Every week I’ll pose a question for you to share your experiences and tips. If you have a question that you’d like me to post, I’d love to hear from you!
Randy emailed me recently with this question:
I’d like to get a new refrigerator, microwave, oven and dishwasher. What would you suggest I do in order to secure the best pricing?
He went on to say that some stores have good brands but terrible prices, others offer good warranties and still others offer great prices but not the top brands. We haven’t had to purchase any new appliances recently, so I’m hoping you can share your experiences to help Randy get the best deals!
How do you save money when purchasing home appliances? How important is brand to you? Where do you go to secure the best deal? Do you negotiate on prices? How do you feel about extended warranties?
Join the discussion — add your two cents to previous Ask DSM Readers questions too!
Shannon
My husband and I built our house three years ago and had to buy appliances. We priced out all of them (from fridges to dryers and everything in between) and ended up order some online from AJ Madison in New York (we live in WI) and got FREE shipping. We also ordered from Sears during a sale. We ended up outfitting our kitchen and laundry room with mid line appliances for under $4000. Not a bad deal considering it could have cost us double that for the same items.
Tina
You can buy appliances at stores that offer HUGE discounts for a small scratch or dent. Often the scratch or dent is in a place it can’t be seen once it is installed. Also, if you pick up a change of address packet at the post office, it often contains coupons that you can use to get discounts on big ticket items at places like lowes or Best Buy Best buy has a reward program ,and they do price matching. One other place to call is the habitat for humanity store ; sometimes they get donations of brand new items for sale at extremely low prices.
Jessica
Sears Appliance Outlet
Sears when they’re doing their Friends and Family event. We got AMAZING deals then. We renovated/added on last winter and got all new appliances. It was fabulous.
Also, remember the military discount. My Lowes and Home Depot give a 10% discount every day. Most do, but it does depend on the district that the individual store is in.
Dizzy mommy
I’m lucky enough to live around the corner from a sears outlet. They send discontinued appliances slighty damaged and returned ones there. They literally have ever appliance you can think of from dishwashers and stoves to water softners and ac units both window and central air. We got our washes and dryer there a 2700 hundred dollar set for a grand thanks to an extra 20 percent off weekend. I also keep an eye out for clarence I got a 1900 dollar stainless steel double tub dishwasher for 270 bucks because we stopped by the mall and they had marked down the floor model. It had a couple marks but that doesn’t bother me. I also got a 2900 dollar stove for 650 like that .
Lynn
I live in a small town, and found that when I moved and had to replace every last appliance, it was absolutely worth my while to buy locally from a family-owned store. The ones I didn’t, I regret, because I am just an anonymous buyer to them. At the family store, I was able to get no-frills machines, which was my preference, and they know me by name and are able to be truly helpful in person. YMMV!
Atlantic Electrics
Look for discontinued appliances, Many manufacturers and appliance stores will offer discounts on discontinued brands, models and appliance lines. Shop small local appliance stores, Depending on your locality, small appliance stores that are owned by a family or a small organization tend to have better prices than big appliance stores.Shop around the holidays: For many countries, the holidays are the perfect time for home improvement stores to put appliances on sale.
Sarah
check home depot.and lowes for clearance item usually return that are scratched up we got a 1500 for 400. And a samsung washing machine 800 to 250. Ask for an extra discount.
Mendy
We just purchased our first home a few months ago and had to buy a bunch of appliances. I’m not a big fan of scratch and dent (if you can see the dents) and I wanted a good name brand. What we did was price match and use coupons.
We started out by going to Lowe’s–they were having a sale on all energy star appliances. I also had a 10% off coupon from moving. We then took those prices to HHGregg where they said they would beat those prices by 10% of the difference. We then took that price back to Lowe’s where they beat HHGregg’s prices (after HHGregg’s price matching) by 10% off the purchase price (not just the price difference).
From our experience, Home Depot, HHGregg, Sears and Best Buy–the only appliance stores around us–all price match 10% of the price difference. For example, if one store has a product for $100 and theirs is $150, they will take $5 off. Lowe’s price matches 10% of the competitor price–instead of $5 off it would be $15. When you’re talking about products that normally cost thousands of dollars, this really does make a big difference.
It sounds like a lot of work (and at the time it seemed like it was) but we saved about 75% off the original price by waiting for a sale, using a coupon and price matching.
Make sure you get the sales associate to put the info in writing and sign their name–we had to have that info at both places to make it official.
We did not purchase our appliances at HHGregg because of the salesperson. We fully intended to get them there–I called ahead and made sure that they would beat Lowe’s price but when we got there the salesman we were dealing with put the info in his computer and then said they couldn’t beat the price (even after telling me over the phone with me quoting the exact numbers that they would). After this experience I don’t recommend HHGregg for purchasing anything.
Erika
I used appliance paint to match a cream range hood to black appliances. It worked like a dream and only cost $4.
Melanie
Scratch and dent outlets! New appliances at half price, because they’re scratched. Got the fridge of my dreams this way :)
olivia
Before I purchase a major appliance, I always go to some kind of consumer reports to try and get a heads up on what appliances are the most favorable. I make a list of things I want the appliance to do for me then I narrow the field. I always seem to find the right buy at Lowes. Don’t forget to see if the store you are buying from has free delivery. Sometimes they will charge for the delivery but then there might be a rebate for the delivery charge – I find this to be a practice at Lowes. Good Luck!
Stacy
I am actually an Appliance Salesperson for the Home Depot and we don’t carry alot of scratch and dent products. The best advice I can give is to wait until summer when we tend to get new models and have our floor models on clearance. We also offer a 10% military discount and you can get free coupons from our clubs. If you have a Home Depot card you can frequently get 12 months free interest. We also offer free delivery and haul away of your old appliance.
Stacy
We will also meet any competitor’s price on an identical product and sometimes beat their price by 10%, so doing your research always helps!
Valriconni
I started at Lowe’s to find the refrigerator model I like and got my first quote. I also asked the cost of delivery. I went to Famous Tate and the salesman was much more knowledgeable than Lowe’s and I refined my search for their best model and price. He said he will waive my delivery fee. I went to Best Buy (no commission), but their prices were higher and they won’t waive delivery. I went to hhgregg last as they are competing HARD against Best Buy. I gave them my lowest quote (from Famous Tate), but told them I was going to buy from Best Buy. She consulted with the manager and came back with a quote $150 less, plus the $69 refundable delivery fee and waived the $10 connector hose. My highest quote was $2,500 (Lowe’s) and I ended up purchasing a Samsung 25 cf, French door refrigerator for $1885, no delivery fee. Shop a full commission appliance store last, as they are willing to match or go lower than the lowest quote.
Leslie
I always check out Consumer Reports and see what their best buy/value is. Although our local consumer guru, Clark Howard, doesn’t like extended warranties we did add that with our latest washer/dryer combo. We seem to have bad karma when it comes to appliances and cars.
Good luck!
Rita Collins
You beat me to it! When I bought my first house, all of the appliances were Consumer Reports best buys. Each appliance was from a different brand, but all the kitchen appliances are the same color, as are the washer and dryer. I also purchased all of the appliances with my American Express. Doing this doubled the warranty on each appliance (up to one additional year.) I also knew people that worked at two of the stores I purchased from and used their employee discounts (with their employer’s permission.) Each of these saved money.
Sarah
Check your city’s (and nearby city’s) Habitat Restore. You never know what they’ll have.
Stacy
We also look at scratch and dent and purchased while the store had a 10% off energy star appliances. The largest savings were rebates through our utilities for purchases of energy star appliances: $100 from the water and $75 through the electric that are applied to our bills.
chris horwedel
Is this the appropriate forum for expressing your opinion about Dave Ramsey? …repeatedly throughout the thread? c’mon man – it’s not necessary.
Jennifer
I would say yes, the scratch and dent items are always a good value, but we recently had to replace our stove and was able to get a flat top stove with oven for $199 at Sears because they were getting rid of old models to make room for new. This was one of my best deals ever!
Dessy Anaiwan @ Appliances Connection
Hi,
I read your blog frequently and also get useful tips sometimes. I have not done any comment on your any blog yet. But after reading this blog, I want to share with you all that Applainces Connection is the online store for home and kitchen appliances which is offering free shipping with great discounts so that we can save money on buying them.
Caleb
Saving money on appliances can be a tough task. There are a few big name brands that are very expensive but for good reason due to the fact that they last a long time and are easy to maintain. Other big name brands charge a lot just because of the name. We have always waited for certain holidays when appliance stores enforce their best discounts and deals. You can usually find at least a 20% off deal on name brands. It will still be a little pricey but you can save that extra cash you need.
Philomena
Nice post. I learn something new and challenging on websites I stumbleupon on a daily basis.
It’s always helpful to read content from other authors and practice something
from their web sites.
Appliances
I always tell people to look for appliance models that have been recently discontinued. Usually, those models are deeply discounted.
Faye
Super! Built-in storage always looks sophisticated, saves space and can further add to the function of your new room. Always try to plan for the maximum amount of storage possible: from drawers carved out under the stairs, to built-in shelving and closets — one can simply never have enough.
Thanks