Volume 1, number 1, January 1999 Measure Twice Man, do I love appliances. This week, due to the breakdown of a friend’s machine, I had opportunity to revisit dishwashers as a by-stander. Contemplating dishwashers brought home all the reasons why choosing the right machine the first time is so important. Window shopping has the built-in hazard of making this year’s innovations look desirable no matter what’s under your counter. These things last forever, like more than 10 years, and most of us can’t go around replacing something that ain’t broke without confronting being broke ourselves. Additionally, it would be wasteful, even un-acceptable, to discard something which continued to perform. Face it, you’re stuck until your dishwasher self-destructs. Will someone want to buy my three year old perfectly perfect dishwasher and pay enough to take the sting out of upgrading to one with a new extra tall tub? The answer: Very unlikely. Do it right the first time, save yourself cash in the long run, and grief every time you walk in the kitchen. Whether you choose a bare-bones Kenmore at $200 or a pair of Fisher and Paykel’s new dish drawers for a tidy $1600 just be sure you can get behind your choice one hundred percent. Appliance regret sucks. Choose which features are important to you and then rank them: filtration system, mechanical or electronic controls, sound proofing, heavy duty motor, levels of spray, adjustable racks, tub material, exterior finish, size, price, latching mechanism and energy efficiency. Decide if and how much you are willing to compromise on important details when selecting from the available models. Do the math, and see what it would cost per year over its expected life. Maybe the model you dig is a water miser and uses five instead of seven gallons per load; assuming you wash dishes every day, you would save about forty bucks a year. If you need a little more help, take a look at Consumer Reports. They do a lot of testing. But beware, when they come out with a final rating, the factors they use may not match the reality of your needs. Recalculate and compare their findings to your standards. In your big picture, you might not think that button color is equally important to a third spray arm. Read magazines, snoop in your friends’ kitchens, and visit as many dealers as you can. Get comfortable with the product and know the real meaning of the terms and importance of what they describe. This familiarity will help you understand what you need and lessens the showroom intimidation factor. If you don’t see exactly what you want, keep looking, everything is available somewhere and not always at a premium price. Remember, you only really need to satisfy yourself. | ||
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