Furnishing a let always comes down to the same tension. Spend too little, and you’re back here in eighteen months. A breakdown. A frustrated tenant. An emergency replacement on a Friday afternoon. Spend too much, and you’ve sunk capital into a kitchen nobody but you will ever appreciate.
The answer isn’t “buy expensive” or “buy cheap.” It’s buying the right appliance for how a rental property actually gets used. That’s different from how a family home gets used.
Washing machines
This is usually where landlords get caught out. A machine built for one household’s weekly routine isn’t always built for tenant turnover. Different people. Different habits. Less consistent care. Go for the absolute entry-level model, and you’re often looking at a callout within the first year. A mid-range machine with a solid drum capacity and straightforward controls is usually the sweet spot. Nothing too clever. Nothing tenants need a manual for.
Fridge freezers
Reliability matters more here than anywhere else. There’s no way to “manage around” a broken fridge the way you might delay a dishwasher repair. Look for a model with a genuinely good energy rating. It’s not just about the bill — efficient compressors tend to be the ones that last. Integrated units look sharper, but they cost more to replace if something goes wrong behind the cabinetry. Factor that into the maths when you’re choosing between integrated and freestanding.
Ovens and hobs
This is one area where it’s fine to go simpler. Tenants want something that heats up and cooks evenly. Multi-function ovens with settings nobody will ever use are paying for features that don’t add value to a let. A straightforward oven and a hob that’s easy to clean will outlast anything overcomplicated. Easy-to-clean matters more in a rental than almost anywhere else.
Dishwashers
Increasingly expected rather than a bonus, especially in flats and HMOs. Get the noise level right if it’s anywhere near a living space. And check the build quality of the door seal — that’s the part that fails first, and the part tenants will complain about loudest.
The bigger picture
The pattern across all of these: spend where a failure causes the most disruption — fridges, washing machines. Spend less where a failure is just an inconvenience — extra oven settings, dishwasher styling. Total cost of ownership is a more useful number than the price tag alone. That means purchase price plus the realistic chance of a breakdown over the tenancy.
If you’re furnishing one property or twenty, that calculation is worth doing properly rather than guessing. Get in touch and we’ll talk through what’s actually worth spending on for your specific properties.
020 8960 1300