I have always admired Bodum for their simple yet effective kitchen goods. We have a nice little tea press made by them. For some reason when I think about Bodum, I only think of simple glass goods for the kitchen. Well today I discovered that they do appliances as well. This simple and affordable Bodum coffee grinder is nothing special, it won’t mow your lawn or organize your favorite strudel recipes, but it will help you get your grind on. This attractive little guy will grind up to 1.6 oz of coffee at a time, helping you start you day off fresh and in style.

Available from feelmorehuman for $19.

The Muji Wall mounted CD Player may not be the most practical CD Player out there, nor is it the most affordable. I considered not even sharing it because of the hefty $178 price tag, but in the end I was just too excited to keep my mouth shut. It has been unavailable stateside until just recently and is now available at the MoMA Store. This simple little CD Player has built in speakers and the players power cord doubles as an on/off switch. You just give it a tug to turn it on or off. Compact, clean, and unfortunately expensive.
Available from the MoMA Store for $178.

I have always wanted some sort of automatic ice cream maker. I came across a review at apartment therapy about my dream machine, a Cuisinart ICE-50BC (the big one on the left). The verdict was it was a keeper. It has a built in compressor so there is no need to freeze a bowl or anything. The bad news is that they are quite expensive, like $300. Now I love ice cream, but not quite that much. They had the right idea though buying it used at a deep discount. For the more thrifty there is always the Cuisinart ICE-20 shown on the right. You will need to put the bowl in the freezer for 24 hours before you can make a batch, but the cost is a lot less at $50.
If you just have to have the big guy, keep an eye out for factory Remanufactured Cuisinart ICE-50BC Supreme Ice Cream Maker occasionally available on Amazon for $119. I might just like ice cream that much.

While I’m not personally a huge fan of coffee, there are those that can’t go a day without their fix. For those of you that are on the road a lot, there is a small travel coffee maker that looks as good as your favorite cup of brew tastes. The Brisk Brew has an simple chunky design, but only stands 5″ tall and 4″ wide. It has a permanent mesh filter and is dual voltage (120V/ 140V) in case travels take you out of country. The only disadvantage I can see is that it only brews one 8 ounce cup at a time.

Available from Organize.com for $44.

I mentioned a couple of days ago that we were getting ready to finish our kitchen. For our stovetop we ordered the Bosch, and originally we were going to get a Bosch oven too. That is, until we saw the price tag. The Bosch oven we wanted was close to $1400, which was way out of our budget. So we did what any reasonable person would do, we went to Ikea. The Ikea MUSMIG oven is a steal at only $700. It may not have all the bells and whistles of the Bosch, but it is a good solid oven, and it looks pretty good. I also figured it should fit perfect in an Ikea cabinet, since it is made for Ikea. We went ahead and ordered it and all the cabinetry we needed for less than the $1400 price tag of the Bosch oven.
Available from Ikea for $700.

When it comes to a great looking humidifier for the home the options have been pretty limited so far. One of my favorites is made by Plus Minus Zero, but unfortunately it is expensive and hard to find. The only one I could find this morning was on ebay for $200. However, it turns out that Plus Minus Zero isn’t the only one who can make a great modern looking humidifier. This one is from another one of my favorite companies, Blomus. The Umydo Humidifier not only does it look great, but the price is way more reasonable at only $70. It features the clean lines and stainless steel finish that defines all Blomus products and is available from Allmodern.com.
Available from Allmodern.com for $70.

As the temperatures start to drop outside, many of us turn our attention to our furnaces. If we are lucky firing up the old beast will put a smile on our face, but for some of us the results are less than satisfactory. Thus starts the search for the perfect space heater. If you are going for efficiency, I’m a huge fan of the oil filled radiator style heaters. If you are looking for style, you can’t beat the plus minus zero space heater. Like most products from plus minus zero, it manages to make an ordinary everyday object look like a piece of art. They should be available later this fall, and are priced around $140.
Via Apartment Therapy

A lot got done Friday! We had plumbers and metal workers at the house all day long. They are both nearly done and will both be back on monday to finish up. Tuesday we have our final inspection. Premier Metal Works did an awesome job fabricating our railings for the stairs, porches and roof top patios. They have been working hard to get their job wrapped up in time for our final inspection. The guys at In-Line Plumbing worked all day today getting our finish plumbing done. We got all of our appliances installed today as well. We are very happy with the appliances we chose. We went with the Jenn Air “Pro Style” series. We were lucky to get a fantastic price on them. We would not have been able to afford them otherwise. Our kitchen is nearly done and it is turning out pretty much as planned. The Ikea cabinetry is the “Abstrakt” series. They are a high-gloss white finish. The blue pictured here is just a protective film that we will remove once construction is complete. We would not have stayed within budget without Ikea in town. Our total kitchen cost including appliances is under 10k! The house should be ready for us to move in by the end of next week!
-Jacob
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Even though we have done a lot of work in our kitchen, it’s still not complete yet. We managed to relocate the sink and rip out most of the old cabinetry and put in new Ikea cabinetry on the opposite wall. We have been waiting to finish the last leg of cabinetry and ditch our old electric stove for a gas cooktop and built in oven. In looking for a good affordable yet stylish gas stovetop we were delighted to find the Bosch line at Lowes. Not only does Bosch make some of the more stylish stovetops out there, but the prices were way lower than any others.
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LG has always been one of my favorite appliance companies. They are able to think outside the box, and incorporate good clean design. Lately my wife and I have been thinking about getting a toaster. We have a toaster oven, which we like, but it is such a pain to drag it out just to make some toast. We would leave it out on the counter, but in a small kitchen, counter space is precious. Someone must have been thinking about the same problem when they designed this microwave/toaster combo at LG. They also have a model that combines a coffee pot and a microwave in the same way.

Available from AJ Madison for $150