Appliance Dilemmas

I'm going to start a whole new blog to discuss our big ol' house renovation, but I don't have the energy to do it now, and I want to start documenting some of this stuff!

We have met with 5 contractors, but we've only received one bid so far (which literally almost made my cry- it was WAY higher than I expected).  We have a two-page list of what needs to be done, including: replacing all flooring, turning family room into a 4th bedroom, adding walls to dining room for playroom area, tearing down wall between kitchen and living room for great room, tear out fireplace, build fireplace on opposite wall, gutting kitchen, gutting kids' bathroom, adding approx 250 sf to the master bedroom and bathroom, gutting master bathroom, adding new walk-in closet, replace all windows and french doors, replace all interior doors, demo and replace entire front yard and hardscape, demo all backyard landscape and hardscape and add California room with fireplace...and on and on and on...

BUT, the one thing we know is that we NEED to choose our kitchen appliances stat.  We want to move into the house as soon as possible, even if renovations are still ongoing.  However, we can't move in without floors.  We can't install the floors until we install the kitchen.  We can't install the kitchen until we come up with the design.  We can't come up with the design until we know the size of the appliances.  Sooooo, I have been appliance shopping non-stop.  But I cannot decide what I want.  I can't even decide what brands I want.

It all starts with the stove/range, right?  I thought for sure that I wanted this 48" Viking range with griddle...

It still is my favorite looks-wise.  And I liked that it has the 2 ovens so I would not need wall ovens.  However, the 18" oven is really small.  The whole unit is REALLY big.  I don't need that many burners.  And the clincher, the sales guy told me that the majority of people that buy that stove, still install at least one wall oven because the ovens below the stoves are very inconvenient.  Especially with heavy things like turkeys.  So I'm 99.9% sure the 48" is out...even though I think it's so pretty.

So now I'm choosing between a range with one stove and 4 burners and a griddle or a rangetop with 4 burners and a griddle.  Here are the Wolf and Viking rangetops (but I would get a griddle)...

I think I'm sold on getting Viking or Wolf, but the KitchenAids are less expensive so I feel like they need to be in the running...

And the ranges with one oven...

If I get the range, I can get one wall unit with a 30" oven and a microwave above.  That way I don't need another spot for a microwave.  If I get the rangetop, I have to get double ovens AND a built-in microwave so I'm using up even more of my precious wall space.  BUT with the rangetop, I can put 2 of those really cool giant drawers right beneath it for my pots and pans...which seriously people, is like a dream to me.  I have one of those stupid downdraft stoves right now so the space under my stove is essentially unusable.  I think it would be heaven on a stick to have my pots and pans RIGHT underneath my stove...I mean, really?!

I also think that I may be able to save money by going with the rangetop.  Obviously, rangetops are much less expensive than ranges, but you think it equals out since you have to buy 2 ovens, right? Wrong!  I'm not so picky about ovens.  Ovens are ovens to me.  My 12 year old GE profiles work perfectly fine.  So do I really need high end ovens?  If my budget were limitless, the answer would by YES because I adore the Wolf double ovens, but alas, Gary has informed me that my budget is far far beneath the limitless range. :(

So I really like the look of these Dacor convection ovens (which I think is considered a higher end brand, but they are still a lot less than the Wolf ones I love)... 
http://www.lowes.com/pd_339129-25685-DO230_4294715808__?productId=3344882&Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1

I even really like the look of these Whirlpool convections!

And after all that, I still have not one decision regarding an appliance made.  Fabulous.  Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.  I haven't even looked at microwaves, refrigerators or dishwashers.

Oh, and let's not even get started on the fact that the sales guy informed me that I need to buy a hood liner that can run as much as 2k...um, I'll take the Home Depot special.  A "hood liner", whatever that is, was NOT in my budget!!!