That old, tired cliche has merit, indeed. When it rains, it certainly does pour.

A few weeks ago, our oven went all kablooey on us and we made the decision to upgrade our microwave, original to the house circa 2004, as well. We love the sleek look of a stainless-steel finish. When we needed to replace our refrigerator six years ago, we bought one in stainless-steel with the intention of updating the other appliances in a similar fashion when they, too, breathed their last.

That time is now and with the exception of the dishwasher – stubbornly holding on to provide us with clean dishes and silverware, bless her faded white-paneled exterior finish – every major kitchen appliance will be stainless-steel. Fair enough.

Except that now, our refrigerator has quit working. Frozen pizzas, not so frozen. Ice cube tray, a liquid, watery mess. Milk, juice, other perishables – yuck. A repair service is scheduled to arrive today to gauge the damage. Will we be presented with an uber-expensive repair diagnosis? Or will we be confronted with having to purchase our third refrigerator since moving into our present abode nearly seventeen years ago?

Oh. And that new oven-range unit we acquired two weeks ago? A third one (that’s the charmed one, right?) is scheduled to be delivered on Saturday. Seems the ‘Quick Pre-Heat’ functionality, which didn’t work on the first one doesn’t work on this one either. Seems simple enough, doesn’t it? Select Quick Pre-Heat to, say, 350 degrees. When the oven reaches that temperature, chime / beep / ring the bell / sound the alarm to notify its human ‘masters’ when baking can begin. However, without fail, both units indicate ‘all done; I’ve preheated your oven’ when the temperature hits 176 degrees (or thereabouts).

Ahem.

Um.

That will not suffice. In practical terms, using the old-fashioned method of just starting the oven and waiting until it beeps when it hits the selected temperature is just fine. I can live with that. But when you buy a brand-spanking-new anything, well, you expect everything to work as advertised. At least, I do. It’s the principle of the thing.

Sigh.

We shall see…