The kitchen is one room that usually does very well out of wedding gift registries, and larger appliances make fantastic wedding gifts from family members or close friends. If you’re planning on adding kitchen appliances to your registry, here are five factors that might influence your choice:
Factor 1: Budget
It’s easy to think that you don’t need to worry about price as it will be your guests paying for your appliances and not you, but it might be that your guests can’t really afford to buy you expensive white goods. Decide whether you’d rather pick one top-of-the-range appliance, and have your guests contribute to that, or choose a selection of appliances in a lower price range. You can also break appliances down into multiple gifts, such as an oven, a hob or cooktop, and an extractor.
Factor 2: Style
Unless you have a very distinct style, for example 1950s retro, you might want to avoid overly stylised or trendy appliances. You will want any appliances on your gift list to last for many years, so you don’t want them to date too quickly. Choose something with classic, timeless style, and it will look as good on your tenth wedding anniversary as it does now. You can always add character with your smaller kitchen accessories.
Factor 3: Efficiency
Energy efficiency is becoming ever more important, and each appliance comes with its own energy rating. Choosing an appliance with a good energy efficiency rating is not only good for the environment, but it will save you money on your energy bills too. Over the course of a kitchen appliance’s lifetime, the savings you make on energy consumption can be huge.
Factor 4: Size
With kitchen appliances it’s tempting to think that bigger is better. After all those American style fridge freezers do look fantastic. However, think about whether you’ll ever really need an appliance that big. If you do a weekly shop will you ever have enough food to fill a fridge that size? Larger appliances often use more energy, and as we just saw that can cost you in the long term. Also think about the likelihood of you moving house in the next few years. An appliance that fits in your current kitchen might be too big to move to another house so look for something in a standard size if you’re likely to move.
Factor 5: Future
When you’re thinking about your appliance needs, give some thought to the future. You may only need a small washing machine now, and you may never dream of using a tumble dryer, but this could change if you’re planning on having children once you’re married. Buy appliances for the situation you’d like to be in in five years’ time, rather than the situation you are in now.
Adding a kitchen appliance or two to your wedding gift registry is becoming increasingly popular, and close friends or family members are often pleased to buy something that they know will get so much use. Make sure you balance these five factors when choosing kitchen appliances, and you’ll know you’re making the right choice.
