Buying New Appliances - Big Box Store or Online at Wayfair?

[MineralMan]

Since we're planning to sell our current house, I'm replacing some appliances. Both our gas kitchen range and washing machine are old and funky. I've been nursing them along, now, for a couple of years. But, both are detriments when it comes to selling the house. So, I thought I'd do an experiment. I ordered one, the range, from Wayfair. I ordered the washer from Home Depot. I ordered both online.

Both offer free delivery, but installation and haul-away of the old one are at extra cost at Wayfair, adding about $150 to the total cost, which wiped out any advantage from the lower price for the appliance. Installation is free from Home Depot, but there's a modest charge to haul the old appliance away.

Wayfair had a good price on the gas range, but didn't tell me until after I placed the order that the unit I bought was back-ordered. I didn't find that out until I got a confirmation email. It took a month for delivery, which happens tomorrow. Also, the installation I paid for has to be done by a plumber, who will come to do that the day after the range is delivered. No big deal, but I wish I had known that before placing the order. On the upside, that one-day delay will let me thoroughly clean the floor before pushing the new one into place. No doubt that will be a big job, I'm guessing.

Home Depot, on the other hand, gave me a firm delivery date and an in-stock notification for the washer in the shopping cart on their website before I placed the order. One week after ordering, the washer will be delivered and installed in my basement at no additional cost. Hauling away the old one cost just $25.

For my needs, Home Depot was a better choice. For those of you who would chide me about buying from a big box stores, I also checked prices and delivery, installation, and removal costs with a couple of local appliance stores. Neither offered the contractor-grade appliances I wanted, tried to upsell me, and both charged far more for delivery, installation, and removal than either Wayfair or Home Depot.

Shop around...

[msfiddlestix]

1. You could buy from Lowes on line

and delivered to your new digs.

Last summer, I was shopping on line for a pantry cabinet, found one on a Lowes site. In my case since there was a Lowes close by, I drove there to check it out in person. They didn't have it in stock at the store, so I made the purchase and was directly delivered to my digs.

of course I had to assemble it. I'm so pleased with the purchase though. It's exactly what I needed.

But you can do the same with appliances and have it delivered.

I wouldn't go wayfair or the others unless they can offer a better deal on the exact same item.

[cinematicdiversions]

2. Costco or Best Buy would be my recommendations

Home Depot can be very hit or miss especially regarding installation.

[jimfields33]

3. I don't think shopping is bad at big stores

It’s the wallet that decides in most households. Sounds like you did well.

[Siwsan]

4. I'm always more comfortable seeing and inspecting bigger money items I buy

I've had to replace the stove, refrigerator and washer. I went to a 'warehouse' type store near me and was able to give everything a good look over before I handed over my card. No surprises.

[luvs2sing]

5. We buy all our appliances at Best Buy.

Since 1996. Never had a problem.

[MerryHolidays]

8. I'm increasingly getting to be a fan of Best Buy

Their prices often are as good or better than Amazon and other physical stores etc.

I am not a big fan of Home Depot...it's chaotic, it takes forever and a day to find something, and it takes forever and a day to find someone to help. I do, however, order online, either for home delivery or for in-store pick-up from Home Depot, and this is far preferable to wondering around a huge store looking for a few items. I much prefer Lowe's, but their stores are a bit far away.

I would buy from the cheapest net/net place that will sell you the new unit, install it, and cart away the old one. If other stores (smaller or otherwise) can't match the best all-in price, well, too bad. The extra costs are quite significant.

I probably would never buy a major appliance online without seeing it physically. If something goes wrong, it is a huge pain to reverse.

[MineralMan]

10. When I buy stuff from Home Depot, I generally

look for what I want online. After choosing my closest store, the website tells me which aisle and bin the item is in at my local store. That eliminates the hunting around completely, and it's a feature I greatly appreciate.

We bought a refrigerator from Best Buy. Delivery and haul-away were very expensive. Haven't been back there since.

As for seeing what you buy, I do that, as well, by visiting some local store. However, contractor-grade appliances are so very similar to one another that I'm guessing they are all made in the same place and just have different brand names on them.

For my own use, I opt for the simplest possible designs, with the least electronics included. That means contractor-grade almost always. I don't need a clock on my kitchen range. I don't need a digital temperature setting system. A knob with numbers on it works just fine. Same with a washer. I use the same cycle for everything, and prefer top-loading washers. The contractor-grade washer, from whichever manufacturer offers several cycles and a knob to turn it on and choose the cycle. I can't imagine needing any more than that, so I refuse to pay for those nifty features.

So, I end up with plain, white appliances with knobs on them. Suits me just fine. Besides, I'm selling the house, so I don't care all that much anyhow. The buyer can buy something different if my choice doesn't suit them, and I'm not out a bunch of money.

[Luciferous]

28. Yep, that's where we get ours.

[FSogol]

6. We bought a range last year from Wayfair. The entire process sucked and we are already

involved on a warranty call. Their delivery scheme involved shipping it to a warehouse about 30 miles from us where it sat for 3 months. Once they had a truck full for the area, they delivered it. We don't live out in the sticks, we are in the DC suburbs. Luckily for us, the manufacturer is more attentive and responsible than Wayfair.

[machoneman]

7. Be aware that many items (steel, copper, etc.) are in short supply and any consumer item...

...like washers, dryers, stoves, dishwashers, refrigerators that are custom or not in a warehouse already may take a long time for delivery. Buying items in store stock would alleviate that condition of course.

[Johnny2X2X]

9. I think you got bad advice from your realtor

The housing market right now is insane, you could have a dead body in place of our kitchen range and you're still going to get well over asking for your house. In fact, it would be advertised as "innovative and modern kitchen appliances."

In most of the country right now, homes are selling for well over asking and within hours. I wouldn't have done a thing to your house before putting it on the market.

As far as appliances, we recently bought a new washing machine from Home Depot, went in and looked at them, bought online and got the deliver, install, and haul away. Was easy, hassle free, and they beat their delivery date by a good 3 weeks.

[MineralMan]

11. Well, a gas range with a broken knob for one burner puts people off.

So does a washer with a leaky internal solenoid valve. Doesn't matter to me. I can cope. But, my investment in a few changes to the house will let me increase the asking price and not drive away a buyer. So, it's getting a new roof, an egress window for the basement, and a complete interior paint job after we move to our new place. That way, I can price it at the median selling price in this neighborhood, and will get competitive offers. I could still sell it, as it is, but I can recover the cost of the updates, so I'll update it and ensure a quick sale when it goes on the market.

Six of one, half dozen of the other. I did get a bid from one of the "we buy ugly houses" flipper folks. Nope. I'm not going to do that. It was too low. So, I'll put a little money into it to sell it at market value. It's an equation, really.

[Johnny2X2X]

14. I can see that

In this market though, you could probably ask the same.

I find realtors want quick and easy, they pressure homeowners into painting and putting in egress windows and what not, not to increase the return for the homeowners, but to simply make the sale, inspection, and closing go as hassle free as possible for them. But if you can get a bidding war going you can end up getting well over asking.

Neighbor sold her house and listed it at $265K and had an offer for $305K on a cash deal the first day. It's that crazy out there right now.

[KT2000]

18. You are right!

Houses here sell in a day - usually with all cash and a bidding war.

[Johnny2X2X]

20. They're even waiving the Inspection now

Cash deal, way over asking, anything the seller wants including waiving the inspection. Never seen anything like this.

On the flip side, my littler sister and her husband are house shopping right now and are totally having a devil of a time.

[KT2000]

22. A friend who lives in California

bought a house here (NW Washington) and she only saw it on the internet - cash and no inspection, $30,000 over asking. Lots of stuff wrong!! The previous owner was a hoarder. Everything was taken out of the house and she later learned some of it was just buried in the backyard!
Sorry about your little sister, it is nearly impossible now.

[ProfessorGAC]

12. For That Sort Of Purchase...

...we're strictly big box.
Lowes has been our go-to for at least 15 years.
Newest fridge, basement fridge, and new stove all from there.
We've got an ancient upright freezer (35 years old?) that we're probably replacing by end of year. Likely Lowe's for that too.
Only washer & dryer bought elsewhere. There was a big appliance store in the city where we grew up.
Got a good deal on a Whirlpool set. But, that store closed around 7 years ago (after 80 years) because nobody younger in the family wanted to take over, and nobody was willing to buy & then compete with big box. The relationships would be gone with the sale of the place.
So, Lowes is our mainstay.

[MineralMan]

13. I shop both Lowes and Home Depot for that kind of thing.

It's a wash between them. When I bought my last snowblower three years ago, I shopped in late August at both places. Prices for what I needed were almost identical, but Lowes offered delivery and setup for just $50. So, I didn't have to unbox the thing and do the final assembly out of the box. That was well worthwhile. They even tested it to make sure it ran and worked properly before delivering it. Can't beat that.

[ProfessorGAC]

19. I Did Buy My EGO Mower With HD

4 years ago, they were the only big box store distributing them.
Now, Ace carries their products, and there's an Ace 10 blocks from my house.
I don't recall ever buying anything else from them.
The 2 are equidistant, but in opposite directions. And the stuff south is traffic hassle minimal. So, Lowes it is!

[csziggy]

15. When we were building our house, I shopped around for appliance

Our Frigidaire washer was a a scratch & dent sale at Lowe's - half price. The first time I had an appliance repair person out, I ordered the dented front panel for less than half of what I saved on it. The matching Frigidaire dryer was a previous year display model at an appliance chain (Rex) - I got it for half price, too.

For the kitchen, I went to Sears during their annual April 40% off sale, got the Kenmore equivalent of the Whirlpool Sidekicks, all fridge, all freezer, each 16.7 cubic feet, counter depth. A friend whose family owns an appliance store couldn't get the Whirlpool version without ordering three sets - so he wrote me a contractor's bid, which I took back to Sears, got the difference in price plus 10% off. At the same time, Frigidaire had a rebate offer, buy two appliances, get $500 rebate (plus Sear's 40% off) so I got my wall oven and dishwasher there, too.

I had already decided to order my kitchen cabinets from Ikea - they had a 20% off sale if you ordered two appliances - my electric cooktop and pull out vent hood counted as appliances. Then the saleslady made a mistake and took 20% off the appliances too. When I called back, they told me to just keep the extra savings.

For my entire house, the appliances cost about $3500, just over half of what I budgeted for. All are still working fine after 13 years. I figure I should get another 10-20 years out of them.

All were delivered on schedule - in fact Sears held the appliances I ordered for three months until we were ready for them.

Shopping around is worth it, whether or not you think you have time for it!

[jmowreader]

16. I would recommend buying from a store with local presence

Home Depot and Lowe's both count. If your appliance is damaged in transit, which happened to me, it's much easier to get the problem resolved if you can do it face-to-face. I bought mine from a locally-owned store because the big box stores don't carry what I got (definitely not contractor grade), but if Home Depot would have been able to get any of this stuff I would have gone there.

[TheBlackAdder]

17. I ordered a few things from each, just make sure that the Model numbers match the manufacturer's.

.

Companies like Sears and other Big Boxes purchase so many products that they are given their own model numbers so you can't price compare. They will always have a line that theirs is different, but it's one of the reasons they can play on a price point. What is really different might be the quality of the parts uses, not just the features added. If you get the standard model number that is on the company's website, not only can you comparison shop and get the lowest price match, but it will also help you out later on when ordering parts years down the line.

Someone from the Home Depot appliance & cabinet area told us that if Home Depot has access to a manufacturer, they have full access to all of the manufacturer's product line, whether it is listed or not. They can special order anything in the manufacturer's inventory for you and you get their volume pricing, just like any other stocked Home Depot product. This was a few years ago and the policy might have changed, but it's been that way for almost two decades, as we tell everyone about this loophole. The salesperson might balk, because it means more work for them, but stay true.

The one appliance to really do research on are refrigerators. There are a lot of reports of $2-3K ones not only failing after the warranty period, but failing in the warranty period. A bunch of excuses are given as to why they won't warranty the part, placing the blame on the homeowner or installer and that causes a world of difficulty. A lot of people are eating major repairs because of this. Most of these issues involve product defects, and the manufacturers are not standing by them.

I ordered a few things from Wayfair. The only negative was a chair shipped from Nevada. I had it in the entry hall and unpackaged it. I walked back in the room 10 minutes later and a subterranean swarming termite was walking across the floor away from it. I quarantined it for a few days, and subjected it to heat and all was fine. It's a nice looking and comfortable chair and I am glad I ordered it.

.

[Bayard]

21. We've had very good luck with Lowes

Refrigerator, stove, dishwasher, washer, dryer, windows, shower, you name it.

Wayfair has been okay, with a few exceptions, but never bought appliances there. Just got a new Frigidaire microwave online from Walmart. Best price going, and free 2 day delivery.

Not too keen on Home Depot with rethuglican ties.

[Hortensis]

23. :) We shop farther around still. I've typically bought good-quality used,

from private parties normally, looking for better quality than we'd buy new. In cities it's easy to find appliances that have been little and gently used and people who can afford to change out, and each time styles or features change what was cool a couple years before starts getting replaced.

Installation services are becoming problematic, though. How'd all our friends get old?

Sounds like you guys're coming along nicely, MM.

[retread]

24. The Home Depots around here are hit and miss. I have had troubles with the people they contract

to do the installations. For big appliances they are competitive price-wise but it seems the companies they have on contract don't always send their best or even send those experienced or trained to an acceptable level of competence.

[JI7]

25. For Appliances I would make sure gaurantee of quality as much as possible

if it was furniture then I would try to look more for discounts .

[Nonhlanhla]

26. Costco or Lowe's would be my recommendation

We had a very good experience with Lowe’s when we had to buy several new appliances two years ago prior to selling our previous house. We just had to replace the fridge in our new house and went with Costco this time since their price on the same model was lower and included installation and hauling (with Lowe’s or HD that was extra), plus they could deliver within 3 days. Very positive experience.

[MissMillie]

27. We got a new stove earlier this year

We went to small appliance store over the border in NH.

Delivery would have been free if it were being delivered to a NH address. We live in MA

We were fortunate enough to have the ability to bring it home and install it ourselves. The store took our broken stove. We just had to deliver it to them.

I think it's important, whenever possible to support the local economy.

[Demsrule86]

29. I ordered all the appliances I need to sell my house three...

refrigerator, dishwasher, and gas range. The only hiccup was the Maytag stove which turned out to be back-ordered but that was on Maytag- not Home Depot. I had no confidence in Maytag ever delivering so I canceled the order and ordered a GE range which Home Depot assured me would arrive on the delivery date. It did. All the appliances came in a timely fashion. I got the coolest red retro refrigerator on clearance for less than $500.00 too. I want it but hub s says NO NO. No looting the sale house...party pooper.

We have a basement kitchen which was part of a sanitary flood disaster and the insurance company came through...but there were no appliances in the basement at the time so we had to buy those ourselves. The market here is amazing with people getting thousands over asking. I am hoping to profit from a seller's market for once. Fingers crossed, it goes on the market next week.