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I like to write about the evolution of home design. Perhaps the biggest shift in residential design was opening our kitchens to the casual living areas of the home. This shift took our kitchens from strictly utilitarian work rooms to the center of daily living and entertaining.

This shift has elevated the finishes in our kitchens from plastic laminate cabinets to furniture grade cabinets with quartz counter tops and bejeweled pendant light fixtures.

Along with the shift in finishes came a need to rethink kitchen appliances. Of course, they still need to function well, but now they also need to look and sound great. Since often there is more than one person preparing our meals, the placement of the appliance has also evolved. And they need to be easy to use for kids and adults but provide safety features for very young children. Let’s look at a few appliances by category.

Dishwashers

I like to start here because this may be my favorite kitchen appliance. The house I grew up didn’t initially have a dishwasher. As such, my brother and I were often tasked with kitchen clean up duty – a process made so much easier with a dishwasher.

In a closed-off kitchen, a noisy dishwasher didn’t matter. But no one wants their dishwasher disrupting their movie in the adjacent family room, even if it is doing our hard work. Dishwashers have evolved to become quieter. Keep in mind, it is not just the sound of washing that needs to be quiet but also the draining of the water into the adjacent sink.

With this annoyance tackled, next came maximizing storage capacity and flexibility. Bottom racks need to be adjustable to accept both plates and bulky serving pieces. The second rack needs to adjust for tall tumblers and stemmed wine glasses. Then the brilliant third rack was introduced for flatware. With this rack, flatware gets cleaner and unloads easier. Once, visiting family was finishing the dinner cleanup while my husband and I crashed for the night. Only problem is they hadn’t seen a third rack in the dishwasher and didn’t know where to put the flatware. They ended up cleaning all the flatware by hand.

Dishwashers also have become sleek and innovative in their appearance. Control panels have virtually disappeared from the front, allowing a cabinet panel to blend in with the rest of the kitchen. Another innovation is an internal light. Sweet! You can see if they dishes are really clean.

I never knew I needed a light in my dishwasher – now I’m not sure how I lived without it.

As for placement, I like the dishwasher located for both loading and unloading of dishes. Loading is easy and not a fine motor skill, so it can be located on either side of the sink depending on where you store the dishes.

The location of the dishwasher for unloading is more critical to reduce the number of steps from dishwasher to cabinets.

The Microwave

This might be my second most favorite appliance. Of course, I remember the first kitchen microwave was an ugly beast that sat on the countertop taking up critical prep space. Today’s microwave is certainly sleeker, comes in a variety of sizes, configurations, and placement. My favorite location for the microwave is as a drawer in the kitchen island. This requires a big kitchen island and is a rather pricey solution. My least favorite location is over the range. Reaching over a hot cooking surface to access the microwave isn’t ideal for children or an aging population. Pairing the microwave with a wall over is a great space saver.

Many microwaves can offer multiple cooking methods like microwaving, convection cooking, and air frying. This means you don’t have to sacrifice having a double wall oven to add the microwave.

Another placement for the microwave is hung from the bottom of the upper cabinets. In kitchens with multiple cooks, this allows access to the wall ovens, cooktop, and microwave separately. I imagine this would have been the ideal arrangement for the Brady bunch if all the family was engaged in meal preparation. One downside of the undermounted microwave is the swing of the door. Since the appliance is approximately 30” wide, a side hinged door swings outward about 29”. This may mean the user has to lean back to avoid being hit by the swing of the door. I prefer a drop-down door since the door is only 12” high.

I also like having an actual handle for the microwave. Eliminating a handle for a swing door looks sleeker but quickly becomes fingerprinted with use – so much for sleek.

Lastly, let’s talk about the sound of a microwave. The cooking is relatively quiet, but the ending beep can be loud. Our microwave is set to beep until it is opened – every 9 seconds. In the span of one minute, the microwave will beep seven times. Don’t make the mistake of walking out of the room prior to the end of cooking – unless you want to annoy everyone in the adjacent rooms.

Other Annoying Kitchen Appliances

The Oven Fan

We have an amazing double wall oven in our kitchen. It has numerous settings beyond the normal baking and broiling including but not limited to proofing (for bread to rise), convection backing, warming, dehydrating… the list goes on. But the problem is it is loud. It has a fan that runs during and after use until it cools down. I have had this feature in similar ovens, but this one is just too loud. Not ideal for dining at the kitchen island.

Ice Maker

I have a fabulous undercounter ice maker that I love. But it is too loud. It is loud when it drops ice, when it drains, and when it fills with water. So loud you can hear it in our primary bedroom on the other side of the house.

My husband recently moved it to the garage.

The Hood

It is okay for the hood above the cooking surface to be loud when maximum exhaust is required. Please just include a low speed that’s quiet and powerful enough to remove excessive cooking odors. But watch your head – my husband is 6’-2” tall.

He often hits his head on the sharp corners of the hood. Why not round the edges so an occasional head but results in only a bruise and not a gush of blood?

Control Knobs

I like the controls for the cooktop or range to be on the front. Of course, they need a lock feature to keep them safe from curious toddler fingers. I don’t like reaching across a hot cooking surface to turn on and off the burners. Watch the baggy sleeves. I also find the one along the back on a raise panel to be ugly. It is also important to me to be able to easily read the knobs. One stainless steel cooktop had the heat indicator worn off by cleaning.

Yet another had them so subtle it was almost impossible to read them.

Don’t Forget User Friendly

I know a lot goes into the design of kitchen appliances. Today’s appliances are full of innovative and time saving features. And since we select them in design centers and appliance stores, they are designed to look good. It isn’t until after we have them installed that we discover they are too loud or get fingerprinted with even minimal use. We need controls that are readable, especially if we want to appeal to an aging population.

Do you have a favorite kitchen appliance? Maybe you have a least favorite. I’d love to hear your thoughts!