Gottfried Green

I am the type of person who really needs to be thorough when comparing prices with pros and cons when purchasing big items like appliances. I become obssessed not wanting to pay more for less. This is the second time we've done new appliances and so I did have a handle on brands I knew I liked already- Bosch and LG. I started with Bosch knowing I would do a repeat of a dishwasher and oven that we had purchased for our first house. Although now after visiting energystar.gov I was given an overview and if that failed I just looked for the energy star label. I used a site like homeclick.com that allowed me to narrow down my search based on things I knew such as size and color. Then when I found a few models I was able to look into the information and first of all see what had the most efficient energy label. My final step was to have about 3 to choose from and then just pick based on features I knew made sense for our use. With Energy Star appliances, you can recoup some extra cost for higher-end models over the first few years, especially water savers like dishwashers and washing machines. For my LG fridge and my LG washing machine, I actually went to a scratch and dent sale that offered a regular warranty but there were a few dings etc. I wrote down the model numbers went back home and researched those specifically and they worked out to be models I would have purchased anyway. I think I saved about $800 which allowed me to upgrade to an induction cooktop. I plan on posting each energy star label and the cost and comparing water and electric bills to past use etc to see if it really makes a difference. Also, we didn't even bother buying a dryer because we don't use one. If push comes to shove we can always make that purchase in the future.

Labels: appliances