Well, our excitement over fixing the oven/stove was short-lived, as it died two days ago. Whatever DF did was apparently not enough. We concluded that it is indeed just OLD - it is atleast 10 years old if not 15, and as it is just the cheapest model that could be bought back then, we figured that it has probably had it's run. Cheap appliances are not made to last - anyone can tell you that.
In saying that, we went out and bought the same one, just newer. LOL. For a few reasons:
- we have gone a long time without a stove or oven, and really need one.
- the cavity that our old stove was in is very small, which means if we were to get any other type of stove, we'd have to pull apart the kitchen.
- eventually we'd like to partially remodel the kitchen - but that will take planning, time and money. More money than we are willing to spend right now. (at the moment, the money is better spent on a fence for our dogs, not on a kitchen that is fully workable right now, just not 'to our taste').
- Buying the cheaper oven now means we don't have to think about, or rush into, a remodel of a kitchen. $640 on an oven that we don't really plan to have for more than 5 years MAY seem like a waste, but in the grand scheme of things, we are spending $640 now to have things remain the same, rather than spending a few thousand on a kitchen remodel that we haven't been able to properly plan. I don't want to model a kitchen around a new stove either - which is potentially what we would be doing if we bought a different one - the one that I eventually want to buy.
I did research (though not as much as I would have liked) the prices of that particular stove and a few similar models. The cheapest I could find online was $623 plus $56 for delivery, so $679.
We went to a store we have been to a few times. They are known for being good at negotiating prices. The RRP was $799, and the sale price was $678. We asked the service rep what the best price he could offer us was, and he came down to $645. After some deliberation we decided to buy it. When we went to pay, he knocked another $5 off.
It's not installed at the moment, but hopefully will be by tomorrow night. How exciting. A brand new stove that WORKS.
bought a new stove/oven: $640
June 4th, 2010 at 10:31 pm
June 4th, 2010 at 11:32 pm 1275694369
June 4th, 2010 at 11:39 pm 1275694781
June 4th, 2010 at 11:49 pm 1275695365
June 5th, 2010 at 02:39 am 1275705553
Anyway, congrats on the new one and I totally understand the thinking...you bought cheaply to get by as easy as you could at this point and not have to remodel. You do what you have to do. Sometimes I think we think we shouldn't spend money at all and that is just not realistic. Enjoy the new stove!