Larry and I went to visit stores like Home Depot, Lowe's, Sears, RC Willey, and Granite Furniture. They all had appliances that we would LOVE to have but our budget isn't the sky, unfortunately. So, we checked around and found things that we definitely wanted. A gas stove is high on Larry's list but not so high on mine. He informed me of the greatness that gas stoves offer so we agreed that we would buy a gas stove. Other things we would like are stainless steel, a dishwasher with multiple cleaning heads, a fridge with water and ice. Neither one of us really care if the freezer is on top or bottom but we both agree that the french door style is definitely not a design we like. Everyone that has one dislikes them...or so they say. We would both love a double oven but lets be honest, I hardly ever used the oven we did have, why in the world would we ever need TWO ovens. We had to be practical and rule out the things that we would want because of aesthetics or "what if we ever had Thanksgiving at our house" thoughts and stick with the things that are a necessity but more important, practical.
Sears seemed to have the best prices for what we wanted but for crazy reasons I was hung up on the Kenmore name. Working in an industry where I read about consumer spending or rather, lack of, I worried about the possibility of Sears crumbling in the bad economy like so many other chains have. And if they did crumble who would honor our warranties if something were to ever come up? Silly, I know, but that is what I was thinking. So, we went to Granite Furniture with the price in mind that we were willing to spend. When we pulled into the parking lot of Granite we weren't sure if the store was even open. There were weeds growing in the cracks of the pavement and our car was the only car in the parking lot. Talk about a ghost town. We were the only people in the store so we had all the help we needed. I told the gentleman up front the things we wanted and the price we were willing to pay. He immediately went to the computer to see about accommodating my requests. He made the numbers work and ordered the GE appliances we wanted. I think he was just desperate to get a commission check and I felt good about my purchase helping him out. I actually waited a couple days before I committed myself and signed on the line. I researched on-line consumer reports and revisited stores to price check again. After that I was happy to sign my name on the sales receipt.
So, appliances were ordered and will sit in the Granite Furniture warehouse until the plumbing and gas lines are done, electrical work is done, two new support beams are put in, tile is laid, cabinets are installed, countertops are installed, and then maybe it will be time for the delivery guy to make his way to our house with our new appliances. Um, yea...it's gonna be a while.
