Curly Sue wrote:

<snip>
> I realize that there are rich people who are frugal and my hat is off
> to you (if my dad were rich, that's the kind of rich person he'd be),
> although I have to admit that for me being rich would mean not having
> to worry about price or shopping for value.
>
> I also did my research, and watched and waited until the time was
> right for the range I wanted. But under normal conditions I can't
> imagine a Viking ever being on such a sale that I could afford one.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought the Viking was going for around
$800? At least that's what I thought someone on this thread said. At
that price, it isn't too far off the norm price for other ranges with
less features. I do understand the price drawback on these larger
appliances though. We bought our Admiral range eons ago for something
like $600. It was a real workhorse even though it wasn't self cleaning.
Our Jenn Air in the end will likely end up costing us close to $2000
but it is self cleaning, convection oven, and has a lot of extra
features as well as flexibility. Now I expect *no problems* and it to
be a workhorse as well as saving us money. We didn't buy it for looks!
That's one of the problems with these higher end ranges - you really
do need to do the research and if you are like us, you save & save until
you can afford to buy. A tip for large appliance purchases is to check
the clearance centres and if you are willing to wait some of the
clearance centres put on huge sales like moonlight madness. Honestly,
our stove was retailing at $2600 *without* a burner cartridge or
downdraft blower, grill only. We initially saw it at the clearance
centre for $1400 but moonlight madness sale we got it for $1000. With
parts that we would have had to buy anyway pushing the stove close to
the $3500 mark, we really got a deal. Now if you are just looking for a
regular range, I saw plenty of very nice ranges going for around $400
and they were self cleaning! I've never seen a Viking but from the pics
they do look really nice and they look like they would perform nicely.
I really wanted one like Rachel Ray has but that just isn't going to happen.
>
> Sue(tm)
> Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!