Appliances

White Goods should only be replaced when they are beyond economical repair. In our case since the kitchen need replacing it was an ideal opportunity to right one specific defect - built in appliances. It always seems that there is a much lower choice of appliances when they are "built-in". We prefer stand-alone units so you can always get the best low-energy unit.

The placing of appliances was also a consideration. The previous owners had followed fashion by creating a "utility room" by simply plumbing their washing machine and dish-washer into the garage. Although this made space in the kitchen and removed some of the operating noise, you paid for this convenience with less garage space. Even worse you remove the free-heat-gain from the home to dump it outside. Bring those appliances back inside the main-body of the house and you can re-use this 'waste'. Of course this may be excess to requirements but that is why windows open.

Once we had rid the garage of the white goods we had more space to store wood pellet fuel for the biomass boiler.

In the Kitchen

So here we have it - a picture of that replacement kitchen. The washing machine and dishwasher have been with us for many years. We used to have a hot fill washing machine but the days when you could buy those in the UK are long gone. The U.S. do not use hot fill so the UK had to follow suit. We will have to wait for the carbon-intensity of our electricity supply to fall a long way before heating water with electricity becomes a good idea. Until then we have little choice but to squander high-value electricity doing something that we could do with Gas or even Wood.

Both Dish-washer and Washing Machine are A-Rated. The Dish-washer is rarely used - we prefer a washing up bowl. Both have "eco" modes which are certainly a must-have if of questionable use.

Our main prize attraction is the Fridge-Freezer which is a Bosch 316 litre KGV36X10GB Classixx A++ Rated machine. This retails at £420 via the internet and we have been very happy with it.