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Wednesday, September 04, 2013

Shopping For A and Bringing Back A, B and C

For several months now we've been debating what kind of patio furniture to get for the deck that leads off the living room (the deck is approximately 13'5" by 11'9").  All summer we went back and forth on a table with chairs or sofa with chairs.  I was leaning towards the later, but Manuel really wanted a place to sit outside to eat.  My thinking was within 20 feet of the patio we already had a large dining table in the formal dining room and a smaller family table in the kitchen/family room area - why have another eating area so close?

Then, a couple of weeks ago Sears Outlet had a sale on patio furniture and we decided we'd go check it out.  Within minutes of getting into the store we spied the perfect set - a loveseat, two chairs, and a coffee table.  The seats were really comfortable and the edges of the arms smooth - nothing to hurt a young child.  Although the frames looked like wood they were actually made of light weight metal which made them perfect for outside living.  Sold!


Of course, while we were in the store we looked around ... and spied some appliances that were hugely discounted.  We ended up buying a Kenmore Elite dishwasher (model #630.14003) which is actually made by Bosch, and a French-style refrigerator made by LG (model #LFX25978ST).  What started out as a simple patio furniture shopping trip ended up a tad higher in cost ;)  Still, we were happy with our purchases since the existing fridge and dishwasher that came with the house were fairly old and not running as efficiently as they could (the dishwasher sounded like a jet plane taking off when it was running!).

We had to wait a week for delivery, and naturally, when they arrived Manuel was out (getting a nail taken out of the truck tire).  We hadn't checked the width of our doors - the entry door was wide enough, but all the doors leading into the kitchen were only 28-29" ... too narrow for modern-day appliances to fit through without some work.  The delivery men said they didn't have the tools to do the work and they left everything in the garage.  When Manuel got home ten minutes later he was not a happy camper (as I expected).  Although he was OK with dealing with the dishwasher the fridge was another story.  The fridge came with a water/ice dispenser - LG places the mechanics in the door to save interior space.  This is a great idea, but it means that there is a fair chunk of electronics and hose going through the hinge areas.  When trying to get a fridge through a narrow doorway you usually end up taking the doors off ... but with this setup Manuel didn't want to chance damaging something and ruining the warranty.  So he called Sears to arrange help.  While on the phone he also mentioned that the water filter was missing and some of the hosing (when getting items from the Sears Outlet stores it's something you have to consider - that parts might be missing).  He arranged for a technician to come out ... four days later.  Thankfully, we hadn't sold the old fridge yet.  Of course, we had moved everything out and placed the old fridge in the garage.

In the meantime, Manuel got to work with the dishwasher.  Getting the old one out wasn't too difficult.  I took some photos before it was pulled so that I could place an ad on Craigslist.  It still works and someone can likely use it - perhaps for a secondary suite.  (For an old dishwasher it's incredibly well maintained and so pristine inside.)  Of course, once we pulled it we started to run into problems.  The new dishwasher came with a great setup for getting power and water to it, but the old kitchen setup wasn't a great fit to it.  We found a junction box behind the old dishwasher and old copper piping.  Manuel got that all cleaned up and leveled the floor area so that the dishwasher would be level in front and back.  When we tried to slide it in we realized that it wasn't going to fit - it was too tall!  Now, dishwashers come in pretty standard sizes so this was a bit puzzling.  However, we soon realized it was the floor in the kitchen that was causing the problems.  At some point they had put wood throughout the foyer, dining room, and family room, but not originally the kitchen.  They must have changed their minds and instead of pulling the lino they overlaid the wood floor ... which meant it was higher than the other floor.  This also meant the floor was higher than the floor underneath the lower cabinets.  Ugh.  Manuel was forced to shimmy the counter up enough so that we could slide the new dishwasher in.  Next, he hooked up the plumbing and electricity.  Oops ... water leakage.  What?  No, the dishwasher was fine.  It was the drain leading from the sink to the garbuerator.  A huge vertical crack almost the entire length of the pipe finally gave out.  It was a good thing it happened then instead of after everything was back in place since we likely wouldn't have noticed it for weeks (who looks under their sink on a daily basis?!).  Once Manuel got that replaced and everything hooked up we were able to run a load.  The quietest dishwashing load that had ever occurred in that house!


Now, all we have to do is put those doors back and put everything back where they belong.


You can see we also need to replace the stove at some point, but for now we'll leave it.  I'd like to paint the cabinets white to lighten up the room, but the major renovation of the kitchen won't happen for quite some time.  In the meantime, we have clean dishes ;)

Next up - installing that fridge.  I'll let you know how that goes once it's complete.

2 comments:

  1. How much did you pay for the dishwasher?

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    1. We paid $600 at the Sears Outlet. I think it normally sales for around $1000.

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