Buying appliances on the net...

[Jim O'Dell]

...anyone done it? Have a place you like? LOML and I need a new dishwasher. Ours died about a year ago and we just haven't done anything seriously about it. Looked briefly at Fry's today on the way home. Most everything is stainless steel. While there's nothing wrong with that, I wonder what it would look like with kitchen cabinets probably made out of Quatersawn White Oak with a medium to light stain in the hopefully not too distant future. Possibly mission style. Thinking black appliances might look better with it. We had all almond appliances at the other house, with Ash cabinets. Don't see almond anymore. :rolleyes: Most of the SS finishes LOML didn't like because they showed every fingerprint. Others, (more if a brushed finish?) weren't too bad. But that would almost impose using the same brand throughout the kitchen.
Anyway, I'm looking for some online places to at least see what is available so I don't spend a fortune in gas looking. Thanks for any insight you can offer. Jim.

[Ed Hazel]

Lowe's has a good selection I purchased a DW and a new fridge from them in the last year or so, black in color

[Matt Meiser]

My experience has been that the local appliance places have as good or better prices than the big stores. Plus the big box stores charge for delivery and both local places I deal with offer free delivery and haul-away of the old one if you want. We did buy our dishwasher and stove at Lowes because on both we got incredible deals on clearance. Most places mark their products with MSRP. The local places will both go down from there. The big boxes won't The worst is Sears. They actually mark their appliances UP from MSRP, then put them "on sale" and mark them down a couple dollars under MSRP and tell you how much you've "saved." Then charge for delivery.

[Karl Brogger]

I bought a house just over a year ago, new house, no appliances. Luckily one of the larger appliance stores was having warehouse sale. Scratch and dents are the way to go. We bought some really sweet stuff, and I think we only spent $7500, would've spent close to $9k with out the sale. I'd look/wait for something like that to come along.

[David G Baker]

Karl,
Had you purchased your home with new appliances installed and you financed your house for 30 years you would also have financed the appliances for the same 30 years and paid the going interest rate for those appliances. The appliances that you financed would have been in the dump for more than 15 years by the time you actually got them paid off and had paid more than triple the original price. You paid $7500 and got your new appliances on sale at a good price, if you financed them you would more than likely have them paid off in less than 5 years and you would probably have purchased a better quality appliance than the contractor would have installed in your new home.
I overheard the above information while eating in a restaurant in Hollywood Ca. around 30 years ago and couldn't resist passing it on.

[Karl Brogger]

I paid cash for the appliances.

[Jim O'Dell]

I did look very briefly at what I think were some scratch and dents at Frys, but they had no tags on them at all. The last few appliances we have purchased were from the local mom and pop appliance centers. Washer and dryer over in Arlington, and the dishwasher, at the former house, from a shop just down the road from us. Had better pricing over in Arlington.
I did a little research last night after posting this and for the dishwasher in stainless steel we saw at Frys last night that LOML liked best, the manufacturer also makes it in white, bisque, and black. Frys was only 4.00 more than the online price, and the shipping would have killed it. SS model was 696.00, the black was 549.00 and that makes sense that the SS would be more. But the bisque was 359.00 and the white was between the black and bisque. Now, that big of a difference between colors of plastic is outrageous!! The bisque didn't say anything about a special, or closeout. I know in the past, white was the cheapest, and the then almond was 20.00 higher. Still a rip off but capitalizing on the- at the time -designer color. But not enough of a difference to keep you from getting the color you wanted.
Well, now to get TLOML to decide what color she wants to go with. Our current fridge is almond, but it will be eventually be relegated to the utility room for dog food and overflow. Will replace the fridge when we do the kitchen, but would like to settle on a color so we can get a dishwasher that we can use without replacing in a few years.
Thanks for the ideas. Scratch and dent will come into play if they have one that has the right features. Want this next one to have the SS interior instead of plastic, which all the above colors of the, I believe Amana, unit had. May have been a Maytag...don't remember. Jim.

ps: Matt, that brought up a memory from my past days selling stereo equipment. I worked for a company out of St. Louis called CMC Stereo. Along came a new company to town called Highland Appliance. During their Grand Opening my district manager and I went over, about a block away, and shopped them to verify prices so we could adjust ours. On the way out, I stopped in the actual appliance center and was looking at the dishwashers. A salesman came over and offered help. Gave me some good information about dishwashers in general. At the end, asked me how quick I was going to be purchasing. It was still a month away. He kind of made a "you didn't hear me say this" type statement, but told me to go to Oliver Dyer's down the street that they had pricing that would slaughter Highland's pricing!! Turns out he didn't work for Highland Appliance, but was a local manufacturers rep working the sale. Funny thing, he didn't make a penny from what Highland would ever sell here in Texas because he wasn't their rep, but he did make money from the mom and pop stores here locally. And he was right, Oliver Dyer's had a better price on the same brand/model. ;)

[John Daugherty]

Jim, If your not in a hurry to buy you might want to look around at the box stores. When we built our house a couple years ago I found out that they come out with new models every year like cars. When these new models come out they would start discounting the "last year" models. Our wall oven was the display model. It listed for 1200, I got it for around 500. Our cooktop was also the display model and was about 50% off. I would usually stop by both a Lowes and HD near the house a couple times a week and make a quick pass through the appliances. Looking at returned custom orders is also a way of finding some smoking deals. The only thing, if you see something you want you better get it then. I missed a 600 dollar dishwasher that was marked down to 250. I went back the next day to get it and the dang thing was gone. I still kick myself over that one.

[Pat Germain]

I would check a local, independent retailer and the closest big box. If the little guy is close in price, I would try to support him.

I bought a Bosch dishwasher a few years ago. All the display models were stainless steel. Mrs. Pat wanted white. Turns out the dishwasher was available in many colors. We just had to order it. It took only a few days to get it.

BTW, I'm very happy with the Bosch. I hear complaints about Bosch dishwashers not drying very well. This is because "heated drying" is disabled by default. Electricity is wicked expensive in Germany. Therefore, the Bosch dishwasher relies on the moisture to condensate on the SS interior. Or, you go into the menu to activate "heated drying" and it works like most other dishwasher. Oh, and although it doesn't have a "grinder" it doesn't need it. No matter how much gunk is on the dishes, there's typically little or nothing remaining the strainer.

Happy shopping!

[Jim O'Dell]

Thought I would resurrect this thread to pass on some information. I found an online dealer that had a great price on the unit LOML decided on, and shipping was free. FFEMax. Went to the 2 places locally we had purchased from before, as well as the box stores and Best Buy, and the best price I could find on it was 80.00 higher than the online place, then tack on tax. Granted, they would haul the old one away and install the new one, but I have some plumbing work to do that they would not have tackled, and I've installed dishwashers before. I'll just have to figure out what to do with the old one. Probably take it to Goodwill and drop it off.
Anyway, ordered it Monday, Jan 5th. It sat in their warehouse for almost 2 weeks before being shipped. :(Arrived here this Monday, the 26th. Sat at the freight company 2 days because of the ice storm, missed the delivery appt at noon today. Said the driver got redirected. Said they would be here at 6:00. Didn't show. I was working up a big mad spell. Got a call from the driver at about 7:40. He was about 30 minutes away, did I still want it tonight. YES!! I wanted to install it this weekend, and it would have been a pain to get it tomorrow.
What happened, since they were closed for 2 days, he had 3 days worth of deliveries to make. Real nice guy, and he went beyond the call of duty staying out that late. He definately earned the tip...wish I had had a little more. At least I was on his way back to the depot. Product in great shape.
Moral, don't order from this company if you are in a hurt for time. But if you have time to play with, it saved me about $130.00 off of what I could get it for locally. Now to hit HD on the way home tomorrow night for supplies on redoing the water supply lines. :eek: Jim.

[Pat Germain]

FYI, Jim, I didn't see you mention what appliance you bought. But if you're replacing a dishwasher, the local thrift stores typically won't take them unless they're portable units; no built-ins.

Congrats on saving a few bucks and getting what you wanted.

[Al Willits]

"""""""
I did look very briefly at what I think were some scratch and dents at Frys, but they had no tags on them at all.
""""

If you mean no model/serial numbers you may be buying at your own risk with no warrt from the factory.

We do some warranty work for several manufacturs and units with no model tag are "as is", also trying to get parts for one of these may be tough.

btw we're going white oak with black appliances, nice contrast.

Al

[Matthew Minnig]

Most people dont know this, but BestBuy has an eBay outlet where they clearance off discontinued models. Just be careful because two similar listings might have shipping locations on opposite sides of the country. Even after I paid as much in freight as I did on the auction it has half the cost as any local store...

[Matt Meiser]

Around here, the Habitat Restore would take it, and even pick it up.

[Jim O'Dell]

Matt, that's a good suggestion. Thanks! I could still drop it off, and give me a chance to look through and see what they have! Jim.

[Matt Meiser]

Matt, that's a good suggestion. Thanks! I could still drop it off, and give me a chance to look through and see what they have! Jim.

That's my problem going there--I leave with as much stuff as I took. :rolleyes: A few times ago I found 1/2 a 1000' box of plenum-rated CAT5e cable for $10. The time before I found a bunch of 1-1/4" square steel tubing. Another time a pre-built set of new pressure treated stairs I needed to rebuild the steps between the garage and house. And a bunch of new-in-box Closetmaid organizer systems for 1/2 off Lowes prices.