The Conservative Cave
Interests => Around the House & In the Garage => Topic started by: BEG on November 17, 2009, 01:51:22 PM
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SO we have some fancy appliances in the house we bought. We have a kitchenaid built in refrigerator that has the cabinet inserts so it looks like the cabinets, Fisher & Paykel drawer (two of them) dishwasher, Viking gas cooktop, Viking double ovens, a stupid microwave and then a wine fridge. I HATE THEM ALL.
First the fridge. I do like that it has the cabinet inserts so I don't have to clean the stainless steel all day every day like I did my old fridge. I DON'T like that it doesn't have ice in the door (or water...the filtered water is a separate thing on the sink which takes up space under the sink which pisses me off). I don't like how shallow it is because it is cabinet deep instead of the depth of a regular fridge. We brought our garage fridge THANK GOD otherwise we wouldn't have room to keep drinks on top of food in the fridge.
Next the dishwashers. I do like that the front of them have cabinet inserts as my old dishwasher was stainless steel and a PITA to keep streak free. Why they even thought of making dishwashers stainless steel I'll never know. Water and stainless steel appliances don't mix. You can only use powdered dishwashing detergent. I did not know that until I had used a whole bottle of liquid. Why you can only use powder I do not know, oh you can't use the packet thingies either. I do like that I can run one at a time as to not waste water running a regular dishwasher that is only half full. It seems awkward to load so I think I can't get as much in the same amount of space as I could in my old dishwasher. Also water sits in the bottom, under the arm thingy (I don't know what it's called) that is covered by a round stainless steel piece. I thought at first something was wrong but I looked it up and it apparently is suppose to be like that. :mental:
The cook top is the bane of my existence. For such an expensive stove I can not get it to just simmer. It has three different size burners (for a total of six burners) but none of them truly simmer. If I am making soup I will take it off the larger burner and move it to the smaller one and I can almost get a simmer. In my opinion it is just above simmer which drives me nuts. The biggest thing that bothers me with this stove is to clean it. EVERY time I use it I have to remove all of the grates and clean it. I can't just clean one area because grease and other things splatter all over the friggen thing and with stainless steel you can't simply just wipe grease away with a sponge and a paper towel. You have to wipe it with a sponge then dry it off then use stainless steel cleaner or it will look like shit. Also I can't remove the knobs to clean under them...WTH?
The wine fridge isn't really bad except that I could use the extra cabinet as the kitchen is a little on the small side. The microwave is SS and is situated at just the wrong angle that it shows every finger print and scratch. It also has a "touch panel" that has a texture on it that is coming off on the buttons that are used the most. It looks like crap.
The ovens are stainless steel too and they seem to be a different type of SS than my old oven and microwave. They are a bitch to clean and keep from looking grubby. Two of the knobs will come off to clean but I can't get the other ones off. When we moved in the bottom oven got stuck every time you tried to open it. We only opened it a few times before it got stuck permanently. When you set the self clean mode it automatically locks the doors. I'm sure it is this mechanism that is screwed up. When you turn on the self clean cycle and then turn it off you can hear the self lock keep trying to turn so I'm sure that is where the problem is.
The oven problem is where I bring in the stupid repairman. We called the home shield insurance (or what ever it's called) for them to send someone out to fix the oven and one of the dishwashers. First the man comes in a car...not a truck with parts. I should have known by that alone that he didn't know what he was doing. Next he smelled....really bad. I'm talking so bad that he left a lingering odor that I can not explain. It wasn't BO is was something else. Next SPEAK UNDERSTANDABLE ENGLISH PLEASE. He was middle eastern I think, I'm not sure but I could not understand a word he said. He did the same things we did in trying to get the bottom oven door open. He couldn't get it open. Then he asked me for the model number. I told him I didn't have it, it isn't listed on the manual (which is really really stupid) and guess where the manual says the model number is........on the door on the BOTTOM oven. He didn't believe me so I went and got the manual and he reads where it says the model number is on the bottom oven door and he informs me that it is on the bottom oven door which I have already told him TWICE that that was where it was. He then said (at least I think he said) that he couldn't get it open and since he didn't have the model number he can't fix it. So I'm like, "So you are saying you can't fix my oven with out the model number?" and he just stood there looking at me like he didn't understand what I said.
To add insult to injury the dishwasher is not fixed either. When you run that dishwasher it is really loud and doesn't sound right. When my husband called we had the model number, serial number and my husband told them what he thought was wrong with it and the part that needed to be replaced. First when the guy was getting ready to leave he told me that nothing was wrong with the dishwasher. I said YES there is. Then he goes over to the other dishwasher to prove to me nothing is wrong with it. I then tell him that he was looking at the wrong one. Then he looks at the other one (makes a HUGE mess of my just cleaned sink) and said yes there is something wrong with it. So I leave him in the kitchen for a few minutes and come back. He is gathering all his stuff and getting ready to leave. He tells me I owe him $60. I asked him if he at least fixed the dishwasher. He told me he couldn't fix the dishwasher because he didn't have the part. My husband told them what part they would probably need, why didn't he bring it with him? So now I am $60 poorer and my dishwasher is still screwed and my oven door is still stuck. I think he is ordering the part and will be back some day but I can't be for sure because I couldn't understand what he was saying. I can't read the receipt either so I can't even read the notes he wrote.
He made a total mess out of my JUST cleaned kitchen too. Grimy handprints all over my ovens, water EVERYWHERE and he must of had stuff on his shoe because I have muddy footprints all over my floor too.
Well I had to get that out, I feel better now.
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When we lived in California, our house had high-end appliances in it as well.....just wait until you have to pay for them to be repaired.........(in 1989) it cost me $600 to have a door hinge replaced on a "Sub Zero" refrigerator.....lord knows what it would cost today......
Never again.......we stick to Whirlpool or GE......
doc
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When we lived in California, our house had high-end appliances in it as well.....just wait until you have to pay for them to be repaired.........(in 1989) it cost me $600 to have a door hinge replaced on a "Sub Zero" refrigerator.....lord knows what it would cost today......
Never again.......we stick to Whirlpool or GE......
doc
We had GE profile fridge, oven and microwave (both Advantium) , kitchenaid smooth cooktop (no knobs) and a kitchenaid dishwasher in our old house. I would go back to those appliances in a heart beat.
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http://glamorous.manufacturer.globalsources.com/si/6008824046109/pdtl/Shoe-care/1014693004/Shoe-Care-Product.htm
These are wonderful for stainless steel fingerprinty junk and stuff. They work on chrome too. One quick pass and *poof* no prints or water stains.
I found this out by accident when I brought one home from a hotel room. I was unpacking my acquired coffee stash when the shoe shine sponge came out. I thought to myself, "Self, what can we use this for?". Myself said to try it in the stainless steel on the front of the coffeemaker. It was also SO bad.
It worked. It made the darn thing look like it had never been touched by human hands. I then started using the sponge around the kitchen. It made the faucet shine too.
I now consider it a must have thing.
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You have two dishwashers? I do too. Good old left hand and right hand, they never let me down. :rotf:
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http://glamorous.manufacturer.globalsources.com/si/6008824046109/pdtl/Shoe-care/1014693004/Shoe-Care-Product.htm
These are wonderful for stainless steel fingerprinty junk and stuff. They work on chrome too. One quick pass and *poof* no prints or water stains.
I found this out by accident when I brought one home from a hotel room. I was unpacking my acquired coffee stash when the shoe shine sponge came out. I thought to myself, "Self, what can we use this for?". Myself said to try it in the stainless steel on the front of the coffeemaker. It was also SO bad.
It worked. It made the darn thing look like it had never been touched by human hands. I then started using the sponge around the kitchen. It made the faucet shine too.
I now consider it a must have thing.
Since I had SS appliances in our other house I have several years of trying to find something to clean SS. I found that the easiest and cheapest thing is plain old olive oil but even that it a bitch to buff out and get a perfect streak and smudge free finish. There has to be a secret that they professionals aren't telling us. I may try your new miracle cure and let you know if I try it.
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You have two dishwashers? I do too. Good old left hand and right hand, they never let me down. :rotf:
BEG has to have two dishwashers in order to make up for that pesky pea under her mattress. :lmao:
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You have two dishwashers? I do too. Good old left hand and right hand, they never let me down. :rotf:
LMAO at first I thought you were really saying you had two dishwashers so I replied by asking a question about them then I realized just as I posted that you were being sarcastic. :rotf:
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BEG has to have two dishwashers in order to make up for that pesky pea under her mattress. :lmao:
My life is so rough.....*sigh*
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Since I had SS appliances in our other house I have several years of trying to find something to clean SS. I found that the easiest and cheapest thing is plain old olive oil but even that it a bitch to buff out and get a perfect streak and smudge free finish. There has to be a secret that they professionals aren't telling us. I may try your new miracle cure and let you know if I try it.
Go to your nearest GM car dealership.....find the parts department, and ask for a can of their aerosol "Glass Cleaner"......works great on SS as well as glass.
doc
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Since I had SS appliances in our other house I have several years of trying to find something to clean SS. I found that the easiest and cheapest thing is plain old olive oil but even that it a bitch to buff out and get a perfect streak and smudge free finish. There has to be a secret that they professionals aren't telling us. I may try your new miracle cure and let you know if I try it.
You'll be a-wantin' to crawl through the monitor and give me a big-o wet smooch....I swear.
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I took a couple of pictures of my dishwasher to show you all that they aren't two full size dishwashers, put together they make one regular size dishwasher. I do like that I don't have to bend over to load/unload them.
I took these two pictures with my phone so they are kind of crappy.
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/Foam_Kitty/dishwasher.jpg)
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/Foam_Kitty/dishwasher2.jpg)
Here you can kind of see that they are on both sides of the sink (you only see the corner of the other dishwasher, the one that has something wrong with it). This picture was taken when we moved in and I wasn't trying to take a picture of the dishwashers at the time.
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/Foam_Kitty/IMG_4498.jpg)
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Gee....compared....our kitchen....is so......so.....HUD. :bawl:
(In our old townhouse, we had a top-loader dishwasher. I liked it. It looked a lot like yours on the inside. Funny how things like that don't change all that much over time. That townhouse dishwasher would be 35 years old now.)
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BEG ....call the insurance company and complain. You should only have to pay for one service call. They have several service people on contract...just tell them you want someone who speaks English as a first language and knows what they are doing....to not send you someone that doesn't.
One of the things those companies pride themselves on, is customer service. That's how they get us Realtors to use their product.
As far as the SS stuff is concerned....I bought some SS spray that seems to work pretty well....but with only two of us....fingerprints aren't a big issue.
You should have simmer on at least a couple of burners.....I have it on mine. When it's on simmer, there is only flame on the inside of the small center ring. Low has flame on both the inside and outside of the center ring.
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BEG ....call the insurance company and complain. You should only have to pay for one service call. They have several service people on contract...just tell them you want someone who speaks English as a first language and knows what they are doing....to not send you someone that doesn't.
One of the things those companies pride themselves on, is customer service. That's how they get us Realtors to use their product.
As far as the SS stuff is concerned....I bought some SS spray that seems to work pretty well....but with only two of us....fingerprints aren't a big issue.
You should have simmer on at least a couple of burners.....I have it on mine. When it's on simmer, there is only flame on the inside of the small center ring. Low has flame on both the inside and outside of the center ring.
My husband is going to call and complain. I feel bad because for all I know he may know what he is doing and plans on fixing our oven but I couldn't understand anything he said so I'm left feeling unsure of what just happened.
All of my burners have a simmer setting they just seem too hot for simmer. My smooth top had a simmer setting, a keep warm setting and a melt and hold setting besides the normal settings and they all worked exactly like you thought they should.
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The repairmen have to report back to the insurance company, so they will know what he did and plans on doing.
Once you get used to the gas cooktop, you will really like it.
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The repairmen have to report back to the insurance company, so they will know what he did and plans on doing.
Once you get used to the gas cooktop, you will really like it.
I had gas in our house before our previous house but not an expensive cooktop like the Viking. It didn't even have a simmer setting. I do like how quick it heats up and boils water. I'm sure I will end up liking it eventually. Oh the SS stuff I use is called ZAP (I think). It works pretty well it's just hard to get it looking "perfect" and I am OCD when it comes to stuff like this.
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Gee....compared....our kitchen....is so......so.....HUD. :bawl:
(In our old townhouse, we had a top-loader dishwasher. I liked it. It looked a lot like yours on the inside. Funny how things like that don't change all that much over time. That townhouse dishwasher would be 35 years old now.)
When I was young and we had a top-loader. I can't even remember what it looked like inside. It had a butcher block top on it and my Mom would bring it over to the sink every time she used it.
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When I was young and we had a top-loader. I can't even remember what it looked like inside. It had a butcher block top on it and my Mom would bring it over to the sink every time she used it.
That's what ours was, 'cept I had it tied into the water and drain. We didn't have to roll it around. We just had to turn around.
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BEG there is something I found at Bed/Bath/Beyond for SS appliances. I just bought it and will have to find out what it's called.
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Found the model number, I'm so smart. http://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/DEDO130.html
(http://www.ajmadison.com/ajmadison/images/large/DEDO130.jpg)
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Simple fix...
Replace them all with stuff you like.
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BEG there is something I found at Bed/Bath/Beyond for SS appliances. I just bought it and will have to find out what it's called.
Sheesh--BBB--the gay man's Home Depot.
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LOL Sparky! Yep...
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Simple fix...
Replace them all with stuff you like.
Not a simple fix when you are already house poor. Besides I don't think I could just get rid of perfectly good appliances. I did it in our other house but I gave my old appliances to my mom.
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Not a simple fix when you are already house poor. Besides I don't think I could just get rid of perfectly good appliances. I did it in our other house but I gave my old appliances to my mom.
I switched out a perfectly good Bosch dishwasher for a Maytag.
The Bosch took 4 HOURS to do a load of dishes....the Maytag takes 2....
Sold it for $100.....probably could have gotten more, but I figured I saved the difference in the $100 for the Bosch and what the Maytag cost in less than 2 months of running the dishwasher.
The Bosch heats the water up to 240 degrees....the heat from it was damaging the cabinet it was in...dishes donot need to be washed at that high a temp.. ::)
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The Bosch took 4 HOURS to do a load of dishes....the Maytag takes 2....
Geez......our Whirlpool will wash a load of dishes in 45 minutes.......
doc
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BEG, gas stove? If so, get a simmering plate. One came with the Dacor stove top we bought a few yeas ago. Perfect simmering.
I HATE smooth top units. Gas all the way.
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Geez......our Whirlpool will wash a load of dishes in 45 minutes.......
doc
So will my GE. And what's with the boiling water? A steam dish cleaner?
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So will my GE. And what's with the boiling water? A steam dish cleaner?
I suppose that it is to "sanitize" the dishes, and our Whirlpool has a setting that will do that as well, but we never use it........we just run it on "Regular Wash" cycle.....
When one thinks about it, for centuries we have been washing dishes in a pan (or sink) with just warm water, and some form of soap......and humanity has not died out from disease yet.....it seems silly to use the extra electricity to boil the water to wash dishes........however, if one lived in Kenya......perhaps it would make sense.
doc
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So will my GE. And what's with the boiling water? A steam dish cleaner?
I run the Maytag on "normal"....and it's 2 hrs. The "light" cycle is 86 minutes.
I was not impressed with the Bosch at all. Our house was a commercial builder's personal home, and the dishwasher was here when we bought the house.
He did some really neat things with the house....brick floors on the main level with hot water heating pipes underneath, and beautiful woodwork. But then did dumb things like our bathroom and more than half the windows are fixed windows, those that open are weird sizes without screens. :confused:
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BEG, gas stove? If so, get a simmering plate. One came with the Dacor stove top we bought a few yeas ago. Perfect simmering.
I HATE smooth top units. Gas all the way.
The last house I lived in up in Minnesota was a custom built house for me and my ex-wife. We had some pretty top end appliances, but not to the level of Viking. Most of them were Jenn-Air. We had the dishwasher mounted about 10inches higher than normal. This made an excellent workspace for me because I didn't have to bend over the counter to prepare food. The SS was a booger to keep clean, but a little ammonia worked quite well. The one thing I had installed was a Kitchen Aid cook top with a griddle in the middle. It came with a simmer plate. If you DON'T want to go out and purchase a simmer plate, you could easily use a cast iron griddle that would fit your pots that you simmer with.
similar to this:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v601/BigRobT/KitchenAidcooktop.jpg)
I hated it because the griddle was next to impossible to clean and the large burners were BOTH at the rear instead of one large and one small at the front and one large and one rear on opposite sides from the front at the rear. Then there was the fact that I'd bump into the flame controls and inadvertently change the heat settings.
The Bosch dishwasher uses "convective drying" (meaning no heating element to complete the drying cycle) which is probably the reason the water temp was so high. Bosches are a little confusing in the way they operate. Either people love them or they hate them.
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So a different guy came out today. This guy had a different accent (Russian I think) and was from a different appliance repair shop but he at least opened the oven. He was very nice and flirty for an old guy. He had a rather thick wire (about 5 or 6 times bigger in diameter than a hanger) and slid it across the top of the door. He is ordering a new latch but at least I can use it until he gets the part in. I think the stinky middle eastern accented guy will repair my dishwasher when he gets the part in for it. It took this guy like less than a minute to open the door, the stinky guy worked on the door for at least 20 minutes before deciding he couldn't fix it. I'm not so sure I want him fixing my dishwasher.
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So a different guy came out today. This guy had a different accent (Russian I think) and was from a different appliance repair shop but he at least opened the oven. He was very nice and flirty for an old guy. He had a rather thick wire (about 5 or 6 times bigger in diameter than a hanger) and slid it across the top of the door. He is ordering a new latch but at least I can use it until he gets the part in. I think the stinky middle eastern accented guy will repair my dishwasher when he gets the part in for it. It took this guy like less than a minute to open the door, the stinky guy worked on the door for at least 20 minutes before deciding he couldn't fix it. I'm not so sure I want him fixing my dishwasher.
Tell the insurance company you don't want him back.
Tell them the oven guy fixed it in a heartbeat, after the other guy said it couldn't be fixed and ask if the oven guy come back and fix the dishwasher.
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Tell the insurance company you don't want him back.
Tell them the oven guy fixed it in a heartbeat, after the other guy said it couldn't be fixed and ask if the oven guy come back and fix the dishwasher.
Except the stinky guy is from a different company and he already ordered the part.
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Except the stinky guy is from a different company and he already ordered the part.
You can still call....the worst thing that can happen is that you get sticky guy back....
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Except the stinky guy is from a different company and he already ordered the part.
Common Beg, it is not like this stinky guy came and sat next to you in a full house movie theatre and you cannot move.
If I pay to have something fixed I do not care if they send a troll from the woods of Ireland. If they can fix my problem they can smell like an elephant in Eustace, have just one eye in the middle of their forehead and squawk like a chicken.
Put it this way Beg, say you have an auto accident and you and car are hanging off a cliff.
first cop to arrive is a hunk and smells like apple pie. He sits in his cruiser and calls for back up as he combs his hair.
Or. first cop at the scene is a 300 ponder that smell like liverworst left out on a hot day. He calls for back up then risking his own life and limbs jumps out to climb down to rescue you before you and car go over the Cliff.
Just a thought Beg, just a thought.
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Common Beg, it is not like this stinky guy came and sat next to you in a full house movie theatre and you cannot move.
If I pay to have something fixed I do not care if they send a troll from the woods of Ireland. If they can fix my problem they can smell like an elephant in Eustace, have just one eye in the middle of their forehead and squawk like a chicken.
Put it this way Beg, say you have an auto accident and you and car are hanging off a cliff.
first cop to arrive is a hunk and smells like apple pie. He sits in his cruiser and calls for back up as he combs his hair.
Or. first cop at the scene is a 300 ponder that smell like liverworst left out on a hot day. He calls for back up then risking his own life and limbs jumps out to climb down to rescue you before you and car go over the Cliff.
Just a thought Beg, just a thought.
If the stinky guy could fix my oven I wouldn't care if he was stinky. If you read my posts you would know that. The other guy walked in and took him under a minute to open it. He is ordering a part and will be back to fix it. The stinky guy said (at least I think he said it because I could hardly understand him) that he couldn't fix it. The very fact that he couldn't even get the oven open worries me about the way he will "fix" my dishwasher. It has nothing to do with the fact that he is stinky.
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If your car is perilously hanging from a cliff, and before it plunges due to an extra 300 pounds, do you really want the last thing to go through your mind to be the smell of hot, overripe liverwurst? :-)
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If your car is perilously hanging from a cliff, and before it plunges due to an extra 300 pounds, do you really want the last thing to go through your mind to be the smell of hot, overripe liverwurst? :-)
LOL spit my coke....