Music and Cats

Last Spring, when we bought this shiny range at our favorite local appliance store’s big warehouse sale, I imagined that by now we’d be cooking with gas. Our existing range is a 28-year-old electric model, so cooking with gas is not just a figure of speech, but a long-time dream.

My use of the phrase “I imagined that by now…” clued you in, didn’t it? You knew, before arriving at this sentence in which I state it outright, that our long-awaited kitchen remodel has not yet happened. That our shiny gas range and its matching vent hood still sit in boxes in our garage is in part down to a disappearing contractor. Yes, I know that’s almost as bad as the homework-eating dog excuse, but our contractor did up and move to Belize last summer. He had not started the remodel, nor had he taken any of our money, so it’s not as bad a story as it might have been. But, faced with finding a new contractor, I stalled. I was busy at work, and focused on other things.

As part of Paul’s and my recent decision to stay in Seattle (which I will write about soon), we decided that we would remodel the kitchen this year. As soon as possible. So I’ve talked with a couple of contractors who’ve worked with our friends or neighbors. One company won’t be available until September, which is later than we’d like. Another may be able to do the remodel starting in a couple of months. We met with the head of the company a couple of times, and we like him and his work; now we’re trying to figure out schedule and budget. We’re trying to fit this remodel in between already-scheduled visits from friends and family in early May and late July/early August; it’s a tight time frame.

We have a large to-do list for the remodel, but there’s a fair amount we can’t really do until we’ve signed a contract with a contractor. What could we do this weekend? Buy a dishwasher, the last of the major appliances that we need. In the time that has elapsed since our original appliance research, the manufacturer of the dishwasher we wanted has stopped giving to-the-trade discounts to architects, unless said architect can document that she’s been specifying their products in the kitchens she designs. Now, the past five years’ worth of kitchens I’ve designed have been for affordable housing projects, some of which don’t even provide dishwashers for their tenants. The quiet, energy- and water-efficient model we want in the type of work I’ve done? Not a chance.

So, off we went yesterday to this year’s appliance warehouse sale. Remembering how quickly the most desirable appliances sold last year, we got up even earlier than last year, and joined the line - already half a block long - outside the warehouse at 7:30 a.m. People sipped their lattes (the adjacent coffee shop was doing a booming business) and glanced over spreadsheets of model numbers and list prices. Folks who’d been to the sale before advised newbies on strategy (”split up if you want more than one appliance; pick the sales tags off several items and then decide which you want”); people who were looking for the same thing (stainless steel refrigerators! Viking ranges!) made jokes about kneecapping the competition. Store staff passed out donuts (nothing like sugar to make the natives even more restless!) and warehouse maps showing the locations of the different manufacturers.

Then the doors opened, the line surged forward, and the madness began. This being Seattle, the madness had a certain Scandinavian politeness; while people moved with deliberate haste toward their objects of desire, I saw no pushing or shoving, no one grabbing a sales tag from another’s hand. A woman walking near me commented to her friend, “It’s like a high-end K-Mart blue-light special.” Several of us near her laughed.

Paul and I quickly snagged the sales tags for three different dishwashers, and then took a few minutes to contemplate our purchase. We settled fairly quickly on the quietest, most energy-efficient, water-conserving, multi-featured of the three. It will look beautiful in our new kitchen, which is coming soon. Really. Because I couldn’t stand the embarassment of writing something like this again next Spring, and I’m so ready to be cooking with gas.

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