Do you ever wonder why, when I need something, I can’t get in the car, drive to the store and buy it? I’m not a drama queen but it seems like some things, especially major purchases, are almost more of a hassle than they are worth.
Yesterday we went to the appliance store here. I had a good discussion with the salesman we’ve been talking to. Vince talked to him. He highly recommends the G.E. Cafe models. We decided on this one but with stainless knobs and handles.
Gas top. Gas oven. Single oven. Convection and Air Fry. This one, with the stainless trim, will kinda keep my kitchen “unified” if I start replacing white fixtures with stainless but then I figured out that if I just go with the regular stainless version, it’s about $700 less. That’s a lot of money just to try to make the kitchen appliances all match.
So, I started thinking about this. (1) We’ll probably live in this house til we die. If a few stainless and a few white pieces don’t bother me, why would I spend $700? (2) What if the fridge, dishwasher, wall oven, microwave, vent hood all need replacing in 5 years (they’ll be over 20 years old at that point), then I’m going to be stuck with a white stove.
Vince still doesn’t like G.E. Said he’d never buy anything G.E. but has agreed to go with this stove. He even acted like he was going to buy a matching dishwasher. But, will this be one of those things for the rest of my life, any time something goes wrong, he says “I knew I shouldn’t have bought that brand!”?
We needed to pay at least half down to get it ordered. Then, Vince asked . . when would you guess these will come in? The guy grimaced and said . . no sooner than six months. With the popularity of the Cafe models, maybe 8 months for stainless; maybe longer for white.
No! I guess I am not disliking the glass top stove as much as I act like. I’m waiting. I’m not even thinking about it any more. Vince is hooking up the Camp Chef stove in the garage so if the power is off and I have to cook, I can do it on that.
So . . no more stove talk for a while. I’ve reached a dead end and I’m done! Doesn’t mean I won’t look at the stoves if we’re in Home Depot or somewhere that has them but, for the most part . . I’m done.
Janet Orr says
We had an LG front loading washer and dryer for about 17 years. So when we built our new house in 2011 I purchased all new LG appliances for the kitchen. Bad idea. The built in dual oven died after 5 years. My husband said to buy local and have them delivery and install because he’s done doing that. So now we have a GE washer/dryer and GE oven. Sure hope they last!!! I don’t think appliances are built to last any more.
Judy Laquidara says
You’re right – nothing is built to last and we, as consumers pay the price.
QuilterBea says
Just curious about the dislike for GE appliances? I’ve had several throughout the years and have “never” had a repair problem with them. 9Knocking on wood that I haven’t jinxed them ?)
Judy Laquidara says
I think his complaints have more to do with business practices from years and years ago than the quality of their appliances. It’s kinda like people who will not shop at Walmart because everything is made in China, but yet shop at lots of other places where everything is made in China. I just went along with him til now and never suggested GE but it appears that may be the closest stove to what I want so now I must stand up for what I want.
Donna Goodman says
We put that stove in our remodeled kitchen two years ago. It’s been a great stove. I went from a glass top to this stove and I love it. I used to feel the same way Vince does about GE. I would only buy whirlpool and then I started having problems with all my appliances. Our daughter bought a new home with GE appliances and she was having a good experience with them so we decided to give GE a try on the stove. I’m so glad we did. When it comes time to replace our dishwasher I will be looking at GE. I am surprised at how long it takes to get appliances right now. My son works at Lowe’s and has commented about that problem recently.
Dottie Newkirk says
The one thing I’ve found about appliances (at my age now, LOL) is I’m definitely MORE particular about what I want and am willing to wait for, etc. When I was younger, I was definitely more impulsive about what I wanted.
Unfortunately, with covid slowing down production of everything, our wait time is a lot longer than normal.
Nancy says
My son has been building and investment home and needed appliances. We had told him months ago that there was going to be a shortage because of the work stoppage in variance factories in China and actually around the world. He went to buy and was told it would be several months to arrive so he ordered with a November delivery date thinking he would ready to put them in. They arrived in two weeks and he has had to store them in his garage since then. Even his sales person was surprised. But he did not have any special order items.
Judy Laquidara says
The appliance guy told us that for orders he placed in April, he was told 4 – 6 weeks, he said he’s called to check on them and every time, he’s told “still 4 – 6 weeks”. He said forget getting anything special order. When we asked him for approximate dates, he just shakes his head and said “I’m not even going to give you a date except to say – don’t expect it within the next six months!”
Kim A Paventy says
Covid is causing most of the delays .My husband works in the RV industry and they can’t keep anything in stock. People that have money are spending it differently then before, businesses are struggling with this and some are having to quarantine or shut down areas of the manufacturing plants due to Covid.
Judy Laquidara says
I understand that but it makes no sense. The appliance store guy told me that in March, there was a run on appliances and they haven’t been able to get much of anything since then. It seems weird to me. I can understand freezers but if people are concerned about their jobs with the shutdowns, I don’t understand buying new stoves, fridges, dishwashers, furniture, etc. If I thought there was any chance at all of Vince losing a job (when he worked), I would replace what had to be replaced but I wouldn’t replace every appliance and every piece of furniture.
There’s a business I’ve bought from for many years – it’s not really a prepping business but it’s a place a lot of preppers shop. The lady told me that they can’t keep a grain mill, buckets of any kind of grain. Those things I understand but sofas and high end gas stoves . . I don’t understand.
Another possible explanation is that people are leaving some of the states with high taxes and many aren’t bringing much of anything with them. We’ve talked to three different people in the last month that left CA and came to this area of MO and they brought everything they wanted to bring with them in a small U-Haul and bought new stuff when they got here so I guess that could explain it. Nicole’s dad is a builder and he’s been remodeling several homes that people from CA bought without even seeing them and brought nothing but personal items with them. Remodeled the houses and bought all new appliances and furniture.
I guess it is just a combination of Covid, shutdowns, and changes in lifestyles.
Diane in CA says
My niece moved from Southern California to Utah in Nov and could not find a 26′ uhaul in the entire state to rent… Apparently all the trucks had been driven out of state and no one is moving to CA right now, so no one to drive them back.. It is probably cheaper to buy new furniture than pay movers.
Judy Laquidara says
That’s basically what we did. But, I can tell you that with the cost of furniture, the movers would have been less expensive. The only furniture we brought was a breakfast room table, 4 chairs and a freezer. We bought everything else here. What’s left is one freezer plus a lot of our personal stuff so Vince is going to have to decide what he wants to do with what’s left.
danielle says
In March we were finally going to replace our broken recliner(s). Covid hit. Stores shut down. Then procrastination set in. Last week we FINALLY, a year after we planned to, looked at and bought a new bed. It could have been delivered that day. But we decided to wait until this week. It was delivered on Tuesday. So this past weekend we went shopping for new recliners. We put money down and ordered them. They are expected to be here at the end of May/early June….
Cathy W. says
My Mother’s stove died and she had to order one because there were none in stock that fit her space. It took about three months to get it and that was three months ago. Another friend had to buy a refrigerator. She was without one for about a month and finally bought a scratch and dent floor model because she couldn’t wait. We’ve had very good luck with GE refrigerator and stove. Ours are the upper end model. I didn’t like the GE dishwasher and replaced it with a Bosch. The best I’ve ever had so far. We’ve lived in 16 different houses in 34 years so we’ve had a lot of different ones. I think the shortage is due to the shutdown in factories and back up during Covid but also new building in general. They are building and selling new houses very quickly in my neighborhood.
Kathleen says
Several months ago I asked you about your loveseat. Like you, I don’t like to shop. I liked yours, wanted it and went to our Lazyboy store. They said they couldn’t get that particular one and tried to sell me what they had. Bye bye. We went to Ashley Furniture and really liked a leather loveseat and sofa with electric recliners. It was their high end set. My husband liked that pop up coffee table so we ordered that. In September they said it would be six to eight weeks. Middle of November we called to see when we could expect it because we were having company for Thanksgiving. They looked it up and said “Well, looks like it’s going to be sometime in 2021.” We cancelled, went to a mom and pop store, bought Steelcraft nearly same furniture and they had the same Ashley pop up coffee table to boot. They delivered the next day. What a crazy time this year has been.
Judy Laquidara says
Glad you found something that works. It is crazy.
Nelle Coursey says
That is a good looking stove. And just like I have changed my mind about Air Temp and the hospital, I think I could change my mind about an appliance. I think you are making a wise choice. Like you said, you are probably going to live with this the rest of your life, so why not get what you want. This looks and sounds like it is a very functional stove.
Rebecca says
So you didn’t order the stove? I don’t imagine the suppy situation is going to be any better in the next year, and if you ordered the stove, you’d be done!
Judy Laquidara says
No. I didn’t order it. Everything I have here works. By the time we add the gas line, add a backguard behind the stove, buy the stove, pay for installation, pay for them to switch it from natural gas to propane, it’s a good chunk of $$. Vince is ok with me doing it but I know he’d rather wait til the Texas house sells (which isn’t going to sell til he lists it!).
Vince may not come back here til the Texas house is sold so until he comes back here, I’m not going to be doing that much cooking. The stove I have works fine . . it just isn’t what I want so it isn’t like I don’t have anything to use and even when Vince is here, we aren’t going hungry. I’m just not ok with the delays right now. We paid for furniture in early August that we don’t have yet. I understand the businesses want their money up front before ordering but it doesn’t sit well with me that our money is tied up so long and things aren’t arriving when we were told they would arrive so, for now, I’m waiting.
Teri says
That is the stove we have and have had it for 7 years and no problems…I love it. And it easy to clean….
Amy Makson says
Appliances are out of stock everywhere. We were talking with our friend a builder, and he has houses compelted just waiting for the appliances before the owners can get a certificate of occupancy to move in. He said windows are hard to get also.
By the way, we have the GE Cafe gas top and electric oven for 7 years, with propane…so far no issues. Propane does not work quite as smoothly as natural gas, but we have learned which burners to use to simmer, etc. Good luck with all of this.
Judy Laquidara says
Thanks for that information. Propane should work just the same as gas once the parts are switched over to propane. Vince said it sounds like an issue that you should be able to resolve. We’ve had Samsung and Whirlpool, both of which were switched from gas to propane, and they worked fine. If we decide to go with the Cafe model, I will make sure to ask about that.
Carolyn says
I wonder if it’s a regional issue…my daughter ordered a new refrigerator from Lowes last week and it’s being delivered this week. It’s a GE. I know that it’s hard to get freezers here, but was very surprised she could get a new fridge so quickly.
Susan Nixon says
Wow. That’s a long time to wait! I’m on year 10 of my used stove that I chose in 10 minutes from a bevy of offerings, and it still works beautifully. Delivered in 2 days. With the way the world is right now, if something happens, I’ll go back to the same store and buy another used one. Yes, I’m very low maintenance. =)