Gremlins in the machine(s)...

When Sammy's birth neared late last year, we decided it was time to get our first ever dishwasher. So we decided to get a matching Kitchen Aid dishwasher to match the stainless steel refrigerator we bought a couple of years before. Then it was like, uh, the cooktop vent does not match...so we got one from Kitchen Aid. Then it was like, the wall oven did not match...Kitchen Aid yet again. Our house was built in 1960, so the existing cabinet only allowed a 24" wall oven...luckily (so we thought) Kitchen Aid had a matching model. We also bought a new cooktop too...though not Kitchen Aid.

In the past year, we've had the following problems:

• cooktop's ceramic top came chipped. Sears quickly replaced it. Works fine.
  
• dishwasher burnt out while we had 3 children under the age of 2 in the house. Once fixed, has worked fine since.
  
• cooktop vent's "squirrel cage fan" came broken, Sears replaced it. Works fine now.
  
• wall oven keeps burning out a thermostat whenever we run the self clean. This has now happend for a third time. Paul called up Kitchen Aid and they extended the warranty for an additional year to "allow time to fix the problem." We anticipate having to purchase the extended warranty.
  

Here are the lessons we learned:

• A married couple's quality of life improves significantly with the addition of a dishwasher.
  
• Trendy maybe, but stainless steel is a pain. You have to constantly clean it and even then it never really looks clean enough. And if you have kids, get used to the stainless appliances looking like a crime scene from CSI.
  
• Never try to make grilled-cheese sandwiches directly on a ceramic cooktop. (This is an inferred lesson we got from someone else who made toast on a ceramic cooktop)
  
• Buying a decent brand name is no guarantee of trouble-free operation.
• If you buy a self clean oven, make sure you run the self clean multiple times during the warranty period.
  

Paul can hear laughing gremlins inside our wall oven...