens are programmed to know exactly what is cooking and can adjust the temperature and cooking times accordingly. And, of course, you’ll never have to wonder if you remembered to turn the oven off before leaving the house because you can easily check the app to make sure.

• Refrigeration - A popular new feature on many refrigerators is the touchscreen on the door that syncs up and works just like an extension of your cell phone or tablet screen. Check the weather, watch a cooking video, or listen to a podcast while you prepare a meal. Other app interaction is available to let you check the refrigerator shelves in live-time from the store! There’s no more calling home to have someone check if there’s any milk left when you can instead just pull up a picture of the refrigerator’s contents right on your phone app, thanks to cameras installed in the fridge doors. Sync the refrigerator up to wifi and some models can interact with your home’s smart meter and local power grid. They then provide information to help maintain the interior temperature and preserve your food while saving you money during the energy company’s Demand Response peak usage hours.

• Clean up - Some dishwashers are now equipped to let you know when a cycle is done via a notification on your phone. You can even access the lock controls on the app for those last minute additions once the washer has been turned on. The dishwasher can monitor the rinse agent and notify you when it’s time to add more. Add in a subscription service with Amazon, and the dishwasher will track the number of loads to order the replacement detergent so you never run low.

• Laundry - Yes, even the laundry room has gone high-tech. You can monitor the laundry cycle status of the washer and dryer through bluetooth or wifi connected apps. This allows you to delay the start time on a load of laundry, add an extra rinse, or set the dryer to a wrinkle-free setting if you can’t drop what you’re doing to empty the dryer when it is done.

Design

An emerging trend in household appliances is customization. Gone are the days of the standard off-white. It’s your home, so it should be designed in a way that is unique and reflective of you. As a result, many appliances are now available in a variety of colors. Why settle for the standard when you can make your space look like home?

How it’s useful:

• Look for washer and dryer sets in blues, gray, black, or the traditional white.
• You can find kitchen appliances, like stoves and refrigerators, in bright colors such as red or yellow, alongside the trendy matte black or stainless steel.
• Some finishes were improved to be specifically fingerprint-resistant to make daily clean up a breeze.
• Refrigerator and dishwasher doors offer customizable front panels so they can be matched to the surrounding cabinetry.

Noise Dampening

No matter how many awesome features are available, when it comes to household appliances, one of the most common complaints is the noise. It’s very common to have appliances in kitchens, bathrooms, and common areas, rather than tucked away in the basement or garage all the time now. Old machines sound like old machines, and they make themselves heard in all corners of the house. With today’s improved designs and technology, the rattle and whine of these daily chore helper is all but gone. Look for appliances with noise dampening, or noise reduction features. These can mean better insulation, quieter fans, better airflow within the unit, or all of the above. Newer technology can make all the difference when it comes to reducing annoying noise pollution.

How it’s useful:

• Improvements in sound are often a result of design changes that include insulation and airflow, and an overall improvement on performance.
• A quieter refrigerator is less distracting when preparing food or socializing in the kitchen.
• With low decibel appliances, such as a dishwasher or a washing machine, you can have the laundry or the dishwasher running at night without disturbing anyone, when there is less demand on the power grid and often cheaper rates.
• And, of course, less noise pollution leads to a more peaceful home.

Know What You Are Shopping For

Aside from the perks of smart technology, there are a few other features to check into when it comes to appliances. To help narrow it down, here are some features that are more specific to certain types of products.

Refrigeration Must-Haves

• French doors provide extra space and a touch of style. They work well in narrow or galley-style kitchens, as the smaller doors take up less space in the walkway while still providing storage on the doors. The shelves inside are the width of the refrigerator, and many models allow for customization of height in sections to provide specific zones for taller or shorter items as needed.

• Tempered glass shelves are easy to clean and provide sturdy storage while also offering customizable levels or height adjustment zones. Racks can be added to store wine bottles or soda cans out of the way but easily accessed.

• Door-in-door designs allow items to be stored on the shelves behind an interior door so that they can be accessed by a smaller exterior door panel. This helps keep the items organized and quick to grab without wasting too much of the cold air inside.

• In-door viewing allows you to view the contents of the refrigerator through a window on the exterior door, without opening it. Not only does it keep the cool air inside to save energy, but it keeps your food fresher longer by maintaining a more consistent air temperature.

• Drawer freezers offer tiered organization within the sturdy slide-out drawer compartment, making it easier to find items. It also ensures even air distribution and protects your food longer, as well as reduces the need to defrost.

• Interior LED lighting offers a bright, clear view of the contents of your fridge, with no corner shadows and no glare to see through.

• Wine coolers are specialized refrigerators designed to allow you to easily control the temperature and minimize harmful vibrations that could alter the taste of wine. Whether for a collection or just for keeping bottles on hand for entertaining, a separate wine cooler helps maintain quality as well as provides safe storage behind doors with optional child safety locks.

Cooking Must-Haves

• Hot surface indicators seem like a simple concept, but they come in very useful in a busy kitchen and are an important safety feature. The warning lights remain on as a caution even after the stovetop has been turned off, because if the stovetop is still hot, it can still burn someone or cause fires.

• Induction cooking has become more and more popular as a fast and efficient way to master the family dinner scene. The heat energy is created only where the pan or pot touches the stovetop, which makes it safer, and it can boil water faster than gas or electric. The smooth stove tops have clear and easy to understand digital controls, built in timers to help your meal prep, and they’re easy to clean.

• Undercounter appliances are a convenient and space-saving solution for any kitchen, no matter what size. The dishwasher is a familiar undercounter appliance, but built in microwaves and ovens are useful when tucked away, too. It frees up space for food preparation on the countertops, and can offer a little extra sound insulation. Look for undercounter wine coolers or kegerators to make entertaining easier.

• Touch controls allow for better cooking precision, especially when it comes to the stove or the microwave. Input the exact time or temperature rather than rely on the turn of an imprecise knob.

• Self-cleaning options take the elbow grease out of oven maintenance. Most self-cleaning options are a high-heat setting that you turn on with the touch of a button - just add a little water for some steam assistance, and let the oven do the work. Some models even have self-cleaning racks, so once self-cleaning mode has turned off, just wipe everything down and you’re done.

• An included griddle lets you cook up Sunday breakfast pancakes or bring the grill inside to sear steaks. It’s healthy, simple to clean, and it’s as easy as turning on a burner in your kitchen.

Outdoor BBQs are a time-honored favorite that should always be included in the household cooking plans. From steaks to shrimp and hot dogs to hamburgers, the best family gatherings and parties usually spill out into the backyard patio. But there are choices beyond the familiar charcoal briquette pits. You’ll find BBQ options for gas grills with many different accessories, such as burners, side prep spaces, and thermometers built in to the hood so you can always cook at the right temperature. BBQ smokers and pizza ovens are available that let you cook your favorite foods and snacks at home.

Range Hoods Must-Haves

• Ductless options are available for over-the-range ventilation systems, and every kitchen should have effective ventilation planned out. With ductless hoods, you can install them where they are most needed. They pull the steam, odors, and other airborne particles through a filter and can recirculate clean air back into the kitchen.

• Downdraft ventilation fans are the “pop-up vents” that stay tucked away at the back of the stove top when not in use. They are quiet and effective at pulling cooking fumes away from the cooking area and out through a vent. They offer a sleek and trim alternative to traditional range hoods, whether used to make the most of a smaller kitchen, or in place of an island rangehood in a larger kitchen.

Dishwasher Must-Haves

• The variety of cleaning cycles are important to pay attention to when choosing a dishwasher. For instance, the pots and pans cycle uses a higher temperature wash to help clean stuck on debris from heartier cookware, while a light wash or crystal setting will be a shorter cycle with a less forceful spray. Some cycles will be shorter and more energy or water efficient, and some machines offer a delayed-start option.

• Stainless steel interiors are useful in many ways, from cleaner dishes to quieter cycles. The finish is more stain resistant and less likely to provide a sticking surface for food debris. This keeps your dishes from picking up any leftover mess from prior loads, and helps keep odors under control. The stainless steel tub is more durable and insulated than other materials, so in addition to being quieter, it can tolerate higher water temperatures safely, as well as retain heat to help save energy over time.

• Cutlery or silverware trays come in a variety of different styles, some adjustable or movable, others with lids to corral smaller dishwasher safe utensils.

• Adjustable racks allow you to wash bulky items alongside normal dishware sets without troublesome overlapping or stacking.

Laundry Must-Haves

• Pedestals are a great solution for additional storage in the laundry room. They add height to front-loading washers and dryers to make it easier to get the laundry in and out.

• Large capacity machines are ideal because they maximize the load size and cut down on the amount of time you spend waiting to switch between the washer and dryer. Some large capacity washers can handle up to 24 pounds of laundry at one time, which could significantly cut down on the number of loads required for the household every week.

• Moisture sensors in the dryer help the machine determine when the clothes are dry better than simply going by the length of time in the cycle. If the moisture levels drop before the end of the cycle, the dryer will shut off early.

• Auto-load sensing features allow the washing machine to use the amount of water necessary for the clothes in the load. This saves the amount of water used in the load, as well as adds to the efficiency of the spin-cycle and prevents needless rinse cycles.

• Automatic detergent dispensers monitor the cycle and release the cleaning agents or fabric softener at the point in the cycle that they will be most effective.

Find the Appliance that Fits

The quest for new technology on old staples like household appliances is all about customer choice. Companies want you, their customer, to find the best fit for your lifestyle. As a result, there’s no shortage of new features on the market to sort through as you shop. Look for the features that will save you time, save resources, and save a little money on your utility bills. If there’s a shortcut that would make your daily chores easier, you might just discover it’s an option on the new class of appliances.