My New Refrigerator

So the old fridge freezes milk, eggs and vegetables and that is on the lowest setting! We have a deep freezer in the garage and a freezer on top of the fridge, we don't need 3! haha So we decided to take some money we are saving for the van and went and bought a new refrigerator.

The 3 pictures on the left are of the $720.00 BB fridge I did NOT get, The 3 pictures on the right are of the one I DID get. You can click on the pics to see the full size. Do you see the second pic down on the left? ONE DRAWER! See how flimsy those shelves are? lol

I try to be frugal when and where I can but when it comes down to it some things just aren't worth saving money on. Like for instance I could care less about "name brands". I buy walmart brand saltines not because they are cheaper, but because the "name brand" has trans fat in them. I buy real butter from smart n final at $2.15 a lb. Sure margarine is cheaper but the further away we get from the way the food originally was the worse it is for us. So I guess how I usually shop is quality, with the lowest price I can get. lol

Then you run into Needs Vs. Wants.

We NEED a fridge and the Whirlpool 20. 8 cu ft. top mount would of been fine. I seen the display at Costco and it looked nice too. Not cheap looking. W.P. is supposed to be a good brand.

I looked at Best Buy and everything was a few hundred more in that ft. range (for a decent brand). Okay so $580.00 with shipping inc. But right next to it at Costco they had a Samsung side by side, ice in the door, all the bells and whistles for almost twice as much. $1050.00 w/out shipping. They don't even have shipping for that one.

Joe really wanted the double door, with ice maker. I really liked it but for half the price I would of been happy with the single. The Samsung was 25.00 cu. ft so it was a little bigger but come on now, I have read they have about 65% usable space vs. top mount 80% so...lol Probably not much difference really.

So I looked online at side by sides at Best Buy and the best price just happened to be on a Whirl Pool, 25 cu ft, for $720.00 with free shipping! Good brand, good price. So I did the math, 720-580 is actually only $140.00 more, plus we get the side by side, maybe a little more space, and the ice/water dispenser! So we were all set to buy it and ran off to get it but when we got there I was really disappointed. It just...looked like a fridge. lol I know that sounds funny. But when we seen the Samsung at Costco it was really nice looking, stainless platinum, they look like glass shelves in the door(even though they aren't). It was just like WOW! This one was boring looking/plain. At first I couldn't place my finger on it, then I figured some stuff out. For 1. the shelves in the door were super cheap plastic, flimsy as all heck, how long would those last? 2. It had one drawer!! Normally you get a veggie and a meat/cheese drawer, sometimes even 3! But one? NO humidity controlled crisper either. The door shelves and humidity cont. crisper were debatable for $330.00 less than Costco plus not having to hassle with delivery. But I just could not get past it having only one shelf!

They had like 50 fridges there and by the end my head was hurting. We went home, ate dinner, took a break. I thought long and hard about if we did get the Costco one how would we drag it home? I decided a definite no on the $720.00 BB fridge. If I am going to spend $720.00 on a fridge then why get one that seems "cheap" to begin with? If that is all we can afford then by all means yes. But if we can spend a little more and get something much better...

So I looked online to see if they had the Samsung like at Costco there, they did not have that exact model. They had one close to it. It was $950.00. So $100 cheaper but with free shipping. They even said they would throw in a water line for free. We went back and looked at it and by then I was worn down and just wanted a fridge. A new fridge. From a place that delivers. Online the options were black, white and stainless platinum. The only model they had in the store was black and I hate buying sight unseen. KWIM? Also I noticed the black was listed as new and it had a few features the other two didn't.

We ordered the black and I had a hard time sleeping thinking about it and wondering how I would deal with a black fridge, my appliances have always been white and I really wanted st. plat. By the next morning I was having a serious case of buyers remorse so I called to see if we could get the st. plat. instead. Good thing I did cause as it turns out the guy said the black is fine....if you don't have kids! I have 5!!! He said it chips/scratches easily! Oh forget it! And guess what they had no st.plat available to be ordered or anything in all of California! He offered me white. I cancelled the order. I am SOOO glad I did.

I called dh and he said if I wanted the costco one than he would figure out how to get it home. He is such a sweetheart. I was also really thinking about the costco one and I felt like I would always be comparing it to the one at best buy. The BB samsung was nice, alot nicer than the whirl pool one for $720.00. It was also $100.00 cheaper than the Costco one and free shipping but it was still not nearly as nice as the one at costco. It didn't have as many features and the shelves in the door were different. It is hard to explain. We were at Home Depot a few days later and they had fridges for $2200.00 that I didn't think looked as nice as the one we got at Costco. They had a Samsung there for $1500.00, same as mine, they list it as one of the models in my book, the only difference is it has the meat thaw drawer, mine doesn't. And for $450.00 less I can deal with that. ;)

So he has a friend at work who said they could go get it in their truck. Praise the Lord!! So dh went on Tues. and bought a dolly and straps and on Wed. he brought it home Hooray! I am so glad that ordeal is over. I am so glad we got the one I really wanted otherwise I know I would of been annoyed from day one. The difference of $100.00 and hassling with shipping some things are worth the extra money, some aren't. The samsung from costco had alot more features than the one at bb. haha Costco also said if it breaks, bring the receipt and bring it back for a full refund. I really like that! Of course dragging it back wouldn't be fun.

So what about you? Are there some things you are willing to spend more on? Or do you just beat down the best price?