Appliance only add to your cost basis if they become permanently attached to the house. A moveable appliance is personal property. A built in range top and wall oven is permanently attached as far as I know, would be pretty dangerous otherwise 🙂 A fridge that has a fancy build-in to match the cabinets is probably also permanently installed, if you can roll it away and take it with you it's not.
Your floor question is tricky. Looking at the above definition "extends the useful life of the building or its sub-systems", the IRS has agreed that some types of work that "extend the life of a system" are really maintenance or repairs rather than improvements. This is a benefit if you are a landlord, you can deduct the maintenance in full as an expense instead of having to depreciate it. Treating floor refinishing as maintenance when you want to expense it, but treating it as an improvement when you want to use it in the basis, seems like trying to have it both ways.
Regular maintenance is an expectation of every homeowner, its just cost of owning a home. You could also argue that, if full refinishing is needed because of deferred proper maintenance, you shouldn't get an adjustment for that.
One of my colleagues phrased the test as, "would the house appraise higher because of the work in question." Do you think refinishing the floors would have been enough to raise the appraisal?
Sanding and refinishing wooden floors is somewhere between mopping (maintenance) and full replacement (improvement). I would argue on the side of maintenance. It's your tax returns, you are the one who has to justify the treatment if audited.
