Kitchen Update: Remodeling is Guesswork

Okay, so I have this habit, see. Whenever I make a major purchase, I second and third-guess myself. In other words, I shop for things after I buy them. To make sure I got a good deal, and to berate myself for being suckered by a sale or promotion for one. But also to determine if I made a good decision. I do this less if I spent a long time researching prior to purchase. More often, however, my purchases tend to either be more impulsive, or more urgent, and I lack the time before hand to make sure I'm getting what I should.

The original Maytag Ice2O. Note the handles.
This is how quickly trends change. 

I've found that I usually do all right, a solid B grade in my choices. The sale price (ending tomorrow, seemingly always) often turns out to be ultimately a good deal, but not unsurpassed. When I upgraded our kitchen in 2006/2007, I hit about .500 on my choices. The Frigidaire Professional Series over-the-stove microwave was a great purchase, as was the Frigidaire Gallery Series gas range (with five burners). I love them to this day, and they were both stainless steel with black enamel. That was important, because the first purchase had been a black Maytag Ice2O refrigerator, and they matched just fine.

Ice2O was the first of its kind, a French door, bottom freezer model, with an ice and water dispenser through the door. I fell in love with the look of it, and made it a goal as soon as I saw the first one. I'd wanted a stainless steel model, and kept my eyes open for one. When I finally had the urge to buy one, I found a floor model at Home Depot, at a great discount. It was a black model, rather than stainless, but the price was so good, I compromised.

I should have waited. As I've said on the blog before, it was not a good choice. Being a floor model, it had some flaws. Some--like the dents on the side--didn't matter, because they really didn't show. Some, like the permanent marks from the installation of the handles, and the non-balancing, damaged rollers, were not so good. Add to those, the fact that there were built-in problems, like a tendency for the waterline to freeze, and for the control panel to become possessed at some random time. So, with little warning, the refrigerator had to be replaced*.

The new fridge, a Whirlpool Gold Series. See
the long, swoopy handles?

Also to be replaced was our Frigidare (I don't know what series, crap, maybe?) dishwasher. Bought along with the stove and microwave, initially we were pleased with it. Mostly because it replaced an entry-level, awful, noisy model. But over time (and very quickly), it developed as much noise, and the inability to. . .you know. . .wash stuff. It sucked. So, we bought two new appliances, basically 7 years after the most recent purchases.

We ended up with a Kenmore (made by Whirlpool) dishwasher first, all stainless, no visible controls, and a Whirlpool French door refrigerator, very much like the Ice2O, but also all stainless. So far, both are great additions to the kitchen, with completely by accident, matching handles. The dishwasher is frankly quieter than the fridge, and does a fantastic job washing dishes. ALWAYS, always, always put an extra couple of hundred dollars on a dishwasher if you can. You'll absorb the cost in a couple of months, and it will

Awful, awful builder sink and faucet

be worth it in the long run.

But part of my obsession with figuring out if I did all right, comes with Google searching everything, down to, is this stuff even in style anymore? And because I do this, I thought I'd share a bit of what I found with you. So, herewith are my suggestions for you, should you happen by this column, doing what I always do:

- Buy what you like, and don't pay attention to the reviews you find online, at least when it comes to style. If you search for kitchen trends, you'll find things that span the gamut, but they've been warning that stainless steel is going out of fashion for at least seven years. If you go to any appliance section of any store, you will see  a sea of stainless, some black, some white, and a smattering of colors. Stainless isn't going anywhere.

The new sink, faucet and granite.

- The same goes for granite countertops. People have been predicting that they're going out of style for a decade. But they're not. And all of the new surfaces? They're attractive, but trendy. How do you know that butcher block, concrete or stainless counter isn't going to look "so 2010s" ten years from now? My advice on granite though, is go up a notch if you can. And stay away from bullnose edges, mostly. Tan Brown, Uba Tuba, Baltic Brown, and other "entry level" granites are very common, and that bullnose has been used in so many apartments, I just advise against it. Go for a little more unique granite, with a ogee or beveled edge.
- Under-mount your sink, and consider how you'll use it before you commit. We spent a lot on our sink, but we got a seamless drain (for no crud buildup around the drain), and a thick gauge steel, so there isn't much noise. We also got a large, deep basin for washing dishes, and a smaller one for a dish rack. It's how we work. And consider if you work left-to-right, or right-to-left. Others prefer a single, deep basin, with a washtub for dishes.
- Get a tall, unobstructed faucet for the sink. Coupled with a deep basin, you'll marvel at what you can fit entirely in the sink. Roasting pans, cookie sheets, stock pots. It's a great addition, and you'll wonder why the hell builders put in those low, ugly fixtures.

The old Formica.

The new Crema Bordeaux granite, before we
put the drawers back in.

- There are going to be things you can't foresee. For instance, there was no way to know that the Ice2O had built-in design flaws. There certainly was no way to know that the trends in something like door-handles would change. Check out the handles in my photos here of the older, black fridge, as compared to the swooping handles on the new one. I even noticed the handles on our mid-90s garage fridge we just sold were significantly different from later, 2000s models. That's something you've got little control over, when keeping your kitchen current.
- If you're upgrading counters and appliances, don't forget your light fixtures. Of all the spending on kitchen stuff, light fixtures are relatively inexpensive, and can really make an impression. Especially if you still have the fixtures the builder put in.
- Once you get started upgrading, even if you don't to a tear-out (we left our cabinets), you will have difficulty stopping. We replaced the fridge, dishwasher, countertops, sink, light fixtures, as well as the faucet, trash can and bar stools. And that doesn't count the two bathrooms, and carpets in the bedrooms!

So, for now, we think we're pretty much done. The last thing, probably to be done later this year, is to upgrade the cabinets, by having them stained (as a neighbor of ours did to great effect), with the addition of  crown molding across the top, and stainless pulls for the doors and drawers. This is probably the single biggest risk, trend-wise. Because there seems to be no way to predict where cabinet trends will go.

* MAYTAG ICE2O SIDEBAR
If you are an unlucky owner of the original Maytag Ice2O refrigerator, and you have not had this problem, you very likely will. In fact, if you Google "blinking control panel, flapping ice door" it will bring up countless pages specifically on this refrigerator. But I have good news for you, if you haven't yet paid to have it fixed: if you have $5 and know someone who knows how to solder, you can fix it, and it takes very little time and effort. You just buy two little cylindrical capacitors at Radio Shack, and replace the ones on the (very easy to remove) circuit board. Here is the link to the instructions. Don't even bother calling Maytag or even the cute new Maytag repairman.

Unexpected Major Purchase Throws off Blogging for the Night

After a year full of household renovations, I didn't expect to have to make another major purchase for a while. But as I noted yesterday, I came home to a blinking, flapping, noisy refrigerator when I came home from work. I scheduled a repairman for Tuesday afternoon, and took off early to meet him.

Here's where repairmen get you: I'd already laid out the problem to the call-taker. The repairman had the information. It's a common problem with my particular refrigerator. But he had to come out to the house, charge me 50 bucks, and then tell me he can't do anything that day. In fact, they'd have to take out a part, send it to the manufacturer, and have them fix it, if they can fix it.

Minimum, this was going to cost me $600, and take anywhere from now til June. All of that time would be spent with no refrigerator in the house. I realize this is a whine, since I have the old unit in the garage, but it annoyed me anyway. So, I paid the guy his fiddy, and sent him away.

Then, I got in the car, and headed to Home Depot. Having already looked up three selections on my Mac while I waited for the repair guy to get me a quote, I went right over to them and compared. I narrowed it down to a Samsung, an LG and a Whirlpool. Then I zipped over to both Lowe's and Sears Outlet for a quick comparison, and back to Home Depot for the purchase, narrowed down to a Whirlpool, both on advice of the salesman, and due to features I liked better.

The  fridge will be delivered Friday, and they'll wheel the old (hey, eight years doesn't seem old for a fridge, but there you go) beast away for free. And my Discover Card got a bit of an unexpected workout. I thought I got a better deal than I really did though. It's true, the original price was $400 higher, and indeed at Lowe's, it is. But a search after the purchase found a price just a little higher than I paid everywhere else. So, the artificially-imposed "ending soon!" sale at Home Depot didn't make much difference.

In any event, I'll finally have a brushed stainless refrigerator, and the price was about what I paid in 2006. Now, I have to wonder, will this one need replacing in 2022? Oh my god that sounds far away, doesn't it? But now, I guess I'm not going to get much if any blogging done today. We'll see if I can find something before time to turn in.

Ice2-Oh No!

Way back in 2006, I had recently dug myself of a decade-long debt hole. I was free! Free at last! But I was advised to strategically rebuild my credit. Buy a largish item on credit, pay it off over two or three months. Wait. Repeat with small items, big items, etc. Never take a bite too big that you couldn't pay for it all at once. And I tell you, it worked like a charm! I really did rebuild my credit rating, and by 2010, it was doing pretty well. And then after buying my car that year and paying it off, the credit is sterling. The aim now, is to keep it that way.

But back there in the beginning of debt-free life, it was a little daunting. For my first strategic purchase, I'd decided on a new refrigerator. Prior to this, I'd never bought an appliance that expensive. Other fridges were either provided with an apartment, or were hand-me-downs. I'd decided that I wanted a Maytag Ice2O refrigerator. It was the first model with French doors, a bottom freezer drawer, and water and ice through the front. It was a big purchase, but I managed to find a floor model at Home Depot, and I'd settled for black rather than brushed stainless.

It started us on an appliance-buying trend over the next year, mixing the stainless with the black, and it looked great. But from the first couple of weeks, there were problems. I've detailed them here in a previous post, and I just noted that I started the post almost exactly the same way! Anyway, as noted, the water through the door never really worked. I was foolish in not insisting that the water line be properly fixed, while I had a warranty. So, it's never been fixed.

When I came home from work on Monday, I was greeted with a different problem. Clunk! Clunk! Clunk! The ice machine trap door was popping open and shut on its own. The control panel was blinking like a 60s sci-fi movie computer. I tried tripping the circuit, unplugging and replugging. Nothing worked. Clunk! Clunk! Clunk! Endlessly.

So, I've got a repairman coming tomorrow. I've managed to squeeze all of the food into the garage refrigerator. The Ice2O is unplugged and empty. Pulling the beast out was a trick, after the new granite (which has it wedged in pretty tight), and the fact that it's always been missing a screw-foot. So, since this is going to cost me through the nose anyhow, I'm going to see if this guy can also fix the water and the missing foot! It's worth a shot. And if the price estimate goes over a certain dollar, I'm booting the repairman, and going and buying a new fridge. Goddamnit.

Turkey in an Electric Roaster. . .How Hard Could it Be?

Yep, this is the one, from HamiltonBeach.com

This past Thanksgiving, I was at home in Ohio and assisted (kinda) my mother with the preparation. Mom has a manse, but her kitchen oddly only has one oven. But she solved the riddle of how to do a complete Thanksgiving dinner with just the one: an electric roaster. I watched as Mom took her thawed turkey out of the fridge, dropped it into a floured plastic oven bag, put a big pat of butter on Tom, popped him into the roaster and shut the lid. Three hours later, voila! Perfect, moist turkey!

I was inspired to buy one of those roasters for The Other Half this Christmas. Got it at a steep discount, no tax and no shipping from Amazon. Sweet! More than once, we'd wished we had a second oven. And more than once we didn't want to use the oven, because we didn't want to heat up the house. So an electric roaster was a perfect gift. I had to explain why it was a perfect gift when it was unwrapped, but it was well received (even by the cat).

What could go wrong?

Three days ago, I put one of our bargain frozen turkeys in the fridge to thaw, with the intent of trying the roaster today. Unfortunately, the bird was still semi-frozen this afternoon, but we fixed that with a brine bath. No problem! So, we floured the bag, preheated the roaster, put the bird in with a butter pat and lowered the rack into the roaster. . .and the bag grazed both sides of the pan and melted. Quick! Back out and onto the counter. No problem, we'll just scrub off the plastic, and figure something out.

I'd pondered this issue when I saw "don't use plastic oven bags" in the instructions, but Mom assured me it was fine. I'd pondered it again when I saw in the bag instructions that you can't let the bag touch the sides, bottom, lid or rack (what the hell else it could touch, who knows), but if you can't trust your Mom, who can you trust? Besides, it's an oven bag, and not a cheapie, but one from Reynolds. Touching the sides was 100% unavoidable given the 20-pound bird's size (the oven allegedly will hold a 24-pounder). Didn't matter. 325 degrees and the bastard melted on. And it wasn't scrubbing off either, no sir. I even tried burning it off with a butane lighter. Nothing. No dice.

Hmmm. Says "oven" and "turkey" right on the box.
I honestly have no idea how other people
manage to do this.

Ultimately, we decided to take the roaster onto the patio, plug it in, and run it on high--empty--for half an hour. We removed the (ruined) plastic bag, coated the bird with olive oil and pepper, put it on the rack, popped it into the roaster--still on the patio--at full temperature for half an hour. I'd seen that part in one of the online suggestions. Then, I dropped the temperature back to 325 for the rest of its time. As I type this, it is still out there with about half an hour to go.

The cat takes the roaster for a spin.

Will it smell or taste of roasted plastic? I guess it might, but I hope not. Will the roasting pan have a permanent splotch of plastic on two sides? I'm guessing it will at least leave a mark. I honestly wonder what good an oven bag is if it melts instantly. Do people put Turkeys in a glass dish in the roaster or something? I honestly don't get it. But my easy breezy solution turned out to be anything but. After I bring the sucker in, and assuming that goes without surprises or injury, I will update this post. Cross your fingers for me.

Not bad, right?

UPDATE: I brought the roaster in, and despite a sore back and a generally klutzy nature (not to mention hearing the fat inside sizzle as it jostled), I got the roaster into the kitchen and onto the counter without incident. Turkey Lurkey's thermometer popped, and he's a nice golden brown. He's kind of all loosey goosey too, but smells delicious. It's difficult to see (The Other Half is asleep, and I can't really turn up the lights), but the plastic may have steamed off, and down into the fat. I hope so. Of course, then it's probably permeated the whole bird, and I'll get cancer and die. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, it looks lovely.

UPDATE II:  The turkey was moist and delicious, no issues with a plasticky taste or anything. And it turns out that the plastic did mostly disappear on one side, but not on the other (where there had been more contact). In addition to open flame, I've tried scrubbing with a sponge, a metal scrubby, a plastic spatula, a metal spatula, I tried freezing it, and I tried broiling it. Nothing. My next try may be to either put it on the barbeque grill, or put it in the oven and set it on "clean." Either thing could possibly ruin the pan, but I'm that desperate! And Googling was no help either. If you happened to find this post and know how to get a cooking bag's melted corpse off of a roasting pan, please let me know!

UPDATE III: I took the racks out of our gas range, put the roasting pan insert into the oven, closed the door and set it to "clean." Problem solved.

Hard Candy Christmas

We've just had what we've been calling a "hard candy Christmas" at our house. Ostensibly, this means we didn't spend as much money, but mostly it just meant less work. I did spend about $130 on an upgrade for our kitchen though, and preparing for that took part of the morning and afternoon. Thanks to my good friend Lester though, it was very much worth it!  Here is what our old kitchen faucet (which was leaking and crusted with lime) looked like. . .

And here is the (vastly) new and imroved version. . .

Consumer Alert: Maytag Ice2O (Belated)

Back in 2006, I managed to finally claw myself out of an enormous pile of debt. Due to a combination of a ridiculous relationship I had with a money-grubbing gambling addict, and an unfortunately timed career meltdown (in which a principle executive embezzled $2 million dollars), I found myself indebted to credit card companies to the tune of $30,000. But in 2006, I was paid off. And then, my employers gave me a bonus that put me way into the black. So, as a congratulatory gift to myself, I bought a Maytag Ice2O refrigerator.

We'd had a standard issue, bargain basement Kenmore refrigerator previously. It was perfectly serviceable, but boring and smallish. We still have it in the garage for sodas and beer, and it's hanging in there admirably. But the Maytag Ice2O is a big, black monolith, huge and impressive. I love its deli tray, a full-width, slide-out drawer. I love the bottom freezer, which can hold two turkeys and tons of other goodies. I'm not as impressed with the amount of room that the freezer unit takes up in the fridge, but I love having the "French door," right there in front of you fridge section. 

But it isn't all wine and roses. From the first week, we had problems. Suddenly--a week into ownership--the water dispenser stopped working.  We'd never had water and ice through the door before, so this was a big feature for us.  I called the Maytag repairman, who showed up, but wasn't amused by my jokes about the fabled commercials.  The repairman took the fridge apart inside, taking all the panels off, using a heat gun. . .nothing worked. He left, telling me he'd have to talk to headquarters.

After he left, I got the brilliant idea to take all the food out to the garage refrigerator, and turn the thing off for a few hours. After I turned it back on, VOILA! The water worked again! Thinking the problem was solved, I called Maytag, and said it was fixed. Little did I know, the problem would return two months later.  I tried the same trick again, and it worked again. For a couple of weeks. Then, I tried it again, and it worked again, briefer this time.

Eventually, we tired of the effort.  We now have a filtered pitcher for water, and only rely upon the "through the door" access for ice.  I offer up this testimonial only for others who may have the same problem, or are considering buying a new or used Ice2O. I have an extended warranty for my refrigerator, and probably should look into it fast to see if there is a fix.  Buyer beware.

Kitchen Trends: Out With Stainless, In With Bronze?

Photo from Jenn-Air's website

In the last couple of years, I finally paid off my debt, and became financially stable enough to finally make those big purchases: kitchen appliances. I settled for a black refrigerator, because I wanted a Maytag Ice20, a french door, freezer-on-the-bottom, ice-through-the door model, and the deal I got on it was too sweet to pass up. But when it came time to upgrade the range, microwave and dishwasher, I went for a stainless-steel and black combo, so that everything would match.

It all looks and works wonderfully (except that the fridge's water dispenser habitually freezes up), but now I find out that all of my appliances will soon be passe. Well that's just great. On the other hand, this story is now about 18 months old, and I haven't been seeing a floor-load of bronze at the Home Depot yet.

[Excerpt]

The stainless steel craze for appliances may be coming to a shining end

Its luster resembles dark chocolate, so is it any wonder bronze would find its way into kitchen decor? For the past decade, stainless steel has dominated kitchen surfaces — major appliances and backsplashes have reflected in this silvery hue. But designers predict kitchens will soon take a turn for the darker — starting with bronze appliances set to hit stores next year. . .

Read more at: East Valley Tribune