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Thread: Big Purchase Jitters

  1. #11
    Yppej
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    Yeah, big purchases bother me. I remember a car salesman commenting that I didn't look happy to be getting a new car and I told I was thinking of much it cost me.

    My kitchen is in rough shape but I figure it would be $5 to 10K to fix it and I just haven't been able to bring myself to spend that. I have decorative jars where some of the cupboard doors are gone and some of the drawers are nailed shut so they don't injure someone walking by.

    I did replace the roof, oil tank, and other essential items.

  2. #12
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    I think that one of the expensive part of the kitchen is installation so you could buy the cupboards from Home Depot and then install with a friend. I know the cupboards aren't cheap either but it would save a fair amount of $.

  3. #13
    Yppej
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    No way do I or my friends have the necessary skills to install the upper cupboards to the wall securely, remove the sink and garbage disposal from the dogeared countertop and reinstall it, etc. When my brother tried to help me with my bathroom sink he broke it.

  4. #14
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    Big purchases don't bother me since I pay cash. Writing a check for a car? Exhilarating I don't buy what I don't want or don't need.

  5. #15
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    That is beautiful!!
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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  6. #16
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    Supposably there is some tax advantage to open shelves verses cabinets, but I believe that is when you build and they originally inspect everything. (unless everything that has been done to the house, has been permitted and inspected since built)

    Geila, stupid question. Does this really have an icemaker?
    I would like a counter depth, white top refrigerator, bottom freezer, in no larger then 18 cuft. model, but haven't found one yet. I can't see having an icemaker in something like that and bending over to get ice. (pictures never show into the freezer)
    But I am cheap in some ways, because I know they won't last like the 1940's one, or 1960 model I used until a few years ago. I am tempted to just go with an 18 cuft, top freezer base model with no icemaker. (my experience is those tend to last the longest)

    I've hated writing large checks in general, but hate the idea of "financing" something (either loan or CC) even more.

  7. #17
    Yppej
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    A handyman doing a minor repair told me a few years ago that Ikea cabinets are pressed wood not hardwood. Giving all the cans I stack up when things are on sale I want something sturdy that will last. As Toomuchstuff notes, a lot of of products now are not high quality.

  8. #18
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ToomuchStuff View Post
    But I am cheap in some ways, because I know they won't last like the 1940's one, or 1960 model I used until a few years ago. I am tempted to just go with an 18 cuft, top freezer base model with no icemaker. (my experience is those tend to last the longest)
    When we replaced our refrigerator last year I had exactly the opposite experience Geila had. We had a top-freezer I really liked. If it wasn't so old I would not have replaced it. But you can coast on for weeks without a dishwasher or even a stove. It's hard to go that long without a refrigerator. And a dead 'fridge is a bigger expense because it takes the food with it unless you can replace it in a day.

    Refrigerators now are smaller inside than they used to be for a given cabinet size. As someone noted (forgot who already) top-freezers now are considered "rental specials" and get very little love from manufacturers who would be far happier selling $2000-3000 refrigerators. French doors wouldn't have worked for us anyway. All the research I did indicated that the d--n thing wasn't likely to last more than 8-10 years regardless of which brand we bought or how much we paid for it (sorry), so I bought the cheapest white box I could stand to use. I still dislike it. It's cheaply built and I hate digging around the bottom freezer for items. But it didn't cost a grand and it keeps food cold the right way, so it will do.

    Quote Originally Posted by Yppej
    Ikea cabinets are pressed wood not hardwood. Giving all the cans I stack up when things are on sale I want something sturdy that will last.
    Sometimes old things aren't better. Despite the facts that they lasted forever and had lots of user-replaceable parts, I'm guessing your handyman doesn't still watch an old tube TV. As much as I dislike the new refrigerator, it's more the cheapness of the design and assembly more than the materials used.

    When we remodeled my mom's kitchen I looked at IKEA as well as some of the other less expensive cabinetmakers. The IKEA cabinets are good for it. They come with excellent hardware and a 25-year warranty. They're far better put together than the 40-year-old wood cabinets which were in the house (and warping and falling apart). My mom was a Depression-era baby: she'll say there's absolutely nothing in the house to eat when the cabinets are chock full of cans and boxes and the refrigerator doesn't have lots of space either. No issue with the IKEA cabinets sagging or bowing. For that matter, DW and I have a lot of Scandinavian Modern furniture in the house, much of which is veneer-on-particle-board -- and still fully functional and attractive 30+ years after it was made. I'm aware a good amount of IKEA furniture is "pressed wood" and cheaply built. But that's not the fault of the materials.
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

  9. #19
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    And, after all that, I will note that I, too, endure the post-large-purchase jitters. However, by the time I decide to buy something, I've researched the bejabbers out of it and I have a pretty good idea of what I'm getting. I very rarely suffer buyer's remorse. But, yeah, especially as we approach retirement, even buying something expensive with cash makes you realize what the number on the receipt means.
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

  10. #20
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    I have post purchase jitters. Writing a check for a car? Extremely anxiety producing.

    The bottom freezer is much nicer than a top freezer IMO, makes one never want to go back to a top freezer, and no it didn't cost that much.
    Trees don't grow on money

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