The Kitchen

My favorite room in the house. The source of all goodness. The center of the home. Mom, hotdogs and apple pie. Only baseball and Chevrolets are rarely to be found in this room of rooms; this holy of holies. As mentioned previously, it is also the locale of the greatest concentration of expensive devices in the house (with the exception of the garage, which we had to totally outfit last year, alas).

A recap. The fridge and the range jointly decided that their time had come. After 20-plus years, they were tired. Not to mention the fact that, for the first 18-plus years, they were used exclusively by retired couples who only spent 4-5 months per year in this house; preferring to spend the balance of the year in their Florida homes. Needless to say, said appliances, along with the rest of the house, were startled when a family of five moved in full time and expected diligent and reliable cooking, cooling and freezing services. "Enough!" they said. "We quit."

And quit they did. Thus, we found ourselves seeking replacements.

Good news abounds! In addition to remembering our fallen soldiers who made our everyday lives possible, Memorial Day (formerly "Decoration Day"; google it if you must) is also well known for great sales. I'd feel more guilty about this if Christmas and Easter weren't thrown in the same boat. At least we recognize the original intent of each holiday before we go shopping!

Wecome to the "Home Depot Memorial Day Appliance Sale and Extravaganza (Internet version)". We started shopping early last week when the fridge started freezing the carrots and the freezer refused to do same. However, we got word (through the wily HD staff themselves) that great sales were approaching. Take heed. Be patient. Bide your time.

Surely enough, in-store sales started the Thursday before the actual holiday weekend. Given the due diligence performed by yours truly and his wife, we knew roughly what we wanted. A final run through the HD website uncovered additional "internet only" discounts. AHA!!! Remembering my mothers motto of "it's not how much it cost, it's how much I saved!", we sallied forth.

However, new options required additional visits to an actual store. Regardless of how pretty the pictures are online, it's always best to actually touch / feel / open / close / and yank on all potential purchases before buying. Last night this involved my wife and Belle. All that did was expose new options. Thus tonight, everyone ventured onward to "the other Home Depot" close to us (with a larger selection to view) for further assessment.

As a result, we have ordered (online, once we got home) two stunning additions to the family. Let's give it up for the fridge:

She's the lovely and talented LG 25.0 cubic feet French Door Stainless Steel etc etc fridge. Note the absence of an in-door ice/water dispenser. Given that our family rarely uses ice in drinks and prefers tap-temperature water, we forewent the additional cost for that feature that we would NEVER use. Dave Ramsey would (might, maybe?) be so proud.

Second, let's hear it for the range:

This would be the equally lovely and talented Jenn-Aire 30 inch slide-in range with down-draft exhaust and smooth-glass ceramic cook surface.

We wouldn't typically lean toward this high-end of a product except that the original (dying) range was a Jenn-Aire with said down-draft exhaust. To replace it with a traditional free-standing range would have 1) meant major surgery on the countertop; and 2) installing some type of "above the range" exhaust system. Number one wasn't too scary given that we hate our countertops anyway and the result would be invisible behind the range. Number two was of greater impact. That, plus the fact that we really wanted a range with the controls on the front of the device, not posted above the stove elements at the rear. When you have youngish children in the house, conventional wisdom might suggest "keep the dials as far away as possible!!!" However, our younsters love to help in the kitchen. With a hopeful eye to a future filled with meals prepared by someone besides the two of us, my wife and I cultivate and encourage that love. However, the last thing we want them doing is dangling over an already hot element to "turn the boiling sauce down to a simmer. . .". Thus, we sprung for the best option that met our (admittedly unique) needs. It helped that it was one of the aforementioned "internet specials" with additional rebates etc that brought it within striking distance of the other options.

So, now we're excitedly waiting for our new appliances to arrive. Which, upon installation, will make our crummy countertops and backsplash look absolutely horrible.

To be continued (in some possible combination of granite, corian, stainless steel, or "other"). And, therefore, more dollars will also follow.