HUGE day in the Cad household. Getting rid of some of the crap-ass appliances that were there when we bought the house
Clotheswasher. Getting rid of the frontloader that we have to duct tape shut (someone decided to move some machine screws while I was working on the lock for no reason and lost them) to a top leader with get this NO AGITATING STICK or whatever you call that annoying thing in the middle of a top loader.
Gas Dryer. The current one is an electric and we are getting a gas one that matches the washer. The gas line has been there all along, just capped off so I’ll need to uncap it and put in an adaptor.
Refrigerator. We splurged and got a keeper meaning were taking it when we move. Has everything we want and no water/ice dispenser in front (we never use it). The old one would either let our food rot at the top in a few days OR if the top was cold enough our veggies froze on the bottom.
We bought an oven 2 years ago when the last one tried to kill us but I need to replace the relays (known problem with those ranges and a DIY job). And next is a new dishwasher (we already have a model in mind) but these are the big three that we need right now.
Congrats! Replacing the 80s era appliances in our house was a priority after moving in. Took a few years but it was soooo great to have all new stuff that all worked.
When I moved into this condo, I had to replace all the appliances. They were not only going on 30 years old, but even the inside of the freezer stank like cigarette smoke. The oven was broken, the washer was squealing, the garbage disposer was defunct. It was a great feeling to actually be able to get stuff that worked and didn’t stink. One caveat was that I didn’t get a new microwave, even though the handle was taped together. 4 years later, the microwave is kaput.
I still love the new appliances. I especially like how quiet the dishwasher is.
Congrats! We are now in the awkward stage of the house we have lived in since 2017 of having replaced every major appliance but the fridge and the stove. The microwave died literally the morning after we moved in. We redid all the HVAC and the water heater as soon as we closed on the house, and the washer and dryer a couple of years ago (the dryer died and I had no idea how old they were, so we just replaced both with energy-efficient ones).
The stove is actually really nice and probably a good bit more recent than the fridge, but the fridge is of uncertain vintage and I HATE it with the fire of a thousand suns. If we adjust the temp one way, the stuff in the freezer is not quite frozen enough, but if we adjust it another way, veggies in the fridge freeze. I am not sure whether that problem is fixable (I hate the fridge for all kinds of other reasons, too - we had bought a really nice one for the condo we lived in before, but around here major appliances stay with the property). I don’t believe in replacing appliances that aren’t dead, but this one isn’t totally dead, and I’d rather not spend the money because we are saving up for other things (the 106-year-old original windows need restoration or replacing, plus we are still saving up to build out the attic). Somehow the fridge is never the priority, and part of me wishes it would just die so we would be forced to replace it or otherwise deal with it.
Just got dropped off. I can’t hook up the gas dryer for what I suspect is a stupid reason (didn’t get the one connector I needed in the kit) and need our plumber to come out so that’s a few days. But the washer and the fridge are running great.
And I did pay the $40 per appliance to have them haul the old ones away.
I mentioned in the DIY thread in CS that my wife and I will be embarking on a kitchen “remodel” this spring: painting the walls and cabinets, adding some lighting, and installing new appliances. This morning I sat down with our wish list and started pricing everything we want.
The appliances alone (wall oven, cooktop, dishwasher, fridge) will be somewhere around $5,500 not including delivery and any cost to haul away the old stuff. If I buy bottom-of-the-barrel, rental-unit grade appliances I might be able to save $1K. Instead we’ve chosen ones that are top rated by CR or have rave reviews from the denizens over on the gardenweb boards.
Sigh. The joys of home ownership.
As I type this I have a pizza in the oven. The temp has dropped from 400° to 275° because it’s a worthless POS that likely quit being reliable when Reagan was still in office. But it I crank it up it’ll overshoot and scorch my pie.
And yes, we need a new washer and dryer. And new heating system. And a new water heater would be nice. More sighs.
Everything is hooked up. One thing I didn’t realize with new appliances is how much smaller they are. Our refrigerator is the same size externally but so much space inside; I think I’m going to call it the TARDIS. Washer and dryer are physically smaller than the old ones and I think the capacity of each is close to double.
I’m waiting to hear you describe all the different noises they make, beeping at you, the washer running thru different cycles, and such.
I hope you enjoy them. My wife still regularly bemoans that we left our old washer/dryer with the house we sold 10 yrs ago. The new washer unbalances very easily and often. She describes it as “battling with her minions.”
We tend to expect our appliances to last “forever”, and I’ve often been amazed at how old our “new” appliances are. But we have EVERYTHING new in the past 9 years, and have had to have a number of service calls on various appliances for circuit boards and other high tech stuff. We are simple enough in our cooking/cleaning/etc needs/wants, that we often yearn for the simpler tech that had fewer parts to break and that you could readily work on yourself. Of course, the new ones are supposedly much more energy efficient.
