D&R: hypothetical pick one.

[Susie]

The following two discretionary home improvements cost about the same amount of money.  You can only do one now.  Which is it?

1.  Replace the range.
Current range works (mostly), but it is bisque, in a kitchen of all stainless appliances.  Some of the burners don't light willingly.  The oven does an ok, but not great, job of regulating temp.  Current range is gas.



I'm not absolutely decided, but this is the proposed (dual fuel) replacement:


Behind Door #2:  New flooring on the stairs & 2nd story.
I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Current:





Replacement would be a tan flecked berber, like we put in the LR:

[mrs.jacinthe]

New flooring.

[TBM]

Tough call.

I am surprising myself by saying replace the flooring first, but would be remiss if I didn't mention that igniters on gas ranges are actually a pretty reasonable fix and according to my appliance guy in CA, is something that is often necessary every few years.

[Susie]

Jun 28, 2013 15:10:49 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

How long would you have to wait before you could do the other project?

ETA:  And if you got the range for the kitchen, would that room be "officially" done?

It would be "for now" done.

We're planning to gut and redo it, new cabinets, countertops, some changes to layout, etc. before my FIL retires from kitchen & bath design.  That's a few years off.  We are buying appliances that we plan to keep through the reno though, and replacing the range is the last big thing in the short term changes. 

I'm not sure how long it'd be until we did the non-elected project.  It depends on how my bonuses go.  Dead min. would be 3 months, more like 6, 9, or more if something else jumped in the priority line.

[Deleted]

As much as mismatched appliances bug me, I would do the floors first and see if I could fix the gas range in the meantime.

[Susie]

As far as fixing the range, we just keep a flick stick lighter in a drawer nearby. Since that works, it doesn't really need to be fixed.  I know it wouldn't cost much, I just can't stomach putting $ into a range that I wish would die and make this decision for me

I was thinking the floors were considerably uglier than the range too, but I have a 7 month old puppy. She's housebroken, but... I thought that the range was virtually risk-free re: puppy damage. Minor factor.  I think I've also just gotten de-sensitized to the floors.  I knew they were hideous when we bought the house, but now it's been 5 years, and I haven't died looking at them yet.  Inertia's a bitch.

[Susie]

The puppy consideration comes after she did this to our new Ethan Allen media cabinet in May.  Thank goodness my dad is a hobby furniture builder and was able to pretty much sand it out and match the re-stain.  It just looks a teeny bit more distressed in that corner now.

[Susie]

Jun 28, 2013 15:27:01 GMT -5 @callmefia said:

Also, I just realized you are going to do Berber? I just have to try to discourage you. I know you have it downstairs, but for how long? It has held up absolutely AWFUL in my parents house. They've probably had it about 10 years and it is ridiculously dingy and it doesn't clean up well. They definitely regret it and are looking forward to new stuff eventually.

They have gray pile in their master that was installed in 1990 that is in better shape. I don't think they have even had it professionally cleaned TBH. They have a Bissell shampooer and its really quite nice!

Our berber will be 3 years old this fall.  I had the kind of experience you're describing with the patterned berber that our sellers put into the family room (I hate it), but the berber we put into the LR & DR has not shown wear that way. 

[Susie]

Jun 28, 2013 15:41:10 GMT -5 @callmefia said:

Jun 28, 2013 15:33:34 GMT -5 Susie said:

Our berber will be 3 years old this fall.  I had the kind of experience you're describing with the patterned berber that our sellers put into the family room (I hate it), but the berber we put into the LR & DR has not shown wear that way. 

I know there have been discussions about it on here. You might want to search for it.
Knowing my parents, they probably didn't pick super high quality, but they don't use lowes or Home Depot. It's a local carpet place that has done it all - back in 1990 and ever since.

I guess in bedrooms I wouldn't worry too much, but stairs are so high traffic that I'd probably worry. The dogs aren't as likely to throw up on the stairs though...

I appreciate the input, but we are pretty settled on what the upstairs flooring will be.  We gave it a lot of thought and did a lot of research when we did the LR, since it's only a few feet from the stairs and we want them to match.  We are pretty committed to the "what," we're just figuring out the "when."

[Deleted]

I'm the dissenter. I'd get the stove. The floors aren't the best colors, but they're liveable. Also, I'd want the puppy out of the "destroy ALL the things" phase before I thought about new floors. I'd cry if he chewed my carpet to pieces.

There is also nothing more in life I hate than a stove that doesn't work to my liking. Ruins my whole day.

And I never all this about berber. It's pretty standard in all the houses here and people rave about how fabulous it is.

[aweilba]

While the floors would be what I initially would want to pick, having a range that doesn't function properly would bug me so much more than a cosmetic change.  The flooring would be a welcome and beautiful change, but a range that cooks things properly would be more important to me as it improves the function of the kitchen.  The fact that it is mismatched isn't really a factor for me. 

[stephm0188]

Floors. It'll make such a big impact.

[nessness]

If it's only going to be 6ish months until you get to the next project, I'd definitely do the stove first, and wait until the puppy is at least a year to replace the carpet. Puppies tend to go through a second super-destructive phase around 9-10 months.

[Deleted]

Do the stove. As new puppy owners we put away our duvet and rugs, are waiting to get a new couch, and pinned up all our drapes. I certainly wouldn't be buying new carpet; our cleaning lady steams our carpet (we only have it in the bedrooms) every other week and I still know we are going to replace it when we move out. No way would I replace carpet right now.

[adhdfashion]

Stove, I would go crazy if that wasn't working properly.

Sent from my SCH-S720C using proboards

[315]

Tough call for me too. But I picked floors. I think it will make the most impact.

[magdala]

Which annoys you more?

The range would annoy me more so I would go with the range.

[sillygoosegirl]

DH recently did some really serious cleaning of the element in our gas grill, and it went from being almost impossible to light to working almost like new. Might be worth a shot on your stove...

[lolc]

Jun 28, 2013 16:42:07 GMT -5 @justdairy said:

I'm the dissenter. I'd get the stove. The floors aren't the best colors, but they're liveable. Also, I'd want the puppy out of the "destroy ALL the things" phase before I thought about new floors. I'd cry if he chewed my carpet to pieces.

There is also nothing more in life I hate than a stove that doesn't work to my liking. Ruins my whole day.

And I never all this about berber. It's pretty standard in all the houses here and people rave about how fabulous it is.

I am 100% on board with all that justdairy said. I also voted stove, not only because I hate when a stove doesn't work to my liking, but also because the mismatched appliance would make me twitch more than having dated flooring would. Especially if you have a puppy.

Stove, hands down.

[hbomdiggity]

I'd have to go with floors.

I think the likelihood of puppy accidents is greater on first floor anyway.

[noodleoo]

Floors. Way more impact overall.

That stove looks awesome thoug! Who makes it? I want to replace our stove even though there is nothing wrong with it.

[Susie]

Jun 30, 2013 22:30:41 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

That stove looks awesome thoug! Who makes it? I want to replace our stove even though there is nothing wrong with it.

It is a GE Cafe.  My parents have it (except theirs is all gas instead of dual fuel) and they really like it.

[AmyRI]

Jun 28, 2013 15:22:53 GMT -5 Susie said:

Since that works, it doesn't really need to be fixed.  I know it wouldn't cost much, I just can't stomach putting $ into a range that I wish would die and make this decision for me

I'd do the floors and keep those fingers crossed that the range makes the decision for you sooner than later (assuming you have an e-fund so it wouldn't be a huge financial problem, just an inconvenient one).

[niknik]

Stove, I love my kitchen and it makes me very happy. That range would drive me nuts.