We bought our refrigerator with wedding money, so it is as old as our marriage - 18 years. Our marriage is in much better shape, however. For months now (maybe a couple years - I've honestly lost count) I have had to defrost the freezer on a pretty regular basis. There is a build-up of ice that I have to pound through on the floor of the freezer. If I don't, I'll soon find a puddle forming on the kitchen floor. It's not the frosty white kind of snowy ice that formed in your mama's freezer. No - this is the kind you can skate on. I have to take my heavy duty ice cream scoop, and bang away at the ice... It's a fun job. Did I mention
I'm down on my hands and knees doing
this? Yeah - one of my favs.
Well, last weekend, we took a step towards buying a new refrigerator. We shopped. A little. (Read: we stopped by Sears since hubby knew they were having an appliance sale.) I wish I still had the receipt from 1992 (to see what we paid), because apparently refrigerators have come a long way since then -- and the retailers are glad to charge us for these advancements.
I told my husband that I had no list of demands for a new refrigerator. I was trying to be easy to get along with, and not come to the table with an agenda. Wouldn't it be great to just have a new refrigerator, after all? I just wanted one that I didn't have to defrost -with good door gaskets.
After much discussion, and several turns around the appliance department at Sears, it turns out, I really DO have an opinion on the subject.
ONE = It must have good door gaskets so there is no need to defrost. This is really only a JOKE because of our current situation.
TWO = It should be white. All of our other appliances are white.
THREE = I don't want a water/ice feature in the door. We've never had one before - so why pay for the extra feature NOW?
FOUR = My hubby tells me it's hard to find a refrigerator without the water/ice feature AND that the filters are $50/mo. I tell him that I don't want to have the feature and not use it because that would be... (I used the S-word) STUPID! Besides, I'm also very sure that we don't need 50 of anything added to our monthly budget for the rest of our lives (or the refrigerator's).
FIVE = If we do not get a water feature in the door, then it looks like we will have to go with a bottom freezer/top side-by-side. That'll work. I will finally be able to make/bake ahead and freeze some things. My current side-by-side freezer is not wide enough for any pans.
SIX = But really? What is that little do-hickey thing that hinges between the refrigerator (french)doors on some models? Let's find a model without that.
SEVEN = It cannot be bigger than our current 21.7 cu.ft. model. Our refrigerator is not built-in in the room, and we don't want it to take up any more space than it already does.
EIGHT = After a little further investigating on-line, hubby informs me that we will either have to add 3 inches or go MUCH smaller. Grrr.
Wow - so there's a portrait of my easy-to-get-along-with self. A little intimidating. I do see a new refrigerator in the not-too-distant future -- if we can only agree on a model.
So, speak up now, because I need your help. Have you purchased a new refrigerator in recent months? Tell me about it. Any other things I should be looking for? Are you happy with your choice? Please. Educate me.
