Monday, May 9, 2011

Chilling

When we renovated our kitchen 3 yrs ago, we purchased a new suite of appliances with one of the appliances being a side by side refrigerator. Side by side refrigerators can be a great option. The narrow doors don't eat up a lot of aisle space, and you can place both your most used frig and freezer items at eye level.  So why was a new frig delivered for Mother's Day?  I despised my refrigerator.  Neither of those pluses applied to our situation.  We don't have narrow work aisles in our kitchen, and our most used kitchen freezer items are gf frozen waffles, ice cream,  popsicles, and frozen berries that need to be at kid level(we have a basement freezer for meat.)  The reason for my frustration was the narrow width of both the frig and freezer compartments. 
This is totally not my frig, but I posted this pic because it cracks me up.  Can you imagine the deranged stylist screaming, "I said no tomatoes!  Can't you people see my vision?"

As you all know, I bake and entertain a lot.  The frig side had a tough time holding large trays or full sheet cakes, and the narrow shelves meant dropping things off the front as I dug to the back leading to more than one floor cleanup.  The freezer was my absolute nemesis.  I bake several times a week.  I love to work with my GF Puff Pastry dough, and have posted several recipes that use it.  Puff pastry needs to chill for 15-20 minutes before going in the oven and the narrow depth of the freezer meant that I could only use my smallest baking sheets.  I like my rollout sugar cookies to take a quick chill before going in the oven, too, and this would almost always lead to an, "Arrrggh!" as I forgot about the narrow width and had to transfer them to smaller cookie sheets.

Still, replacing an almost new refrigerator that keeps food cold(it's main function) is a pretty frivolous expenditure when you're a one income family.  So I trolled craigslist and the marked down aisles looking for treasure.  Last Monday I hit gold.  Whirlpool Gold.  36" of concealed hinged, french door loveliness.

This lovely was sitting in the clearanced scratch and dent section at Lowe's.  It's ice dispenser handle was missing.  Which caused them to mark it down by half.  Score!

As great of a deal as that was, $1050 isn't exactly chump change, so I walked around for a bit thinking about it.  And that's when I noticed this sign. 

An extra 15% off?  Woohoo!  Sign me up.  We found an appliance specialist and he told us that the extra 15% wouldn't apply because of the extreme mark down that had already occured.  Not one to be deterred so easily, I asked for clarification.  The marked down sign didn't say anything about no additional discounts, and the fine print on the additional discount didn't mention clearanced items as one of the exclusions.  It wasn't a Dacor, Electrolux, or water heater, and was decidedly over the $397 minimum. 

The store manager stepped in and agreed that the signage could have been more clear, but that I shouldn't have to pay for their lack of clarification.  End result:  I got a refrigerator that retails for $2100 for the super duper bargain price of $892.  Lowe's has free delivery, and they offer 12 months of 0% financing when you use your Lowe's card, so we took full advantage of that and will be paying $80 a month on our awesome new frig.

We haven't installed it yet, because we'd like to replace the missing handle first.  I've found them on-line for only $15 and have watched a few how-to youtube videos, so feel pretty confident about the repair, but I'm considering cannibalizing the old frig for it's handle.  Our old frig will be going into our BFF's mancave.  They've outgrown the small frig in their garage, and don't need the icemaker as they have a portable icemaker.  I'll post a pic when the new frig is in it's hole.

Thanks for popping in and checking out my awesome Mother's Day gift.
 http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/

18 comments:

  1. I bought a new fridge yesterday!! That is to funny! I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day!

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  2. Thanks for linking up at Fancy Friday! I'm your newest follower!

    www.meldreamsoften.com

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  3. Thats a steal you'll never forget and tell everyone from here on. I remember when we ordered a new stove from Home Depot 2 months before thanksgiving and after many promises for it to be here for the turkey they called and said it was out of stock and available after TG, Ummmmm, sorry not happening. They ended up letting us choose one from the same company which was in the store. The best thing for us though, it was a double oven stove and retailed for $600 more than the one we ordered.Score!!
    Sorry for the ramble but we can fight the corporations yehh!! Great job and sweet looking fridge.

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  4. Good for you for standing up and speaking your mind. You go get that deal! (I would have done the same thing.) My refrigerator blew up over winter and we went for more than 4 months without while I waited for a good deal. This winter that did not quit worked for me as I kept milk and eggs on an enclosed porch. We have a very mini freezer in the basement but I was shopping every week for a while.
    I finally got one from CL and now think I should have a backup.

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  5. Congratulations on standing tall. I'm a new follower and hope you visit my blog and become a follower, too.
    Helen of Helen's Decor

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  6. I completely agree with you that the side by side is awful. I would never buy one again. Awesome deal on your new baby.

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  7. Good for you! I hate when you have to argue with what they have on their signs. You're lucky you got a nice manager. Some won't budge
    You are going to love your new one!
    Congrats!
    *hugs*deb

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  8. oh yes! that's a great deal. i love a good bargain. and all because the icemaker paddle was missing? sure that's an easy fix. what an awesome mother's day present. sort of sets the bar a little high for next year, lol. thanks for stopping by today :)

    andiejaye

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  9. Lovely fridge! I'm sure the awesome deal you got on it makes it even better! Happy Mother's Day, indeed!

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  10. Excellent score, and good job at fighting for the additional discount. I'm a wimp, but getting bolder with age.

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  11. Congrats on getting the frig you wanted at a bargain price! I used to have the french door frig and miss it so much. I now have a side by side and feel like I can't get anything in the freezer. You were also smart to get the ice maker in the door. You're all set!

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  12. Great deal!!! And you will love this fridge. I don't have the exact same one, mine is white and doesn't have the ice dispenser but it is a french door fridge and it's the bomb. I got mine about 6 yrs ago at the Sears outlet for $500 as it had a scratch on one side, that no one can see as the cupboard covers it. Glad to hear your stuck to your guns about the add'l 15% off. And I'm glad that Lowe's honored it.

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  13. beautiful fridge and GREAT deal. enjoy!

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  14. TOTAL SCORE! Yipeeee! Way to go...you did great :)
    PS...your comment under the picture about "can't you see my vision" made me laugh out loud! I can totally picture that :) Funny stuff!

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  15. WOW...now that was a super duper deal!!! Glad that you got the 15% off:) Thanks for sharing at NIFTY THRIFTY TUESDAYS.

    Blessings,
    Linda

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  16. What a nice mother's day gift! And with growing boys you need all the storage you can get. Glad you scored!

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  17. Good for you. I hate my side by side and I have lived with it for 14 years! Its finally conking and I will be getting a new refrigerator, and it won't be a side by side. I'm your newest follower
    Hope you will visit my gluten free blog and follow back.

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