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Are Sub-Zero refrigerators worth the price?

If you're planning a high-end kitchen renovation, chances are you're working with a designer, and if you're working with a designer, she's probably mentioned Sub-Zero as a possible refrigerator to consider. Among pricey, built-in models, Sub-Zero is perhaps the most recognized brand. But is it worth the $7,500 or more you'll have to pay?

Speaking strictly in terms of performance, the answer is no. Just within the built-in category, Thermador and Jenn-Air are two competitors that cost slightly less than Sub-Zero and earned higher overall scores in Consumer Reports' latest refrigerator Ratings, largely on the strength of their quieter operation. The Sub-Zero B1-36U, $7,700, is particularly noisy, which could be an issue if you're sound-sensitive.

Looking across all types of refrigerators, the highest overall scores belong to several French-door bottom-freezers that cost between $1,500 and $2,700. That top performance has helped make French-door fridges the fastest-growing configuration. But then, part of the reason people spend $7,500 on anything, including a refrigerator, is so that they can own something that everyone else doesn't have.

That gets to the less quantifiable value of a Sub-Zero, or any built-in refrigerator for that matter. Take style, for example: there's simply no mistaking the imposing 80-inch-high frame of a built-in—a foot or more taller than other configurations. Then there's the fact that integrated panels, often desired in high-end kitchens because they make the appliances disappear into the cabinets, are easier to do with built-in models because they often don't have through-the-door ice and water dispensers.

Last but not least, there's brand recognition. Like we said at the top, Sub-Zero is one of, if not the biggest name in high-end refrigerators. So anyone who visits your kitchen is going to know you spent top dollar on the appliance. That includes would-be buyers down the line. Indeed, real estate professionals have told us time and again that most luxury-home buyers expect to see professional appliances in the kitchen.

So are Sub-Zero refrigerators worth the price? There's no easy answer. But if you're going to spend that much on a refrigerator, make sure you're doing it for the right reasons.

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Color Watch: Chartreuse Green

Here is another fun color to think about incorporating into your home, Chartreuse green! And, yes when you think about this color Im sure your mind goes to the movie Shrek or Muppet movie. This interesting color is half green half yellow has become a really hot color of 2012 in home and in fashion.

Here are a few interiors that have embraced this hot new color well.

Not sure how long this chartreuse hue will last but, it maybe popular for a while longer. Well it certainly looks great on the painted hardwood floors and in the kitchen above. I my actually consider using this color in my home, maybe not my whole kitchen or hardwood floors though. A accent wall or paint a old piece of furniture is more along lines of what I was thinking.

So, what are your thoughts? Would you use Chartreuse green in your home or office?

Happy Wednesday!

(Images: Linda Holt Interiors)
- Xoxo Jessica

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Frigidaire's three dishwasher spray arms clean the same

As dishwasher features go, the lower spray arm is vital to the wash process, ever present beneath the racks no matter where the other sprays are situated. So when Frigidaire introduced three new dishwashers with three different spray arms, Consumer Reports brought them into its labs to compare washing performance.

The three models have been added to our dishwasher Ratings of almost 90 models. All Frigidaire Gallery units, the FGBD2435N[W], FGBD2445N[F], and FGHD2465N[F] range in price from $400 to $600 and are more alike than different, with slight variations in water use, cycle time, and a few features. Except for the spray arms.

The lowest-end model of the trio, the $400 Gallery FGBD2435N[W], has a traditional spray arm. The company makes no specific claims—other than the general "high-performing"—on the Frigidaire website. In the $550 Gallery FGBD2445N[F] the spray arm looks like a spinning capital T. The company says the blade spray arm "provides more water coverage for better cleaning" on its website. And the $600 Gallery FGHD2465N[F] departs further from traditional arms with a circular spray outlet (see photo) that spins at the end of an arm to provide, "four times better water coverage and a clean no other dishwasher can beat," according to Frigidaire.

You can't blame a manufacturer for trying out new innovations. A Frigidaire-commissioned study found that 78 percent of dishwasher owners admitted to re-running the dishwasher—with 22 percent of them doing so because the dishes weren't clean, according to Appliance Magazine. But will reconfiguring the spray arm solve that problem? In our Ratings, the three Frigidaires were all mid-pack models with virtually identical wash performance. Another concern: Frigidaire is among the most repair-prone brands of dishwashers, according to the Consumer Reports National Research Center's Annual Product Reliability Survey.

If you're in the market for a dishwasher, don't miss our buying advice, which includes a video on how we test.

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