Completing your first house

If you are the newlyweds that are about to kick off your new life together in a new abode, your first big-buys are not what you think it might be. Many assume that it would be furniture, but the fact of the matter is that the furniture you do end up with are either stuff you moved from your old home, or given to you by your family to start your new life.

What is bound to be your first purchases will be all the appliances that will eventually adorn your new house; the AC in the bedroom, the TV in the drawing room, the washing machine beside your washroom, the refrigerator in the kitchen, and so on, simply to alleviate your lifestyle. Many things you would need for a house can be classified as a luxury, but not these.

Of course, just like any other purchase, appliance shopping requires some research before pulling the trigger, along with balancing pros and cons that fit with your lifestyle versus the budget you have to play with.

One thing to keep in mind is that try not to pass out on appliances that have advanced features; they might sound gimmicky, but 9 out of 10, they actually work and make your life just that much easier, so it's sometimes worth it to invest on a slightly more expensive product.

Let's start with the refrigerator, possibly the most important appliance of them all. In fact, you just might need this more than your next pair of pants. You can sure as heck not cook and just live on takeaways together (no guarantees on your health though), but you would still need that refrigerator to store the food when you can't finish. Things to look out for when choosing your new fridge include proper sealed compartments for your meats, vegetables and other food items you plan to store, enlarged compartments that can act as freezers, the storage capacity of the total fridge, as well as any smart temperature regulating features.

Our second most needed item in a household is the washing machine. Now you might think that this can be solved with either washing clothes yourself (how optimistic), or hiring a maid.

Honestly though, the washing machine can take away a lot of hassle in one fell swoop, along with providing the lady in your life some much needed relief. However, buying your washing machine requires careful understanding about your laundry needs, and use cases. First, decide on whether to get top-loading or side-loading bays for your washing machine. Also look out for features such as drying capabilities, or hot water injection.

One of the last things you need to make your household a modern sanctuary is a TV, because otherwise, you would have to stare through windows all day, and these days, the only view is someone else's apartment. Choosing your TV is a bit simpler than the others. The initial choice is the budget; if it's more than Tk 90,000, you start looking into OLED TVs and any budget lower than that, you get a LED TV. Secondly, look at resolutions; simply put, the higher the better. Finally, if you need smart features like WiFi connectivity for the TV, as well as support for apps, you could sprint for a Smart TV.

Finally, after most of these, and the other appliances are done and dusted, you can start looking into air conditioning. Thankfully, there isn't too much to look into with these as most of them are modern, and have fairly all the features you'd want. Just make sure it features an inverter, and you can save yourself some money on the bills.

And that should cover most of the important appliances you'd need in a new house. There are still tonnes more, but these are the ones that make a house, a home.