Seeking advice on new...appliances!

[kexodusc]

I'd love to build my own house! Unfortunately, land is so expensive here, it's just not feasible. Renovating is the closest that I'm ever going to get to a custom built house. But that's fun too!

It makes sense to me that prices for appliances and, really, anything that relies on the trucking industry, will go up. We had a guy come to look at our furnace last week and he charged us a $9 fuel surcharge. If gas prices don't come down they are going to create some serious inflation by the end of the year.

Kex, we bought our appliances yesterday. We don't need them until Sept, but we had to order the fridge early to take advantage of a great sale price and decided to buy everything at once so that we could make a better deal with the sales man.

It was a lot cheaper for us to go with different brands for each appliance, but everything is a brushed stainless steel with stainless handles (as opposed to black handles) so it won't be obvious (I hope). Here's what we ended up with...

Fridge - Amana - Counter depth, bottom freezer, single door for the top. We both liked the french door models but we got such a great clearance price on this fridge that we couldn't justify spending the extra money for french doors.

Stove - Samsung - We love the slide in stoves that I discussed earlier. Aesthetically, they look fantastic. But when we started pricing around we found that those aesthetics came at a very high price. The slide in stove that was in our budget (GE) had four burners and a basic oven without convection or warming drawer. For the same price in a traditional stove we got five burners, one is an oversize burner for large pots, convection (with two fans and a heating element), covered bottom coils, a warming drawer, a steam cleaning feature, a 5.7 cubic foot oven (huge!) and all kinds of other programmable features that we'll likely never use. The Samsung not only offered way better value than GE or Kitchenaid or some of the other name brands (about $300 less) but was the best looking stove for the kitchen style that we're going for. And the reviews that I've read are very good.

Dishwasher - We ended up with the Haier. After doing some research and going over features with our salesman, this dishwasher has all the same features and benefits of a Bosch or Miele and we paid $650 vs. $1129 for the equivalent Bosch.

I hope this helps. If you want prices, PM me.

Hey FA, thanks for sharing.
We've got a few packages picked out including none of the brands you mentioned but I suspect we'll make our minds up tomorrow night. We've narrowed it down to Frigidaire, Kenwood, and Whirlpool because those are the best deals we've found on appliances we could live with.

We're not going to fancy on the fridge though, top or bottom freezer depending which brand (we have a water cooler we use and don't need the dispenser, french doors are out). Think we'll just get a basic convection oven in the with the flat surface...and I think your guy was right on the dishwasher - the sales lady at telling us about the garberators was contested by a few other sales folk. We're making sure we get a decent dishwasher, no food chunks on my dishware, thank you.

We get some cool energy rebates out here for buying Energy Star rated appliances- up $500 free cash from various sources since it's a new home ($100 for each major appliance, but I don't think any of the stoves we're looking at qualify)- not sure what Ontario's government does, but it might be worth looking into if you haven't already?

My wife's an eco-nut, we added a lot of energy saving/environmentally friendly features...there's some big rebates out there to take advantage of.

[ForeverAutumn]

We get some cool energy rebates out here for buying Energy Star rated appliances- up $500 free cash from various sources since it's a new home ($100 for each major appliance, but I don't think any of the stoves we're looking at qualify)- not sure what Ontario's government does, but it might be worth looking into if you haven't already?

My wife's an eco-nut, we added a lot of energy saving/environmentally friendly features...there's some big rebates out there to take advantage of.

We'll have to exchange pictures when both our kitchens are done!

Our fridge and stove are energy star rated but not the dishwasher. In Ontario you don't have to pay PST on energy star rated appliances, which is worth 8%. What kind of other rebates are you referring to?

[kexodusc]

We'll have to exchange pictures when both our kitchens are done!

Our fridge and stove are energy star rated but not the dishwasher. In Ontario you don't have to pay PST on energy star rated appliances, which is worth 8%. What kind of other rebates are you referring to?

In NB you pay everything in store but there's a rebate process available if you apply for it, we don't get the PST deal though. Each province has different incentives, and some municipalities and cities have their own I see. 8% is pretty good, the more you buy the more you save. Ours is limited to a maximum of $500.

I assume Ontario would have renovation incentives available should you decide to tackle new doors/windows/insulation someday. I dunno too much about it but a quick Google led me here:
http://www.energy.gov.on.ca/index.cf...trofit_faqs#q1

[GMichael]

Sounds like you two are progressing very well. Kex, I think your best bet is to pick one set out and buy soon. Price increases is a very real possibility. They'll hold them till you need them. Getting them all from one source like FA did does help with seeking a discount.
Energy Star is good, but check the ratings. You can save yourself a few bucks down the road. When we were buying, Energy Stars were given out to anything with a rating over 9.5, but many models had ratings well above 10 or 11. This can add up over the years.

Don't forget to share pictures with the rest of us too

[ForeverAutumn]

I assume Ontario would have renovation incentives available should you decide to tackle new doors/windows/insulation someday. I dunno too much about it but a quick Google led me here:
http://www.energy.gov.on.ca/index.cf...trofit_faqs#q1

Hey thanks for that link! I had no idea that program existed. We had a guy come and look at our furnace last week because it was leaking from the A/C. He told us that it looked original to the house and that it was probably only about 55% efficient. He recommended that we replace it ASAP to save money on our gas and electricity bills. I want to do it this summer but Hubby wants to wait until next year. Either way, I'll look into this program first. Thanks!