The New Love of My Life

Yes, you heard it here. I am in love with a household appliance. And here he is now:

Some of you may already know about the hate-hate relationship I had with my old refrigerator. He was short (I like my men – and my fridges – to AT LEAST be as tall as I am, if not taller!), cream-colored, and just all-around ugly. I had to bend over to see what was on the top shelf, and it sat so low to the ground that I ran over my big toe with the door at least once a week. I vowed that one day I would have a shiny, new refrigerator that fulfilled all my needs…

Shortly after Christmas, I was in Home Depot, and they had a single refrigerator stationed right when you walked in the front door. Stainless steel, freezer on the bottom, and priced at $909. I was tempted at the time, but decided that I needed to spend my money on other things, and I would shop around for a fridge later. Little did I know, not having done any research on the subject yet back than, that $900 was an *awesome* price for that particular refrigerator, and I should have snapped it up! When I finally did start shopping around for one, that same style and color fridge went for anywhere from $1,200 on up…and if you wanted one with ice and water dispensers on the door, you were looking at $2,000 or more. I was soon kicking myself for not buying that fridge in December. I decided that the next time I stumbled upon such a great deal, I would not pass it up…

A few weeks ago, I was in Lowe’s buying replacement screen so that I could fix my ripped screen door, and I thought that I had found my new fridge. It was stainless steel, gray on the sides (a big deal for me – many stainless steel fridges have black sides, and I did not want that), bottom freezer (no bending over to see what’s in the fridge ever again!!), and water and ice in the door…all for the low, low price of $1,537. When you opened up the double doors, the inside was lit by LED light, so there was the prettiest blue glow! I hadn’t really cared about having the water/ice dispensers, but this was a fridge that usually cost over $2,200, so it was a great deal. I was so, so tempted….but then I read the dimensions. The fridge was 35.75 inches wide, and the space in my kitchen was exactly 36. I was afraid that if the walls were at all crooked anywhere – and aren’t they all??? – then my beautiful new fridge wouldn’t fit. I decided not to risk it.

Last weekend, Megan and I met my sister and niece in Towson for lunch and a little shopping. Since we were in the area, I decided to go have a look in the Sears Outlet on York Rd. If you’ve never heard of this place, it’s an appliance outlet where Sears sends their scratch ‘n dent appliances. They also sell appliances that have been discontinued or were returned by other customers for whatever reason. And that’s where I found him…

I’d looked at the outlet 2 or 3 times previously, and hadn’t really found anything that I thought I could live with. Either the fridge had too many cosmetic issues, it had black sides, or the price just wasn’t low enough for my taste. On this particular Saturday, however, luck was on my side. They were having a sale – all refrigerators were half-off their original price. We walked all the way back to where the stainless steel section was, and I began my search. This one is still too pricey, that one has a huge dent in the front, that one has some scratches… but hey…what about this one? Aside from a ton of fingerprints and sticker-marks, a tiny ding near the top that no one but me will ever notice, and a scratch on the freezer door handle, I couldn’t really find anything wrong with it. Couldn’t find anything wrong with the price, either – originally, this fridge was $1,799, with an outlet price of $1,349…and a this-weekend-only sale price of $899. With my sister there cheering me on, I bought it and arranged to have it delivered two days later.

Here’s the really dumb thing – it is exactly the same dimensions as the fridge that I passed on  the previous weekend for fear that it as too large. I just crossed my fingers and prayed that it would fit, or else I would be out the $65 delivery fee as well as a 15% restocking fee.

Now, obviously, from the picture above you can discern that it did in fact fit, but boy was it close! The delivery men had to remove the quarter-round and molding from the bottom of the wall, and even then, it was a tight fit. When the plumber came 2 days later to install the water line for the ice maker, it took him a few minutes to wrestle it back out again, but ultimately, the job was done. As long as I don’t decide to repaint my kitchen, it never needs to move again!

If this blog wasn’t already so long and boring, I would share with you some of the incredibly helpful tips that I read in my new refrigerator’s owners manual…but I think I will save them for another day. Today we are off to try to find a new bathing suit for my daughter, and to return the water line installation kit that Sears sold to me. When I handed it to the plumber to use, he said, “You want me to use that???” I replied, “I don’t know, Sears told me I needed it, and made me buy it.” “You don’t need that. Take it back and get your money back!” So that’s what we will do.

I hope to get a little more painting done on my kitchen cabinet doors, too, but they are in my mother’s garage, and we may get storms again later today, so we will see…Have a great what’s-left-of-the weekend!

20 thoughts on “The New Love of My Life”

  1. Mom – And he never leaves the seat up, either!

    Sharon – Yes, they are, but unless they are going to get a job and help me pay for their upgrades, they are going to have to wait. lol…I started with the appliance that I hated the most. Next, I think, will be the microwave.

    Dave – You always need a nap. At least I wrote SOMETHING. And it's not a silly fridge, it's the best fridge ever. lol

  2. Auto Response: I'm sorry, no one is here to take your comment right now. The owner of this blog has left the following message: Gone to get the locks changed, be back soon!

Leave a Reply to David Erickson Cancel reply