Skip to content

Page Header

Posts tagged appliances

Skinny Fridge

Skinny Fridge published on 2 Comments on Skinny Fridge

conserv

New York City. A town where living quarters are as tight as those jeans from high school that you never threw away. You would think small appliances would be easy to buy, no? Not really.

It was only recently that I came across the Summit counter depth fridge. Yes, there are plenty of narrow refrigerators, but, ah, this one is tall as well, so it actually fits more than a day’s worth of groceries. At 79.5″, it’s got an extra foot on most of the others.

I had my hands on one at Build it Green. $275. I paid and said I’d pick it up in a few days as I couldn’t fit it in my van at the time. Should’ve just shoved it in there. Got a call from them to say it had actually been sold to someone else prior to moi and they neglected to put the “Sold” sticker on it. $275. 🙁

So, I kept looking. Oh, I should mention that they sell for over $1000 new, which is why I was only looking at second hand. Over a thou was not in my budget for a modest 2 family in Rockaway.

Anyway, tried to get a few others on Craigslist, priced $375 and up. They were gone before I even emailed. Finally, I got my hands on the older, discontinued ConServ. Summit took over for ConServ some years ago. Ok, so I paid $450 for an old model. I did not wait nor try to bargain them down. They said they had 20 more people who wanted it and after shopping around, I believe them.

The Scandinavian appliance is designed by Bang & Olufsen artist David Lewis and it’s since it’s so extremely energy efficient, I figure that this old gal will be about as efficient as a brand new cheap-ass fridge.

Apart from Summit, there are some other tall and slim fridges out there. Fagor and Liebherr make similar models, priced close to or over $2000 new.

Appliances at Cost

Appliances at Cost published on

Yay, Drimmer’s! One of my favorite go-to appliance stores is offering Sandy victims washers and dryers at cost. “Drimmer’s refuses to profit from your catastrophe.” Well, good for them. This should set an example for other appliance shops, building material stores and contractors. Step up, people!!

If you know of any companies offering discounts or volunteer work due to the hurricane, please let us know!

Buy American. Laundry

Buy American. Laundry published on 2 Comments on Buy American. Laundry

We covered American made large kitchen appliances last month. They were mostly high end companies who manufacture laundry products as well, so please refer to that post so we don’t get redundant here. The list of made in America washers and dryers gets a bit fuzzy as companies manufacture products for each other and individual parts may be made outside of the U.S. Here’s a Consumer Report article to confuse you even more.

Staber Industries has been family owned and operated since 1976. They claim to be the only U.S. manufacturer of energy efficient top loading tumble action washers. Staber washers have been produced in Groveport, Ohio since 1993. Most sales are shipped factory-direct to the customer.

Speed Queen was founded by Joe Barlow and John Seelig in 1908. The Wisconsin hardware store owners bought several hand-powered washing machines from a company in Kansas City, MO and changed the product with the times (that means electricity, kids). During World War II Speed Queen halted its production of laundry equipment to manufacture 20mm shells as well as parts for airplanes, tanks and guns. The company is a big supplier of coin operated laundry machines as well as residential models.

Now the big name brands. As stated: fuzzy. Most of them are technically made in America, not necessarily the United States, but North America. They have factories in Canada and Mexico in addition to the U.S.

Maytag

Kenmore manufactures in North America, but they are also associated with LG from Korea.

Whirlpool

GE

Amana

 

DIY Appliance Repair

DIY Appliance Repair published on 7 Comments on DIY Appliance Repair

Hey, all of you weekend warriors, here’s another notch to add to your belt. Appliance repair. Unless you really know what you’re doing, you probably haven’t been messing with that, have you?

Well, the fine people over at PartSelect have done up their website to make it easy on you. The Virtual Repairman walks you through the entire process. Here’s what you do….Just punch in the model number of your sick appliance and a whole bunch of symptoms will come up. Click on symptom and a-ha! There are the replacement parts listed in order of fix-it-percentage.

Now, your like “So what? I still don’t know how to replace it.” Fear not. PartSelect has an entire YouTube channel with idiot proof instructional videos.

Nothing is built to last anymore in our disposable society and it’s often costlier to have an appliance professionally repaired than to just buy a new one. Instead of throwing those big ticket items into the landfills every few years, give it a shot and see what happens.

You might even impress yourself.

*Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post.

Frigidaire Sucks!

Frigidaire Sucks! published on 6 Comments on Frigidaire Sucks!

When we bought our house back in late 2005, we did a complete renovation. We purchased all new appliances. They were all Frigidaire because the company manufactured the best looking appliances for the lowest price.

Well, looks aren’t everything. To be fair, we purchased the most affordable Frigidaire models. Perhaps the higher end lines are far better.

Our washing machine had to be repaired after about 3 years. Just after the warranty had expired, of course. A $200 repair. It’s still not 100% but we’ll hang on to it until it dies.

Today we’re getting delivery of a dishwasher and gas dryer. Bosch and LG, thank you very much. It’s shameful that big appliances would only last 5-6 years. WTF?

Were we wrong for expecting more? In this disposable society, you get what you pay for. If I may pass on some advice from my mistakes….don’t buy big ticket items based solely on price and looks. Sometimes it’s worth it to pay a bit more. (Of course, this being said, I hope the Bosch and LG last longer!)

Primary Sidebar