New Appliances!

We have horrible luck with microwaves. I think we are now on our 4th or 5th one since living in this house. Our most recent once went out in January. We have another white one in the basement that my parents gave us when they got a new stainless steel one for their kitchen. I just figured that Michael would want to use that one. A few years ago we got a new dishwasher and chose to get stainless steel one knowing that when we'd replace our appliances eventually we'd upgrade. Michael decided he just wanted us to upgrade the microwave to stainless steel now. 

Our dishwasher is Maytag and I love it. I knew I wanted to get a Maytag microwave too. We went to Lowes and thankfully they had the model that we wanted in stock. 

Michael was so fast getting the old microwave down I didn't even get a picture of it. One of my biggest complaints with it was the handle. We had to replace the handle because the small portion that holds the handle to the door had broken before. It was already cracked again so we knew we'd have to replace it again soon. It was a really poor design honestly. 

With that in mind I decided that I did not want a microwave with a handle. Push button it is! 

This was when Michael decided we weren't just going to upgrade the microwave we were upgrading everything. He did not like the way the microwave and stove looked not matching. 

This started months of research on my part. I've been told I have analysis paralysis. I over analyze things to the point I can't make a decision. It's totally true! I get sucked into all those reviews. Basically all appliances suck! Especially glass cooktop stoves. According to the reviews they get scratched immediately and they stain and you can't get them cleaned. It was maddening trying to find something with decent reviews. 

 

I finally gave up and just stopped looking for awhile. It wasn't like we needed a new stove immediately. This stove had been driving us crazy for a long time though. I think some of the burners were not working properly. It could take over 30 minutes to boil water! The oven temperature was also off...I was always have to check things way early or I would burn stuff. 

The refrigerator and stove were given to us by my parents when they got new stainless steel appliances. I really enjoyed the armoire frig. I love that we could have the dishwasher open and I could still get into the frig. What I did not like was no ice in the door. Also anytime I would pull the draw out to get ice, that's when the ice maker would decide to dump the ice and it would go crashing out all over the floor. Good times! 

Fast forward a little bit, I take Jack to Hansi's house and I start talking with Margie and find out everything about her stove and I fall in love with it. I researched it a bit and people really had good things to say about it. The reason I didn't find it before was it can only be purchased at Home Depot and it was a gas stove. At first I wasn't sure I wanted a gas stove. An open flame kind of scares me, but I was told I'd get used to it and I'd love it. 

Our friend Lance said he'd put the gas line in for us so that wasn't an issue either. One Saturday we went to Home Depot because I wanted to see and feel the stove and frig before we bought them. We ended up ordering them that same day. Thankfully the delivery date wasn't months away. They ended up getting delivered on May 4th. 

Ella and I had to work to get everything out of the frig and into the garage frig. It was packed!!! All the freezer stuff I put in our two coolers. 

Here's our new frig. Michael is so happy to have a side by side again and I was so happy to have ice in the door. Yes, it means that we can't open the frig when the dishwasher is open now, but that's a minor inconvenience. 

Our stove was out in the garage until Lance was able to hook up the gas line which was the day after they delivered it. The stove and frig are both GE brand. I really wanted to have all Maytag appliances, but I did not like the Maytag style at all. 

Now that I've been cooking with it for over a month, I'm totally in love! I love the instant heat and the oven cooks so evenly. Our oven also has an air fry feature. Jack used it to cook a corn dog and the crust was so nice and crispy...unfortunately the inside was still frozen. I guess we still have to figure some things out! 

So matchy matchy!  

The griddle in the middle has been nice too. I haven't gotten rid of our stand alone griddle, but I probably will.  I've used the new griddle to cook grilled cheese and french toast and it's been great. I have accidentally left one of the burners on low all night long. Owen found it in the morning. I hope our gas bill isn't horribly high. Now I need to make it a habit to check all the knobs prior to going to bed just to make sure they're all off.