Part One, how to decide what kind of appliance you want, is here. Part two is about going into the store to pick out your appliance once you've done your homework.

Assuming you are buying from a store, you may be offered various deals when it comes time to sign on the dotted line. If you are offered any 'X months same as cash' deal, we suggest you take it- if you have good self control. The store is betting that you won't. Make sure they lose that bet.
You can put the money you were going to use to buy the appliance in a savings account just for those appliances. Do not touch it except for those appliances.

Depending on the length of the loan, you can even get a short term CD and make more interest- pay off the loan just before they will start charging you interest.
Even if you can't put the total in savings or a CD, you can divide up the total by the number of months in the 'same as cash' deal, and make a payment of at least that amount each month.

Extended Warranties: We have always thought that paying extra for an extended warranty is a bad idea, but after our washing machine experience we are revising that idea a bit. If you have a family of normal size and your appliances will be getting normal usage, I still think it's not necessary. It seems to me that all warranty expiration dates are nicely calculated to end about 24 hours before the appliance can be expected to break down. If your family uses an appliance like the average family does, then an extended warranty won't do much for you.

If you have a largish family and your appliances receive industrial strength usage (we do a minimum of 2 or 3 loads of laundry a day, with a bigger push at the end of the week), and the appliance has several moving parts that can break, then you might want to go for the extended warranty under some circumstances. Here's what we're thinking:

The refrigerator- No. It does not have all the moving parts of a washing machine. Keeping it full actually helps it run at greater efficiency.

The dishwasher: Yes. We will do about three loads a day in a dishwasher- more when we have company. Many moving parts, many opportunities for seals to leak- we'll be putting about three years worth of use into one year.

Ovens and Cooktop: undecided as to wisdom of extended warranty, but we bought it anyway. We use these more than most, especially since most of us are here for three meals a day and we cook from scratch. But how many moving parts do these appliances have, really?

Washing Machine- next time we buy one, yes, oh, yes.

Freezer- No. See refrigerator.

So- what did we buy?

Fridge: Sears Kenmore Elite- according to Consumer Reports, Kenmore refrigerators were one of the brands with a lower repair rate, and this one had the freezer on the bottom, external drink dispenser, and bisque color that I wanted.

Dishwasher: Bosch, because the HM loves this brand and we got a sweet deal on it. Bonus- it was bisque!

Cooktop: General Electric, 30 inches- had the sealed burners, gas on glass, and continuous grills that we wanted, low profile ( a minimal height above the counter, almost flush) has the lower repair rate according to CR, was bisque, and we got the floor model for a substantial discount. Gas cooktop was important to me because we live in the country and we do have power outages. With a match I can still cook when the power is off. We did not get one with an extra burner because I would rather have the counter space than the extra burner- and I can always use a crockpot, electric skillet, or the sandwich cooker if I need more cooking power.

Double Ovens: Whirlpool, low repair rates, electric, self cleaning top oven. I want to get an extra oven rack for it. Came in biscuit.