Pat Sloan Time to wave GOOD BYE

 

Sunday night at 7:30pm this guy was working fine... food was frozen, like it should be.

By Monday morning when I went to take an English Muffin out of the freezer I knew something was terribly wrong. English muffins are NEVER fully thawed IN the freezer section.. never ... am I right on this?

Being that I am married to an Engineer I had to take the "proof" that the freezer was not working right to the man.  He of course had to investigate as he IS an engineer and is not capable of taking someone's word (anyones word .. not mine..not yours... not the guy who built it).

After much investigation, cleaning, checking of other food stuffs... the Engineer in the house declared that the fridge had FINALLY died.

Why do I say finally?

We have owned this machine for 32 years.  Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought it would last as long as we've been married (in close second to this is the washing machine, dryer, and the stove.. just saying)

Seeing that we have a very tiny kitchen, we made a split second decision to pretty much replace it with a similar "Plain Jane" model.  Mr. Engineer (also know as the Shipping Dept)... got online, found an incredible deal with delivery AND removal of the dead one... the deed was done. Our new "plain Jane" was ordered.

I will spare you a photo of the INSIDE of this, but it really had very little there.  I mentioned on Facebook what was going on and two neighbors offered space a their homes.. so I took a bag of stuff next door.  Which included my STORAGE CONTAINERS.. not sure they would fair very well but it was worth a try!

On Facebook someone wanted to know HOW I'd managed to get the "Fridge Murderer" to visit my house... I've been courting him for years.. I do think after 32 yrs the machine could retire!

i ALSO found out another friend lost a fridge this weekend.. as did HER friend and another lost a dishwasher.. it's time to move on....

About 30 hours after we knew it was a gonner... the new "Plain Jane" arrived!  Mr. Engineer is busy being sure all is well.. it's nice to have an engineer in the house (most of the time)

She/he/It is all settled into it's new spot. Almost identical size (they now call it APARTMENT SIZE) and filled up with water, coffee, gelato and salad dressing.

How old is your fridge?

ps.. the old one is a Whirlpool, new one is too.. as is our 27 yr old stove

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Winner of my "Leftovers" post is Becky G. who wrote

"I love the Blueberry print that reminds me of a basketweave. This was a tough question - they were all wonderful!! Thanks for the chance - your leftovers are fantastic!"

Still time to get in on THIS ONE and THIS ONE

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Comments

[Kim Q]

Gee, my 10 year old Frigidaire died suddenly...just the freezer section. No Plain Jane here, we got the French door model with the freezer on the bottom, but I got white since I hate stainless steel. I *love* it! It's much easier on my back. I don't go in and out of the freezer very often and the veggies aren't down near the floor anymore!

[DianeP]

My refrigerator is 25 years old now. I think it might be a cousin to your old one - looks a lot alike, except mine has magnet "decorations" all over the front. My niece and nephew used to like to rearrange them for me.

[Mary Val]

The inability to believe what others tell them, unless they see if for themselves is totally a male thing, not just an engineer thing. A friend of mine drove home. got out of her car in her driveway, slammed the car door, and the car door fell right off onto the driveway. Bang, on the cement. She went inside and told her husband and HE DID NOT BELIEVE HER! He told her she HAD TO BE WRONG. What, she made a mistake, the car door wasn't REALLY on the cement beside the car? The hubby had to go outside and see it for himself before he was able to believe it. I tell my husband, men are all going to h*ll for not believing what their wives tell them.

And my frig is 30 years old, due for replacement in the very near future.

[sharon]

My 20 year old frig bit the dust last June, two months after my daughter's did so I ended up buying two in the span of two months, ouch! I woke up to water all over the kitchen floor. Anyway, so far so good with the new one, although I hate the ice maker in it, oh well.

[Bea]

Sorry to hear your fridge died... hope the new one, as well as your marriage live 32+ more happy years!

[Ellen in Oregon]

When I bought my condo, 12 years ago, I replaced all the appliances with Whirlpools' upper end Kitchen Aide. I did a lot of research and figured that it was worth investing a little bit more for quality. Since I live alone, the man who installed everything said they should last me at least 30 years. Well...6 hrs. later the dishwasher leaked all over the 2 day old laminate floor. The repairman said "Yah, Whirlpool put too small of a gasket on this model and I will replace it with the right one". No recall & no response from the Whirlpool rep.. 6 mths later, the glass panel on the stove exploded while I was five ft. away sending glass schards into my legs & as far as 20 ft. away. When I finally got a rep. on the phone they took no responsibility and would not cover the replacement panel which cost 25% of what I paid for the stove. They didn't care when I said a child could have been seriously injured. Then after 1 yr the dryer had the entire insides replaced 3 times & they would not replace the lemon. This year the washer that never worked well went crazy and the transmission blew up, the belt broke and the couplers made out of plastic broke. I now know how to repair any Whirlpool appliance after watching hrs. of DIY Youtube videos. Whirlpool now owns Kenmore, Maytag and a few other brands. All of these machines are made at the same factories and most of the parts that used to be metal are cheap plastic. You should now expect to have many parts replaced/repaired while you own the appliance. Whirpool even states this in some of their manuals and sales people repeated told me this is the expectation you should have of these newer appliances. No more refridgerators or anything lasting what most of us expect. Basically, appliances are now part of the throw away and replace it rather than repair it mentality. Why? Because the cost of the part and the service calls usually exceed the value of the appliance. Sad, but true. Nothing is what it appears to be in the 21st Century. I researched washing machines for a week as the laundry piles grew and finally went out and bought a Samsung energy efficient washer. So far it works great and my water bill should be less than 50% of what the old machine used. I also found that my city's water district and the power company offered significant rebates for buying an energy efficient model. For the 1st time in my life I bought the extended warranty just so I could have 5yrs. piece of mind when something breaks. I hope you have better luck with your new refridgerator. This is the only original Whirlpool appliance that I own that is still working without any issues. Hopefully it will be the exception to the rule.

[Johanna]

Yeah, I have an engineer in my house. Sometimes it is a really good thing and other times I wonder if there is a normal thought in that head of his!

[Hallie]

I went with the contractor (boring,no thrills) model when I built my house 8 years ago. I have big dreams of a more swanky fridger, but I'll have to wait until mine bites the dust :(

[Cindy Dickinson]

My frig is 12 years old. We had to get it when we moved in this house, as we moved our first 14 year frig into the house and it promptly died. My Mom's 2 year old frig just died and she was not happy at all. There was a power surge and it knocked out 4 frigs on her street.

[Susan K]

I love that the resident engineer had to verify that the fridge wasn't working. My resident accountant tends to be the same - I think there's a hidden engineer inside. If he doesn't see or hear it, it didn't happen. Also I can see the finished product in my head (be it quilt, home decor, furniture, etc.) - he can't. Guess that's why we've lasted 28 yrs - Opposites attract. Hope your new friend lasts for 32 years.

[Vicki W]

I only buy plain vanilla appliances. They seem to last longer because there arenless things to break. Besides I don't do any " fancy" cooking or wear sensitive clothes!

[Sandi Colwell]

Got a new one in April because I painted the first floor and put stainless in the kitchen. It's a freezer on the bottom deal and I love it!!

[Karen]

I got a new one just several years ago - larger than the old one, all of my appliances seem to be dying off, one after another

[pat sloan]

Zan I hear you!!! He fixed the first one at least twice in those 32 yrs!

[Sally Johnson]

Oh my but getting a shiney new one will be fabulous.

[Susan]

Frig is 10 years old - when I went to buy it I told the salesman I was here to buy my LAST frig, ha ha. Old frig given to daughter who had just bought a new home. Now that frig is close to 30 years old and is a "Plain Jane".

[Zan de Beer]

I also have the blessing of a mechanical minded husband. He is also so 'handy', but alas, really needs convincing if something brakes. My children always said "My dad can fix everything"