The broad topic of kitchen appliances covers everything from small kitchen appliances like blenders and mixers to large kitchen appliances like refrigerators and stoves. Appliances for the kitchen can be a good business to undertake because everybody needs at least a basic set of household kitchen appliances (typically a refrigerator, stove, dishwasher and microwave).

Most people find great utility in also having a blender or food processor, toaster and mixer. Beyond that, the kitchen appliance becomes more of a fun purchase. Many professional chefs and serious home cooks love kitchen gadgets like the immersion blender, toaster oven and food dehydrator. Ultimately, this means the kitchen appliance business has built-in diversity both in size and target audience.

When becoming a seller of kitchen appliances, you need to familiarize yourself with the following list of kitchen appliances or choose a few in which you can specialize:

1. Inexpensive household kitchen appliances such as steamers, rice cookers and electric poachers
2. Major kitchen appliances like refrigerators and dishwashers
3. Business kitchen appliances like cappuccino machines and soda vendors
4. Commercial kitchen appliances like electric conveyor ovens for pizzas

Each of these types has their set of unique challenges, but they have the same set of actions you should consider when starting or growing your kitchen appliances business.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Buy kitchen appliances like refrigerators and stoves online

Large kitchen appliances and other home appliances can be purchased just about everywhere from department stores to home stores to electronics stores. However, when starting your business, you want to be able to buy them inexpensively.

I recommend: Price shopping at Liquidation.com, which sells wholesale kitchen appliances of the larger variety. These items are closeouts, so keep that in mind when buying them for resale. If you cannot find enough inventory or are looking for something special, BizRate.com is a great place to find kitchen appliances at discount prices.

Find smaller wholesale kitchen appliances online, too

If you are looking for electric kitchen appliances instead of bigger items to sell, there are a number of websites, each with different product offerings and with different prices. Make a list of products you want to sell or you can simply go online to see what is inexpensive. Use that as the basis for your own catalog.

I recommend: Websites like SmartBargains.com, which offers a large catalog of cool kitchen appliances at discount prices. However, if you are looking for a certain brand of product, then seek out that company and buy in bulk. For instance, Maytag Direct offers factory direct, bulk pricing on its goods. Other sellers of kitchen appliances do the same.

Consider supplying remodelers as a kitchen appliances business model

Clients are often demanding about their homes and want the best, even if they do not want to pay top dollar for it. Any remodeler who offers to do their job inexpensively, but still does it well, has a leg up. Any seller of kitchen appliances who can help a remodeler has a good business plan.

I recommend: Possess a good inventory of large kitchen appliances and unique, fun or high-end small kitchen appliances. Notice what other remodeling suppliers are offering. The Home Depot is probably the number one supplier of household kitchen appliances and DirectBuy has an excellent web presence. These companies are your competition, so make sure you have a comparable offering.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Consider stocking bathroom appliances as complementary products.
• •  Consider your retail space when selling kitchen appliances. Demonstrator models ('Demos') will sell faster than anything else so make sure you have room for as many as possible.
• •  If all you have is a Website, use videos to show the features of both large and small kitchen appliances, as this will help customers visualize how to use them.