Decisions, Decisions

So I've been stressing over this fridge situation for two weeks now. Can't work, can't sleep, can't blog (and no ice cream to calm my stomach). With all the stores I've visited this past week, I've probably opened and closed a fridge door 500 times. And I think I've developed tennis elbow because of it. On Friday I actually found an awesome 42" Kitchenaid built-in with FREE delivery and installation (practically unheard of). The final price was ONLY $6250! Hard to imagine that I was so excited to spend $6000. For a fridge. The bluebook value on our Dodge Caravan is not even $6000.

At church I spent some time talking with some "kitchen experts" and the general consensus was to NOT buy a 42" fridge. Instead just buy a 36" for under $3000 and figure something out later in terms of cabinet remodel. Now all of a sudden $3000 is a total steal. On Craigslist I found several newish refrigerators for about a third of the price. But transporting a fridge is no easy task. You're NOT supposed to tip it on it's side because it will cause the oil to leak from it's compressor onto the cooling coils, so I would need a truck. In the end, it was just too much effort. And it's heavy.

So last night I bought a GE counter-depth french door fridge for $2500. It will be delivered Saturday, which means we will miss Faith's birthday party – Sorry Grace. I never thought choosing a fridge could be so hard. We finally decided on this one because the side-by-side fridges are a lot narrower and will never be able to store a half-sheet cake or a super max-pack of chicken legs. And my poor mom will no longer have to squat down everyday to dig through the produce drawer (she'll just have to squat to dig through the freezer). Plus, bottom-freezer fridges are more energy efficient (only $44/year to operate). The main downside is no in-door ice dispenser. But according to Chrissy, we never had it so we're not going to miss it. Also, the freezer is a lot smaller. Heck, the whole fridge is a lot smaller. We're downsizing from 26 cubic feet to 20.9 so it will be jam packed most of the time. I hope we can survive. If not, I've already put my name on an extra garage freezer Chris may be getting rid of.

This story is not over. We're still considering different ways to fill the gap around the new fridge, whether it be a new matching pantry or extended countertops. And we still need to figure out how to get rid of our old fridge because I refuse to pay someone $270 just to pull it out (FYI, because of its size, built-in's require "specially trained" people to remove. Um, ok). We're feeding 30 people this Sunday after volleyball. I think among the 30 I might be able to find a few "specially trained" people.