This past weekend, Greg and I made our very first big appliance purchase…

A refrigerator! A full-size one! No more mini-fridge here. Cue the Hallelujah Chorus. Since we are currently in the middle of our kitchen “reinstall”, we finally realized there’s nothing stopping us from going ahead and buying a refrigerator. So we put the pedal to the metal and started our refrigerator-buying exploration.

We ended up purchasing Samsung’s Stainless Steel Counter-Depth French-Door Refrigerator (RFG238AARS) and we are in l.o.v.e. with it! It has a lot of great features, and we can’t wait to stock it up. Once we do that, we’ll come back with a refrigerator tour (MTV’s Cribs style) without all the protective packaging. I haven’t had it in me to take the plastic off yet. It’s kind of like getting a new cell phone and keeping the protective screen cover on for as long as you can. Yep. I’m one of THOSE people. Here’s a view of the inside (courtesy of Samsung).

This particular model is 4 cu. ft. roomier than other counter depth models but with the same footprint. Apparently, that’s like adding a mini-fridge to a standard size refrigerator!

Another favorite of ours is a feature that’s in most professional-grade refrigerators. It’s called the “Twin Cooling Plus” system. This system has two separate evaporators that cool the fridge and freezer separately to maintain ideal temperature and humidity in each. A positive side-effect of this is that no air transfers between compartments. Therefore, “flavors” don’t mix and food always stays super fresh.

If that wasn’t cool enough, check out the Power Cool button! This is probably our favorite feature. When you put a bunch of room-temperature stuff into the fridge or freezer, it takes a while for everything to get cold. Power Cool temporarily lowers the temperature in the refrigerator (or freezer) in order to get everything nice and chilly fast.

Not only is there an ice maker in the door, but there’s also a second ice maker in the freezer drawer. This will be great for when we have a lot of people over. On another note… Bentley hasn’t gotten used to the ice maker sound yet. He barks every time it releases ice into the bin… Hopefully he’ll get used to it soon!

As for the dollars and cents, the refrigerator was originally priced at $2,999, but Lowe’s had it marked down to $2,699 as their regular price. We asked the sales rep if it was going on sale anytime soon. He looked down at his paper, typed a few numbers into a calculator and said if we purchased it before the 17th (the next day) he could bring it down to $2,186.19. After thinking it over (for a fraction of a second), we said, “Sold!” When it was all said and done, we ended up coming out spending $2,475.21. This included tax, delivery, installation, and an extended 5-year warranty. Overall, we saved $512.81. Not bad, not bad at all.

Throughout the purchase process, we learned some useful tips along the way. Here are our top 4 tips for buying appliances:

1. Know your options. The refrigerator market is jam-packed with options: side-by-side, french door bottom freezer, single door bottom freezer, counter depth, top freezer, stainless steel, cabinet front, energy star rated, freezer-less… you get the picture. In order to pick the right options for you, think about how you use your fridge. Do you entertain a lot? Do you like to buy in bulk? Do you have kids? Since we love to entertain, we knew we had to have something spacious and configurable. We also knew the bottom freezer with movable shelves was going to be great for storing all sorts of items of different shapes and sizes.

2. Measure twice, buy once. In our case, we didn’t have to measure too much because we are seriously lacking in the kitchen cabinet department. For everybody else, though, measuring is essential. However, it’s not just the height, depth, and width that are important. Also make sure you have enough clearance around your fridge so that you can open the door all the way. This may influence your door configuration decision.

3. Read what others have to say. Before we even set foot into a store looking for “the one”, we did a lot of research online. There’s no real way to “test drive” a refrigerator, so we feel like online reviews by people who have actually used the refrigerator you’re interested in are the best way to go. Make sure you look at the one- and two-star reviews as much or more than the 4- and 5-star ones. Typically, the people that hated a fridge will be more than happy to point out all the flaws. You just might find a deal-breaker in a negative reviewer’s rant. It definitely helped us weed a few out. By the time we walked into the store to make a purchase, we had our decision narrowed down to two options and had a thorough knowledge of the features and specs.

4. There’s no such thing as a stupid question. Remember when your 5th grade teacher used to tell you that? Well, the same goes when buying a major appliance. You’re not going to know unless you ask. First of all, be sure to ask what we call the magic question: “Is it going on sale anytime soon?” This simple question can potentially save you hundreds of dollars. Here are some other questions you need to be sure to ask the salesperson before you hand over your debit card: How long is the warranty, and what does it cover? Do you offer an extended warranty? How often will we have to change the water filter? If for some reason we want to return the refrigerator, will we have to pay a restocking/pick-up fee?

That wraps up our four cents when it comes to purchasing a major appliance. If you have any tips to add to the list, leave a comment and share your appliance buying experience!

As promised, we’re back to give you the low-down on our meeting with the Lowe’s kitchen designer. Armed with an iPhone, a notebook of jotted down ideas, paper, and pens, we set out to meet our designer and see what he had come up with for us.

The general layout was really similar to that of the IKEA Kitchen Planner design we “sketched” up. However, the kitchen designer from Lowe’s did a much better job at implementing our plan and making it completely functional rather than just pieced together. This definitely has something to do with the fact that Lowe’s has some unique sizes and shapes of cabinets that IKEA doesn’t have.

Note: When we left, he gave us print outs of the plans from different angles. When we got home, we scanned in the images (there’s an ap for that) to be able to show you guys. So please excuse the low-quality.

The first image we saw was a “birds eye” view of the kitchen — love seat, couch and all! Having all of that included was a pleasant surprise and it showed the designer’s attention to detail. In my book, that’s very cool.

1. The designer moved the stove toward the door to Ashley’s office to allow more countertop work space to the right of the stove. This makes complete sense and makes the kitchen much more functional.
2. If you recall, the IKEA kitchen design had two different sized cabinets here. It looked kind of off-kilter. Now that the stove has been moved down, we have a single good-sized cabinet as well as equal sized doors on the right side (unlike the IKEA design).
3. The designer said he gathered that Ashley is an “artsy” person so he wanted to throw in a few “curves” here and there — like these two top-hinge cabinets. These would be cool for glasses and mugs, but we’re wondering if they would get old after a while and be a tad too “faddish” as Ashley says. Personally, I’m leaning toward including them in the final design (wherever, whenever and however that may be). And just in case we decide to go the IKEA route, they also have top hinged cabinets similar to these, though a different size.
4. The range hood in the plans isn’t exactly what we want but it still gives us an idea of what it’s going to look like. We would really like a chimney-style hood, but where is the microwave going to go? We’ll get to that in a second.

1. The kitchen designer threw in some glass front cabinetry to the right of the fridge (per Ashley’s request). Read more about our thought process on that subject here.
2. There’s room for bar stools! We originally thought there wouldn’t be much room for seating in the kitchen but Gaylord (the kitchen designer) proved us wrong with his design. So we’ve officially added this to our “must have” list.
3. Like the original plan in our heads, we’ve got a counter-depth fridge with panels on each side and the cabinets above are the same depth as the fridge to give it a more built-in look.
4. In the laundry room is some extra storage to replace our existing temporary solution. Let’s take a closer look…

This is something we are thinking about doing after get the kitchen done. So while it’s not “number 1″ on our to-do list, we want to go ahead and start planning it out so we’ll end up with something that’s function for our everyday. Here’s the breakdown…

1. Open shelving for cookbooks and nick-knacks. Seeing as how this plan has glass cabinetry rather than open shelving near the fridge, this little nook may appease Ashley’s need for open shelving and give her the best of both worlds.
2. Another top-hinge cabinet for dog treats or phones, chargers, etc. Ash’s dad is a certified electrician and said he can add a receptacle to the inside of the cabinet for cell phone and camera charges to make our own “charging station”.
3. The base of the top hinge cabinet is actually a countertop ledge. This would be handy to throw down keys and mail when we come in the door. Right under the ledge are two drawers. We’re thinking this would be a good place for flashlights, batteries, etc.
4. We aren’t big microwave people, so we don’t need it taking up space in the kitchen. Therefore, we decided to put it here in the utility room. Also, when is the last time you cooked something in the microwave and it didn’t smell up the entire house? That’s a pet peeve of mine.  This way, we can close the utility room door and mitigate the smell a bit.
5. On the bottom, we have a cabinet perfect for keeping Bentley’s cans of dog food, backup treats, and so on — his own little “station” if you will.

After we covered the layout and functionality details, we moved on to cabinetry style. We’ve heard great things about KraftMaid and they seemed to have a lot of options that mirrored our style while not breaking the bank. So KraftMaid it was.

Once we took a few minutes (actually, it was more like seconds) looking over the options, we decided that the Dove White finish and the square recessed panel door style (aka shaker door) was our cup of tea. The cabinet style is actually identical to what’s in our hall bathroom (though the bathroom cabinet is by Thomasville). Ashley and I think this would be a good way to “subconsciously” tie in the kitchen and baths without being too “matchy matchy,” (Ash’s most frequently used term these days).

As far as the hardware goes, it comes with the cabinets at no extra cost. Say “yay” for free!

They have a TON of options to choose from in all kinds of finishes. Though, we kind of have our heart set on the hardware we picked out when we first started the kitchen planning process. If we decided to use hardware from a different source (like Restoration Hardware) it will not change the cabinet price due to the fact it’s a standard addition. Therefore, if we decided to go with Lowe’s for our kitchen cabinets, we will pick out hardware that we think will be okay, then put it on Craigslist if we decide to replace it with something a little more unique. Another standard with KraftMaid is the soft closing drawers and doors. This isn’t a necessity for us, but it is really nice to have.

Here are some not-so-standard features that are included in our plans…

We’ve got lazy susans in each corner cabinet (upper and lower). Also, in each lower cabinet (though they aren’t as tall as the one pictured above) the shelves are pull-out for optimum storage.

Let’s talk dollars and cents. The total of the Lowe’s cabinet estimate is almost double the IKEA estimate. However, the Lowe’s estimate includes delivery, installation and of course, a kitchen designer (with 22+ years experience!) to answer any and all questions. It also includes the nifty features we mentioned. Another perk: Lowe’s is local whereas IKEA is 2 hours away.

The budget breakdown for this design… $90. If we decide to go with this plan and purchase the cabinets from Lowe’s, the fee will be waived and go towards the cabinets. Even if we don’t decide to go with Lowe’s when it’s all written in stone, we feel the $90 was well spent because we’ve gained a lot of new ideas that we may not have thought of until down the road.

For some more KraftMaid “eye candy”, check out this video of KraftMaid at the 2009 House Beautiful Kitchen of the Year:

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Do you have any kitchen planning stories or tips? We’d love to hear them! Tell us about them in the comment section...

Once again, we’re keeping it real and bringing you all along for the ride in our kitchen “reinstall” journey. As you know, we’re working on designing a kitchen using IKEA cabinets (more about that here and here). Since we are the type of people that want to do a lot of research before making a huge decision, we’re doing just that: research. After all, the kitchen is the “heart” of the home and it’s super important to us that we do this right — the first time. As you know, we’re pretty set on doing IKEA cabinets (read about our decision here). We love them and we’re welcoming the challenge. However, in the spirit of Research, Friday afternoon, a kitchen designer from Lowe’s, a super fun guy named Gaylord, came out to take a look and measure our “kitchen” (even though we totally feel like we’re cheating on our beloved IKEA). He also brought an installer with him to take a look…

Isn’t it sad looking? We have yet to put the old dining room table on Craigslist. At the moment, it’s serving as a good “catch all” surface. Anyway…

Gaylord asked a lot of questions about our needs, wants, how we cook and entertain, how many people we have over at one time, and what’s on our “ultimate wish list”. I actually found the whole process kind of fun and it made me think through some things that hadn’t crossed my mind yet — like a stainless steel hood vs. a “cabinet front” hood. Which, by the way, we’re leaning towards a stainless steel hood at this point. We also explained how we have been thinking about doing IKEA cabinets and even showed him what we came up with using the IKEA Kitchen Planning software.

The entire meeting process took only about 45 minutes but I feel we covered A LOT of ground in such as short time and Gaylord has a really good idea of what we’re looking for in a kitchen. Yesterday (only 48 hours later), we got a phone call letting us know our design was ready for us to look over. So, later today, Greg and I are meeting with him to go over the nitty gritty details.

Some of your may be wondering if we are totally throwing out the possibility of IKEA cabinets. No, absolutely not. We are simply weighing all of our options and gathering ideas from other professional kitchen designers before we go load up a rental truck of cabinet pieces.

We’ll be back tomorrow with how our meeting went and give you the low-down on all of the information we’ve gathered. Decisions, decisions…