Look before you buy...

If you know me, you know I long for a nice kitchen. If you know me, it's no surprise to you that I am thrilled with the prospect of designing - rehabbing our country kitchen.

But where to start? I guess the fact that we bought the house without appliances kinda sealed the deal on them being the first step.

One Saturday I got Roger to go with me to Sears to check out the appliance section. He wanted a gas range, I wanted electric because I wasn't planning on cleaning the oven and I know he wasn't planning on that either. As we looked at gas ranges and I was thrilled to learn that you can get a gas cook top and an electric, SELF CLEANING oven! Can I hear a Whoop whoop?!


Next came the fridge. We knew we wanted a decent size fridge with freezer. After all I had plans. A big vegetable garden, eggs, dairy, jams, jellies, pesto I NEED a big fridge! But for the sake of the environment, it had to be energy star rated. Next we had to think of the lay out. If we get a big fridge opening the door will take up a lot of space. So our options were narrowed down to either a side by side or french door fridge.

Since we were planning to stay at the house on our last trip and there was no way to keep food cold - the fridge became our first purchase. Shopping around, watching sales, I was on a mission. I knew it would have to be a GREAT deal in order for me to buy. The Sunday before we flew over, a french door Frigidaire fridge went on sale at Best Buy. It was $700 cheaper than comparative models. I called the Best Buy in Idaho and it was selling for another $100 less than it was selling in Hawaii! Good things do come to those who wait! I placed the order and scheduled delivery for the Wednesday after our arrival. I was so excited.

On that Wednesday the delivery men carried the fridge up the front stairs thru the front room and wanted to go on to the kitchen...and then guess what? It was to big to get thru the door way, even if we took the doors off it wouldn't fit in.

Talk about Bummer! Not only should I shop for bargains, I should have measured the door way before I ordered! But I'm not giving up yet - we have a plan. After we put new flooring in the kitchen the contractor will remove the door frame so we can slide the fridge in. I'll strip all the paint off the frame, restore it and then it will be put back up. See? I fixed it.

So for now it's standing in the front room, waiting for us to come home.

We didn't bother putting the handles on yet.

Another thing we were able to get done while we were there was fulfill Roger's dream by putting in a propane gas tank. It's just like the kind you use for your grill, just 4x's as big! Right now it's empty. No sense in letting a full tank stand around.