Written by Teri Fisher, photographer, blogger and Bosch home appliances brand partner. The Bosch appliances received by Teri are part of a brand partnership.
Hello, I’m Teri Fisher. As a photographer and co-founder of Spoon Fork Bacon, my kitchen is both my salvation and workspace. Last year, we began renovating our 1950s ranch-style home, and I became the proud owner of a beautiful new Bosch kitchen suite, complete with an 800 Series French door bottom mount refrigerator, Benchmark Series dishwasher with CrystalDry, 800 Series FlameSelect gas cooktop, 500 Series wall hood, 800 Series single wall oven and an 800 Series speed oven. These gorgeous appliances not only blend seamlessly into my somewhat smaller kitchen space thanks to a nearly flush install, but have also made my day-to-day life in the kitchen so much easier.
I love my new kitchen so much, but I also know what an exciting, yet sometimes daunting process a kitchen overhaul can be, so I wanted to share a little bit about what I chose to put in my kitchen and why in hopes that it might make things a little easier for you! Let’s dive in:
See the before and after:
Kitchen Renovation Plans
After purchasing our new home, I knew the first thing I wanted to tackle was to re-do the kitchen. The kitchen had a lot of wood, and felt kind of rustic cabin like. The wood made it feel really dark and claustrophobic, so I knew right away I needed to figure out how I was going to make it feel more open. I also knew I needed to be really smart about the space because the kitchen isn’t huge.
The refrigerator was really old and made a lot of terrible sounds. Everything was going to need a complete overhaul. The very first thing I did in this process was look for appliances, the heart of the home and kitchen! I knew I wanted stainless steel appliances, and I wanted the appliances to look sleek and modern, but also timeless, and be great quality. That is why I decided to partner with Bosch home appliances for my kitchen.
Bosch has all the qualities I was looking for in appliances. In my opinion, they are the best looking and quality appliances on the market today. The dishwasher, speed oven, and wall oven all install flush with cabinetry which I absolutely LOVE. They also just launched an all-new line of refrigerators that are counter-depth. They are known for their timeless design, and they strive to engineer appliances that last, are simple to use, and give you perfect results every time – from washing dishes to roasting a chicken.
Kitchen Renovation Reveal
The kitchen space is really small, so I wanted to make sure to utilize all the space we had. Therefore, we ended up getting custom cabinets made. Initially I wanted to use ikea cabinets, but there were just too many situations in our kitchen that limited the space we could use so we decided to just go with custom.
It was important to make sure we didn’t make the kitchen too modern because It needed to feel like it fit in our 1950’s house. My husband and I really love a clean and modern aesthetic, so we kind of married that with shaker cabinets. We did inset cabinets to make everything really clean, and our beautiful Bosch flush mount appliances help to keep the look really clean.
We did open shelving for all of our tableware and dishes. I just felt like the open shelving would make our small kitchen feel really light and airy. I also love it because we get to show off all our Heath dishes.
We did a marble counter top and back-splash. I wanted marble so so so bad. I read all the things there is to read about etching and staining.
Now for one of my favorite parts: the appliances.
The first, and some would argue the most important, appliance in any kitchen is the refrigerator. I was so excited to get Bosch’s 800 Series French door bottom mount refrigerator — there are a few different configurations you can choose from to suit your own needs. I love the simple and timeless design, it fits so well with everything. The refrigerator is also counter depth which fits my space perfectly.
Our refrigerator sits on the corner of our kitchen with a spice cabinet on the side. We toyed with a lot of different placements for the refrigerator, but I think where it ended up is the best possible place. It’s close to the sink, and the range.
The refrigerator features the new Bosch FarmFresh System. The system has four technologies that work together to keep all your food at peak freshness, including two VitaFreshPro drawers that adjusts the temperature and humidity depending on what I’m storing at the touch of a button. The AirFresh Filters hidden throughout the interior and dual compressors to eliminate unwanted odors between the refrigerator and freezer cavities. Everything has been thoughtfully designed, like the pretty LED lights that run down the inside on the left and right.
The refrigerator is also equipped with Home Connect, which allows me to remotely control and monitor the refrigerator using my smart phone.
Up next is my beautiful Bosch Benchmark Series dishwasher with CrystalDry. I chose the option of the bar handle design because I thought it matched really nicely with the refrigerator. Let me tell you guys, I LOVE this dishwasher. It’s so quiet, you can’t even tell it’s running. The dishwasher has three racks, so the bottom fits all the large bowls and baking sheets I use often. The dishwasher’s tines also fold down, and the middle rack can be raised or lowered to accommodate different types of dishes and stemware. I don’t even have to pre-wash anything anymore because of the PrecisionWash technology this dishwasher has. My favorite detail has to be the TimeLight. It’s hard to tell when the dishwasher is running because it’s so quiet, so TimeLight beams the remaining cycle time down on the floor and I know when my dishes will be sparkly clean. And, with CrystalDry, I no longer need to towel or air dry my plastics!
One of my favorite areas of the new kitchen is where I have my range, oven, and hood. Before, this area had a lot of unused space and I was really able to maximize counter space here using Bosch's 800 Series 30” FlameSelect gas cooktop. This enabled me to have the maximum amount of counter space on the left and right side of the cooktop. I was also able to keep the front edge marble detail which I think looks so nice. The cooktop has five burners, all with FlameSelect technology that provides nine precise power levels to choose from so I can easily replicate my recipe results. I really love the design of this cooktop because I can put the grates in the dishwasher, and thoughtfully designed grooves make for a super easy and simple cleanup.
Two really important decisions that we made that I feel like really bring the kitchen together were to use an under mount sink, and a drop in gas range and built in oven. This enabled us to keep the long lines of the marble counter top edge on either side of the kitchen which I love. It just really pulls everything together and gives it all a really clean look. The flush-to-cabinetry Bosch 800 Series 30” wall oven with Home Connect is truly amazing. I can preheat the oven from almost anywhere using the Home Connect app on my smart phone. The wall oven also comes with a temperature probe so I can specify the desired temperature for whatever I am cooking to get a perfect result every time.
My hood is the Bosch 500 Series 30” pyramid style canopy with Home Connect, which I love the design of. It is so sleek and beautiful, and I can control it with the Home Connect app as well. I also love that the LED lights have a range of brightness.
One thing that was a real space saver for me is the Bosch 800 Series 30” speed oven. I really wanted to have two ovens and a microwave, but our space was limited and therefore I had to choose between one or the other. Bosch’s 800 Series speed oven to the rescue! This speed oven is both a microwave and a convection oven. It also installs flush with my cabinetry so it looks seamless in my kitchen.
I really love all my Bosch appliances. Not only is the quality superior, but the design is so timeless and sleek. The best part is, they all install flush or counter depth, which was so important when trying to maximize space in our smaller kitchen. I am so in love with my kitchen!