Mistakes I Made When Choosing My Old Kitchen Appliances – My “Museum of Historical Appliance Colors”

Kitchen appliances are one of the largest investments of money and functionality in your home!  Just think about how many times that refrigerator door opens every day.

I remember my very first “owned” stove and refrigerator.  My grandfather gave me his old ones to put in my first house.  He loved fried foods and was a typical guy – you can imagine the condition of the stove.  I spent hours and hours cleaning both the stove and refrigerator, polished them until they looked like…, well… better.  I never would have been able to afford buying new ones and appreciated his help so very much!

Biggest mistake I made when choosing my kitchen appliances…  When I got married and a moved into a new house, we took some of my husband’s things and some of mine.  Yup,  you know – mismatched.  And then we replaced as things broke and did I try to match?  No, I always thought, I’ll get the one in style now and then as the next one needs replacing I’ll match it.  But I did that every time!  *slapping forehead*.  So I have a “Museum of Historical Appliance Colors”.  I have a beige refrigerator, my “almond” phase.  A black dishwasher and the newest addition, a stainless stove.  *sigh*  What was I thinking?!

Another mistake…  As far as brand, I chose whatever-was-on-sale when an appliance died.  Again, what was I thinking?!  As a consequence, all my appliances are different brands.  I’m starting to picture that little kid that dresses themselves for the first time, with a mixture of seasons, colors and prints.  Yup, that’s me.  Not exactly ready for “Design Star”, am I?

Well, all of that is about to change!  “Squee”!!!!  I’ve been chosen as a brand ambassador for Maytag !!!  Maytag is going to be sending me new kitchen appliances to test drive and share the experience in posts.  So come with me on the Maytag journey!

I’ve already changed the mismatched brand problem.  When our dryer died this summer, I bought a Maytag Bravos XL to replace it!! Yay!!!  I love, love, love it.  And rather than wait until the washer died (it was terminally ill but not yet gone), we also replaced the washer with a Maytag Bravos XL!  But, could I get everything right?  Of course not, I did mess up on the color.  I bought white, my old frugal self came out and I didn’t want to pay extra for the granite color (now kicking myself).  The new kitchen appliances will be a beautiful stainless/gray.  Oh well, if I was perfect, my friends wouldn’t recognize me!

Next mistake – not considering energy efficiency.  I’m always looking for a value, a bargain, ways to save money.  But when I bought my appliances, I looked only at the price.  I should have looked at the “lifetime cost”.  Taking into consideration the cost of running an appliance is the smart way to evaluate choices.  An appliance may be inexpensive to buy, but use so much energy that it costs you more in the long run.

One more mistake – being dazzled by features, rather than considering lifestyle.  We are once-a-week grocery shoppers (or sometimes even less) and freeze meat and fruit.  I’m also trying to lose weight and eat frozen meals on and off.  But instead of considering that when we were shopping for a refrigerator, I was dazzled by the features of the side-by-side.  There are things I love about that design, but the freezer configuration isn’t one of them.

Ready for the Before and After?

When the new appliances arrive, I’m most looking forward to…

• the change in the look of my kitchen
• a dishwasher that works
• having an ice maker/water dispenser on the door of the refrigerator that works
• the room in a freezer drawer instead of my side-by-side
• an over-the-stove microwave and the room I’ll gain where my old one was
• seeing my utility bill drop
• watching my daughter try the snack drawer in the refrigerator

 I’m going to be researching things-to-consider, product features, what-to-look-for, when shopping for appliances and sharing what I find.  If you are about to replace something in your home, I hope I’ll be able to help!  So, hang on, it’s going to be a fun ride!

For more information:

Follow the other 24 Maytag Kitchen Moms and the Maytag Laundry Moms, watch the twitter hashtag #MaytagMoms

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Did you make any of these mistakes when you bought your last kitchen appliances?

Disclosure of Material Connection:   I wrote this post participating in an Maytag Moms Dependable Kitchen Ambassador program by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Maytag. I will be provided with a Maytag kitchen appliances set, including a refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher, and range to facilitate my posts.