For those of you who are wondering, I decided to go with white appliances. My kitchen is green with white trim, and I figured that white would work best — and if the current trend toward stainless steel should falter, white is pretty much timeless.
I was disappointed in what became a fait accompli with my refrigerator: I had three requirements, but I didn’t think they’d restrict my choice as much as they did. Because the kitchen has a center cooktop island, I had to find a counter-depth, side-by-side model. Regular doors or a regular depth model would be too close to the island, making it difficult to open the doors. Add to those two requirements my choice of a smooth white finish — no texture, please — and it narrowed the choices down significantly. In fact, I had my choice of exactly one model. And of course, it turned out to be hyper expensive. I can’t understand why counter-depth refrigerators cost up to $500 more than the bigger model. More for less, you know?
Putting it on my Sears card saved me 10%, which was helpful.
Today, I ordered a washer and dryer. Again, expensive — because I have expensive tastes, and bought the most efficient models available to conserve water and electricity. (I decided against the washer/dryer combo model.) This time, I settled on Home Depot, which is offering a $150 gift card with purchase and 10% off with a coupon from the post office change of address packet. A bargain! Still, I’m about $1000 over budget already. I guess I’ll make it up with a cheapo cooktop and dishwasher; although judging from the prices I’ve seen on in-wall ovens, I’ll be over budget there as well.
Time to redo the budget, eh?
While I applaud your efforts to conserve both electricity and water I would be curious to know, based on the numbers of loads you expect to do how long it will be before the extra costs involved are paid back?
And I’m sorry but Home Depot is still on my s*** list, when they offered health benefits to PETS but not to same sex couples they lost me as a customer.
Home depot is also very, VERY aggressive with your phone number. If you’ve given them your number you can expect they have already sold it and you’ll be getting lots of calls, starting with, Congratulations Mr Cowan you have been selected….
Hmm. Judging from the electricity and water costs here, it probably won’t be all that long — maybe a couple of years. Then again, I don’t ever expect to recoup the extra costs of buying a hybrid car, but that doesn’t stop me from spending a bit more just for the benefit (small that it may be) for the planet as a whole.
I wish I had remembered that bit about Home Depot’s benefits practices. I should write this stuff down and keep it in my wallet. It’s very hard to keep up with all the nonsense coming at us from every direction, even harder to spend my money at appropriate places. I wonder if someone keeps this stuff listed on a website somewhere?
As for the phone number, well, it is a virtual number on a VOIP account, and it can be changed with a click of the mouse. And it is on the no-call list as well, and I’m not afraid to sue them to get my $500 per call penalty…
Heh-heh- Kirk isn’t “amazing” for nothing! I wholeheartedly agree that a dishwasher is really an energy-wasting luxury that you’re better off without. I handwash all my dishes and there are 3 of us in the house. Kirk is right!
One way to save money would be to hold off on the dishwasher. You’re only one person and I assume you don’t produce too many dirty dishes. My wife and I are two people (duh) and we don’t use the dishwasher that came with the house. I do the dishes by hand and it only takes a few moments.
Besides, you’ll save water and electricity that way.
The Democratic party wants you to hand-wash….
Actually, there’s already a dishwasher there — but it is an old 1990 model and I’m pretty sure it sucks down the electricity and water.
I’m a bachelor, which means that I’m messy and lazy. So, dishes tend to gather in the sink over a period of days and I’m just spoiled enough to really NEED a dishwasher. I know, I know.
But yeah, I have to pull back a bit and probably wait until after the new year to replace the rest of the appliances.
Meanwhile, the refrigerator came today, and I’m very glad that I picked white. It looks great — SO much better than the black one it replaced. I can’t figure out why the previous owner went for black appliances, green walls, light oak cabinets, and a black floor — the addition of the white refrigerator just immediately lightened the place up.