So, we spent a pretty penny last night. And when I say pretty, I’m referring to the shiny stainless steel that will be displayed in our future kitchen {hopefully!}
Now, I realize it sounds crazy that we bought appliances before we even know if we officially have the house, but hear me out. We made sure to check that we can get a 100%, full refund for the appliances should the house deal fall through, plus the store will hold the appliances for free until we get into our house.
We’ve rushed around the last couple days & spent hours looking at appliances online because many places are having year-end sales and we’ve heard that it’s the best time of year to buy appliances because stores are trying to make room for the new year’s models in their inventory. So we checked out Best Buy, Lowes, Home Depot, Sears, hhgregg, and more. We narrowed it down to Lowes & Sears for the best deals, but we knew there are two factory/outlet stores in Columbus that we’ve heard have some good deals. Last night, we made the hour trip to check it out for ourselves.
First, we went to an outlet factory in Columbus called Appliance Smart. They have a lot of scratch & dent items, but they also carry in-the-box new appliances that are undamaged. We found an incredible package deal on four brand new, untouched Fridgedare appliances. This package was even cheaper than if we were to piece together any of their scratch & dent items. So, we took notes on all the details and decided to head to Sears Outlet just a few minutes away. They had some good deals too, and we could piece together a set that would have three items {no microwave, but we don’t really need one anyway} for about $150 less than the Appliance Smart package; however, every item had some cosmetic damage – a dent on the front, scratch on the corner, etc. None of the problem areas were too bad for us to take the deal, but we decided that we’d be better off & rest easier paying slightly more to get brand new items in this case.
Oh, and after pricing both stainless steel, and non stainless steel, we found that the price difference wasn’t much at all but the return on investment if we wanted to sell the house would be much larger if we went with stainless steel. {Like most people, we found ourselves drawn to houses that had stainless appliances when we were looking at houses on the market.}
So, without further ado, I’m happy to introduce you to our new appliance line-up & their prices at local stores {building suspense to reveal our deal}…
Dishwasher $359.99 at Sears on sale
Range $629.99 at Sears on sale
The range has five burners; the top center one is a warming spot and the bottom right is expandable for a larger pot. {You know you’re getting old when an expandable burner makes you smile!} :)
Refridgerator $1,079.99 at Sears on sale
This baby’s huge compared to what we’re used to!
Over the Range Microwave $249.00 at Lowes
We will probably sell this microwave because we don’t really have room or need it, but we’re going to wait to see how much demo we do on the kitchen cabinets.
Okay, so if we bought these at Lowes & Sears, we would have spent $2,481.29 total. However at Appliance Smart, our final bill, paid in full, {we’re paying cash for each renovation we make to the house. This is important to us.} came to $1,707.96 . That’s a savings of $773.33! Even more significant to us is what we budgeted for these items – we came in $492.00 UNDER budget {plus, our budget didn’t include a dishwasher or microwave.}I’d say that’s a great start to the renovation journey!
I keep laughing at the picture I have in my head of these pretty, new appliances in the super ugly, extremely outdated, dirty kitchen in the house! Eh, just more motivation for all the hard work we’re hoping to do.
Praying hard that we close in January so I don’t to return these pretty things!
