First, make sure you buy your appliances before any price increase. Second, it sort of depends on how much you want to pay for installation, knowing that it'll be uninstalled in 6 months or so. Finally, you can't change your mind later even if GW users all decide they hate whatever-you-just-picked-out and next year's model is infinitely superior :) In my case, the range sat in the garage for 5 months because I wasn't desperate to use it and installing it would have meant removal of cabinets below cooktop, aka major demolition. The new fridge was just plugged in (didn't bother with an icemaker hookup) because I was anxious, if not desperate, to get rid of the Reagan era energy hog POS. And the new DW was supposed to sit in the garage, 'til the old DW's leak got out of control...grrr... so both the DW and fridge were test driven.

I ordered a wine fridge from them about a year ago or so. No problems to report. Joe

So sorry to have been AWOL lately! I had some fairly serious complications due to my diabetes, and I've been sleeping about 18 hours a day. My class starts tomorrow, so I'm glad that I seem to be on the mend. Cathy, you are right on several counts. Over on the kitchen forum, where I have been posting a bit, there is a loyal, but very small, group of bisque fans. I think, maybe, that they were in the tan/beige/brown color group before, and then switched up to bisque when it came out. I don't know--it's just a theory. :-) I've also documented the fact that people on the kitchen forum complain continuously about having to clean the doors of their stainless refrigerators! Especially folks who have children or teenagers. But often, it seems, even though they acknowledge that getting stainless appliances will be APITA, they go ahead and buy them anyway. I guess it's a weighing of the pros and cons. Since last we "spoke," on the forum, Cathy and Abbisgram, I've decided to go with all black appliances, even though it will cost more. I'm getting a refrigerator, DW, range, and hood. I was seriously considering buying an upright freezer, but the refrigerator I've chosen has two freezers on the bottom. I'm going to give that a go, and see if it doesn't cover 90% of my needs. If not, I can always buy a freezer down the road. The range I've chosen has an oven that can switch between regular and convection. The stove top is radiant glass electric. The hood is an OTC microwave that can also be used as a steam oven. This is nice for me because I steam vegetables every single day and my Oster steamer/rice cooker is a pain to wash. The refrigerator is French Doors, freezers on bottom. The cost for all is around $3,745 IIRC. A lot of that is the refrigerator; I'm splurging on it. However, my "splurge" reasons for wanting this refrig (ice maker located in the DOOR so it doesn't hog up shelf space, ice and water outside in the door, two bottom freezers both with generous space, French doors, etc.) don't account for all of the high price. I had to go up into the next price range, above what I wanted to spend, to get it in black. This refrigerator better last for the rest of my life! :-) One of the reasons I'm going with black is because of the fingerprint, hand print, body print, etc. that I would have to constantly clean on stainless appliances. Also, as I've been fooling around, looking at kitchens and thinking about my own, I honestly think black will go much better with my counters and walls than stainless. Black accents are in other places in the kitchen, such as in the butcher block counter top that I am going to stain black. The backsplash is going to be stacked rock, gray with other accent colors in it. I was afraid stainless with the rock would be too industrial, not the look I'm going for. Cathy, I find it odd that white has always been the least expensive color. People over on the kitchen forum rave about how great white appliances are. Clearly, they sell many more than the other colors. You'd think they'd raise the price on white since it is the most popular color. OTOH, maybe if they cost the same as black and stainless, fewer people would buy them. I can see, though not in my case, that white could be really, really nice in a gray kitchen. Of course, they're great in an all-white kitchen too.

I have had good & bad expriences buying from an outlet store or scratch & dent sale. I had a good experience buying a srctah -n -dent off a box floor sale. Stove still working 5 years, using daily. I had a horrible experience buying from an outlet store. The dish washer I bought still in box, but found out it was defective on 1st use. It kept locking half cycle, etc. I tried to return it 3 days later, but found out I had to do a bunch of hoops to try to return. What a nightmare. The outlet stor sent a technician out. Technician says it is defective motherboard & it would cost more to fix than exchange for new one. So, I called to return. Then told I would have to fix it, sold as is, nothing wrong, ignores, etc. I posted a bad review of experience, then finally higher management apologized & aaccepted return. So, after that I am weary to buy from an outlet. Like someone mentioned, a lot of outlets are returns from another customer. There's a reason. It may be wrong color, but if you see more of those models there, that's a huge red flag it's that model which must have smething more wrong with it. It could also be overstock, if lucky that is what it is. It's kind of a gamble. so due your deligence & research on each purchase to lower your risk: research each model # with manufacturer (like M suggested) read the return policy & contract fully buy where return policy give some time to use appliance & return if it does not work properly buy with credit card that extends warranty. Read all terms & conditions of buying "as is" products in all your warranties. Learn how the warranty works. Some warranties extend other warranty some offer to fix if shipped but you got to pay all shipping, some offer store credit or full refund. Some are a waste of money some are worth the money.