Appliances, Part I: Washer and Dyer

For the past couple of weeks, Pat and I have been scouring all our local stores and the internet looking for the best value on a refrigerator, washer, and dryer. Luckily we only need to buy those three because the others were included in the price of the house. Also, the sticker shock major appliances is similar to that of a house: you never quite get over how much everything costs.

We have been hoping to get a Labor Day deal ever since we commissioned the house back in February (although we originally thought Labor Day would be too late). Here we are more than six months later and we're negotiating with department stores over how long we can postpone delivery.

After finding a hell of a deal, we bought our washer and dryer last night at Lowe's. I never thought to even look at Lowe's because, frankly, they've always seemed over priced. It just so happens that as I was checking out paint samples (more on that later) I stumbled across the exact same set we were planning on buying from Sears, price matched from H.H. Gregg. And they were cheaper than both the other stores. Throw in free delivery/installation and the discount from our Lowe's card (yes, we opened one...) and it was too good of a deal to pass up.

We chose Samsung because they are the highest rated for low noise/vibration. Since we have a second floor laundry room, a loud washer/dryer set could be heard through the entire house and leave anyone who's home very irritated.

We did splurge and spend $400 extra to get the matching pedestals. Front-loaders without pedestals always seem too low for anyone, let alone someone with back problems, like me.

My plan for the laundry room is to do something like this...

source

...eventually. I plan to add cabinets (maybe with an open shelf for detergent) over the washer and dryer. I also plan to add a counter for folding space on the side, but instead of cabinets over the counter, I'll add a closet rod for hanging space. And since our washer/dryer are white, I'll have to think of a fun color to paint the cabinets.

I'll definitely be revisiting our appliance choices once we're in the house and have used them for a while, but for now I'll have to content myself knowing we made the best decision with all the available information. Then I remind myself, they can't be worse than what we're working with now.

Refrigerator coming soon.