Appliances Continued

UPDATED

So in keeping with the theme of appliances I wanted to share some of our methodology for searching out appliances in the wide world of Lowe's, Home Depot, Costco, and Sears (among others).

1. Bring a camera. We've taken to snapping photos of each and every appliance we're interested in and throwing them into Evernote (my favorite note taking program and system). We use that to compare each store's offerings.

2. Look for Energy Star appliances and Energy Star rebates. Lowe's is running a 10% off all Energy Star appliances. Costco has a few sales here and there for Energy Star fridges.

3. Take notes and check for shipping costs. Lowe's and Home Depot tend to have free/subsidized shipping while Costco warehouses expect you to handle your own hauling and installing.

4. Consider the quality. We're steering pretty far away from the generic Chinese washers, dryers, fridges and the likes, and going for the ones that are at least headquartered in the US. There was an interesting post on Gizmodo about about the relative quality of no-brand HDTV's; essentially a no-brand has less incentive to provide a comprehensive service and warranty plan (including home service and shipping) then an established brand. So while the two may perform similarly, it's when things go wrong you might want the better (and more expensive) brand.

5. Figure your colors and finishes out. Your washer and dryer? Probably don't need to be designer colored (yet). But your fridge/dishwasher/oven? They should look alike and probably be a color that you like and/or love. Our friend Jim pointed out an interesting note though: Stainless Steel appliances love some fingerprints and need special cleaner to get the job done. Right now we're waffling between Stainless Steel and gray paint. Decisions, decisions.

Finally, throw everything together: can you get a color and style and size that you like from a manufacturer you want? Can you do that for everything you're looking for? And what about the delivery? Balance that all together....and let us know because we're still fiddling with it.

UPDATE:
Natalie's comment reminded me about looking for interest free financing; generally the big box home improvement retailers offer 12 months no interest financing on large orders ($1000+) over big weekends (Memorial Day, 4th of July, etc...). Beyond that if you have a real big order (fridge and oven and washing machine and...) you might be able to finagle interest free financing anytime (this is especially important to us as the gov't tax rebate for new home buyers takes 8-10 weeks to get processed). So grab some coupons from the USPS, get a big list going, and look for some deals.