Appliance Hunter

We've just got a couple of new appliances. A new stove (GE Profile PGB916SEMSS) (note: this link was working... I'll check it later since the GE site is having "issues" right now) and a washer dryer pair. Our current stove broke, so we used the excuse to get a gas one (and make me really happy) and we've been pretty unhappy with our current washer and dryer.

After a bunch of shopping for a range (ie stove) these are the features that became important to us:

1. continuous grills so it's easier to move pots around
2. glass control panel (vs plastic that some have)
3. cast iron grills. I probably won't be super delicate on it, so if it's got the coated ones I'm assuming that I'd wreck them
4. convection. ya.
5. high btu burners. We were looking a kitchenaid range at first but 2/4 burners were 6000 btu which sound pretty useless
6. control lockouts
7. stainless steel look. ;-)
8. black / dark top so it won't show the dirt / wear like something with a light colour top

We found consumer reports pretty helpful. I didn't agree with their ratings all the time, but the user reviews were pretty helpful. For like 6$ for a month of website use, that's something that I can deal with.

For front loading washer and dryers there are lots of complaints about mold. Most of the problems sound like they could be solved by RTFM (keeping the door open, wiping the rubber gasket down after use, ...). I don't have sympathy for the people that refuse to follow the instructions and then have problems.

We found it frustrating and confusing dealing with all the sales people. It was pretty much guaranteed that if you talked to one sales man they'd tell you something like "Apples are much better than oranges. I've got apples at home and have not ever had a problem. Oranges... not so much. But that's my experience. Lots of people aren't happy with oranges", and the next guy would tell you the exact opposite. No joke. That went for features, brands, how to use it, everything.

The most laid back people we dealt with were at home depot. Like most times there you get one person who really knows there stuff and then a bunch of people who just take up space. I enjoyed dealing with the guy at universal appliances the most because of what he knew and how he dealt with us. However, we ended up going corbeil because they were able to give us the best price (with a sale on).

I'm glad that the shopping is done. Now we just have to get it installed and running.