The End of the Fridge Saga

This morning at 5 a.m. I gave Oscar his tranquilizer that he takes before going to the vet. Sometimes it apparently works better than other times. Today he was probably no worse than an average dog who doesn’t like going to the vet. The vet came in, checked out whatever he needed to check out, gave him a shot to relax him and “make him sleepy”. The tech reached over and took Oscar from me before I could say “I wouldn’t try that!” He just went with her without any fuss. They’re going to clean his teeth and pull three of them.

We got in the car and I was crying. I hated leaving him. I would have preferred to have sat there all day and been there when he wakes up but I knew that wasn’t the mature thing to do. It was about 7:30 when we left the vet. Vince asked if I wanted to go somewhere and eat. I didn’t but knew he did and that I probably should so I said ok. We went to one place we hadn’t been before – a diner of sorts. There were two employees who came out to smoke and, while I hate to be judgmental, we decided to go somewhere else to eat. As we passed by Whataburger, Vince said “We used to like to eat breakfast there in Texas!” We stopped there, had breakfast and, for fast food, it wasn’t bad. While we were there, my phone rang. I was hoping it was the vet telling me Oscar was done but I figured it was going to take more than 20 minutes! Nope, not the vet but it was Metro Appliance. The guy we’ve been dealing with said “I just got news that they (not sure if it was G.E. or the extended warranty company) are replacing your fridge.” He went on to say . . you may not want the same one you had so swing by when you can and pick something out. I asked . . we don’t HAVE to get the same fridge? Nope!

The appliance store is just down the road from Whataburger so we went straight there. Remember that we put the GE Cafe white appliances in the kitchen three years ago. Vince has never liked GE but I loved their gas stove. We needed a dishwasher so we bought the stove and dishwasher first. The old appliances were all white so it wasn’t a big deal. Later the fridge that was in here was having some minor issues so we ordered the fridge. Then the wall oven door wasn’t working right. I could still use it but had to be careful. We knew eventually that we would change everything so we went ahead and ordered the wall oven and the built in microwave so everything would match.

Now, we had to make a decision as to whether we were going to get the same fridge (we both said NO!) or having something that doesn’t match. Part of me said it didn’t matter. But part of me said I would always be sorry one piece didn’t match and, before the fridge broke, I actually really liked it. But, Vince’s dislike for GE has gone up quite a bit these last few months.

We went in, went to the fridges. Vince wanted the Bosch. I liked it. The water is inside the fridge. You open the door and there’s a spout there. It would work fine for a glass but if I’m wanting a pitcher of filtered water to stick in the downstairs fridge, I can stick the 2 quart pitcher under the spout on the GE but, knowing how he feels about GE, I said . . fine . . I’ll go with the Bosch. Vince asked the lady how long it would take to get a white one. She shook her head . . it only comes in stainless. Forget that.

Then we kinda decided on this Kitchen Aid. It’s available in white. I love the drawer setup. When we went in, Vince had planned to get a Kitchen Aid so we decided to get this one in white. The lady we were working with said “The handles will all be silver!”

I kinda winced because this is what the current appliances we have look like with the rose gold handles.

Plus, the Kitchen Aid white is bright white where the GE Cafe appliances are not bright white. I could live with it and knowing how Vince feels about not getting GE, I said ok but then he said “The reason we bought all these appliances was so they could all match!” Then the lady we were working with told that every brand will have a lemon every now and then. The loaner we have now is Samsung and it’s one they took back because they never could get the ice maker to work right on it. She said they have sold a ton of the Cafe fridges and, as far as she knows, we are the only ones in 5 years who have had a fridge that had a problem that couldn’t be fixed and, overall, they’ve been one of the most reliable fridges they sell. She did say that the new models have two compressors – one for the fridge and one for the freezer. The repairman who has been coming kept complaining because there was one compressor for the fridge and freezer on our model.

Then Vince asked her . . how long can we expect a new fridge to last and apparently it’s at least seven years. Vince asked “More than seven?” She kinda shrugged her shoulders and didn’t say anything. We’ve had the current fridge for a bit over three years. They will replace it with the newer model with dual compressors. If it lasts a bit over three years, then we’re close to seven years for the price of one fridge so . . call us crazy, but we went with the same fridge. It will match the other appliances and hopefully it will last more than three years. We did buy the extended warranty. The compressor/closed cooling system has a five year warranty from GE.

It do be ordered. They had one white one in stock but it was counter depth and we wanted the full size. The lady said it will take 4 – 6 weeks. I know . . that probably means 4 – 6 months but . . who needs a fridge in the kitchen, right?