This Dishwasher Will Save My Marriage! And Possibly Score You A $200 Best Buy Gift Card!

Be sure to visit my everyday blog: She Just Walks Around With It.
This whole "Part Two" thing will make more sense if you read Part One first.

This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Samsung Home Appliances.

Unlike my first attempt, where I veer off course.

I never even once talk about my boobs in this review, for example.

So let's see. Where were we? Well okay, first things first.

1. If you want to get RIGHT to the part where you can enter the Samsung $200 Best Buy Gift Card contest, scroll down. But know that I think you're a party pooper.
   
   
2. If you want to buy a cool looking, cool sounding dishwasher that will clean and sanitize your ever-growing baby bottle collection in under an hour, I recommend this dishwasher.
   
   
3. If you don't really care about the bottle thing but just want a dishwasher that can FIT YOUR WINE GLASSES OMG, I also recommend this dishwasher.
   
   
4. If you want to know why bad dishwasher status will ruin your marriage or make it snow in your livingroom, read Part One of this review here.
   
   
5. If you just read Part One and are all, TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR DISHWASHER LIFE, let's continue.

...BUT!

Despite our house being newly built and having some rather nice amenities, the dishwasher did not bode well for our marriage and eternal happiness. The dishwasher sucked. Suck, suckity, suck-suck sucked.

Sucked because:

A: It was tiny.

Forget fitting plates, whatever. Wine glasses did not fit in the top rack. Yes, there was a stupid thingy made for where the wine stems go, but that only worked with our tiniest wine glasses, of which we have maybe three.

Also? Ha, ha. Apparently the part of our kitchen that was "custom built" to house a dishwasher was not made to any sort of "standard" specifications and therefore doesn't naturally conform to any sort of normal dishwasher removal or installation. So while this is a different issue entirely, it took the Best Buy installer dude 3 seconds to say, "Oh yeah, no, sorry. You can't fit a dishwasher there."

Note: He said this while pointing at the dishwasher that was already there. Awesome.

B: It didn't, you know, WASH THE DISHES.

I don't ask a lot of my appliances. I understand that most appliance failing is my fault. (See: kitchen moat. Or did I ever tell you about the time I made a microwave shoot flames? While at work? No? Hmm.) But after repeated use by me AND my husband, I can say with confidence that it's not my fault. Our dishwasher just didn't clean dishes.

So to set the stage for my doomed marriage, let me restate. Yes, I have a dishwasher, but that horrid, plain, white, cheapo appliance would more appropriately be called A Small White Box That Sprays Some Water On The Six Dishes That Fit In Here. And Leaves Them Spotty.

Meaning, obviously, that without a better dishwasher, our marriage would sputter and spot and we'd eventually outgrow it.

Thus, when presented with an opportunity to get a NEW dishwasher, I leapt at the chance. Please don't suck! Please don't be tiny! And, upon further reflection, Please save me from divorce!

And here are the results.

The dishwasher is the Samsung Built-In Dishwasher (it's this model):

This is like, an Official Product Photo.

Oooh, even the inside is sparkly metal!

The thing looks awesome. Once we got it in (which took some doing because our "custom" kitchen is not set up to accommodate any sort of normal appliance), it looked beautiful.

Our kitchen cabinetry is all white, and our appliances all "match." Except I'm not a huge fan of the coordinated white appliances because, like everyone else in the world, I think stainless steel appliances are so much more elegant-looking and modern.

Our kitchen. Note the white microwave and oven on the right,
the made-to-look-like-a-white-cabinet fridge (to the left of where the counter ends),
and the white island, which is where the dishwasher lives.

Plus everything goes with stainless steel.

So until we can afford to replace all of our appliances with stainless steel versions, starting with the dishwasher was an excellent first step. It doesn't stand out as mismatched at all.



Next -- and I know this is a really random thing to say -- the dishwasher sounds great. It is a pretty quiet machine when running, but that's not even what I mean. I mean that the buttons make little sounds when you touch them, and they sound really cool. Especially the power button.

I know. I know you're not going to buy a dishwasher because the buttons sound cool. Probably. But I wouldn't put it past me to make a decision that way, so I'm pointing it out.

Isn't this a happy sound?



Oh right. Probably the more important thing to point out is that there IS a power button. Meaning the the machine doesn't stay on 24/7, like older models do. Having a power button makes so much sense! I don't know how much of an impact this has on the environment, but hey -- if I can save some power here and there, I'm happy to. No need for the machine to always be on, right?

Ooh! Pretty, fancy buttonry!

But probably you're reading along here and just want to know if the machine works well. Yes, it does.

For one thing, it's totally easy to use. Naturally, I ran the first load as soon as the installer guy left without even looking at the manual. (Probably not the preferred method of operation, huh? Sorry, Samsung!) Basically I saw a button that said "Quick," looked at the mounting pile of baby bottles (uh, and maybe empty wine glasses, who's to say?) and was like, YES. I opened the machine, marveled at the amount of roominess and top-rack clearance (is it called "clearance"? I mean, when you think about it, a dishwasher IS kind of like a parking lot, except for dishes...) and jammed it full of bottles and glasses and whatever else I could find. I hit the "Quick" button.

And nothing happened.

So I hit the button about three million more times.

Still nothing happened.

Do you know why? Have you figured it out? Well, that's when I realized what the save-the-planet "Power" button is for. The machine isn't ON until you turn it on. So I turned it on, hit "Quick" and the machine told me it had 38 minutes to go.

Not bad for a full cycle!

At the end of the 38 minutes -- which count down very visibly, by the way --

17 minutes left to go!

I popped open the machine and was mostly delighted. The dishes, glasses, and bottles were SO CLEAN. I maybe did a happy dance.

I must point out that I was a little surprised at the amount of moisture still left in the dishwasher, though. It was still very wet. I just figured that the "dry" part part of the "Quick" cycle had maybe been somewhat compromised in order to get the dishes done in under 40 minutes(?). Despite the dishwasher and dishes being a little damp, however, THERE WERE NO SPOTS ON THE WINE GLASSES. So, I'll take damp over spotty any day.

The next time I ran the dishwasher, I used the "Normal" cycle with a very full load of dishes that were maybe not very well pre-cleaned. Because, yes, I wanted to challenge my new machine. Again, the dishes were spotless. Every plate and glass was clean and unspotted, and the stuff we didn't wash off the dishes was nowhere to be seen (I guess is due to the thing's "hard food disposer" thingy?). AND the machine was a little bit drier this time.

I also noticed that the moisture seemed to be worse on the plastic pieces in the dishwasher (tupperware, for example) than on the glass and ceramic. There is probably some physics law for this, but la la la, clean dishes.

Lastly, we tried the "Normal" cycle and added the "Extra Dry & Sanitize" option and that helped with the moisture situation a lot. It took longer to do the whole load, obviously, but that's not really a big deal if you leave the dishwasher to run while you go to bed (especially because when the dishwasher's done, it turns itself off).

To recap!

PROS:

• Looks gorgeous (will make your stupid white appliances jealous)
  
  
• Runs quietly
  
  
• Makes cool sounds that will make you think you're living in the future
  
  
• Incredibly spacious
  
  
• Lots of "clearance" on the top rack, like a parking lot!

Here are two wineglasses (for scale). On the right, a very small, old-fashioned wine glass.
On the left, a gigantic red wine glass intended for reds like Bordeaux that
could not in a million years fit on the top rack of my old dishwasher.

Here is the dishwasher, open. Will Gigantaur The Wineglass fit?

It does! It's a dishwasher miracle!

• Everything fits and the racks are even adjustable (though I haven't had to adjust them for anything yet)
  
  
• Awesome "Quick" cycle (very helpful if you have company coming and you forgot to do the dishes!) (Not that this has ever happened to me!). Also awesome if you have a ton of bottles that could really use a power wash in a hurry.
  
  
• Automatically shuts off, is not pulling energy 24/7, has a Power button (it's "Energy Star" compliant, but but that's not something I would notice by looking at it or using it, unlike the power button)

CONS:

• Leaves dishes a little damp unless you run it with the "Extra Dry & Sanitize" option

And of course, considering all the empirical evidence, thanks to Samsung, our marriage has been saved. And I can go back to writing about my boobs. Phew.

**** THE PART WHERE YOU WIN STUFF ****

Not only can you win a $200 Best Buy Gift Card from ME, you can go peruse the seven other Samsung appliance reviews (even though they didn't write about their boobs, either) for seven additional chances to win.

See the review round-up and additional chances to win here!

How to Enter:
Leave me a comment about which Samsung appliance will change your life forever, rescue your marriage from certain destruction, or, you know, just look spiffy in your home.

(You can see from the review round-up above that you're choosing between a dishwasher, fridge, electric range, microwave or washer/dryer. )

I mean, feel free to write a whole blog post about which you'd choose and just link to that in your comment, too. You may be surprised at just how much you have to say about a dishwasher. I was!

The contest officially begins at 9:00 am PST on 10/15/09 and end 5:00 pm PST on 11/15/09. Sadly, I cannot accept entries that come in before or after these times.

Please be sure to leave a way for me to contact you in your comment (email, blog, whatever) or I can't count your entry as valid.

Rules:

• No duplicate comments, BUT
• You may receive ONE additional entry by linking on Twitter and leaving a link in the comments to your Tweet.
• You may receive ONE additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
• This giveaway is open to US residents, aged 18 and older.
• Winner will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
• Winner will have 48 hours to get back to me once I contact her/him, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
• Please see the official rules here: Official Rules

For more information, please visit Samsung's website.



Thanks for visiting, reading, and entering! Good luck!

JCPenney Gives Me Furniture And It's Really Very Nice Except For The Part Where I Have To Lick My Boyfriend's Head

View my everyday blog: She Just Walks Around With It

The Preamble

A few months ago, my boyfriend and I moved ourselves into a fancy urban loft because we are really hip because we needed a place in the city big enough for our four ENORMOUS cats who are the joys of our lives the bane of our existence as renters.

I think most people move to lofts to be painters or to sculpt with metal or to practice dance (What a Feelin!), or to have a chic pied-a-terre, or to launch their internet start-up named after something fun and whimsical like...uh...WackaBean! Dotcom!

We are not those people.

Oh, sure, sometimes we decide to try to impress our apartment and buy things like $8 gourmet salt, but then we never use it because it's too nice and wouldn't regular salt be just fine?

So right. Once we had signed all the papers and realized we were, in fact, going to move into The Loft, I decided to snag photos of it from the realtor's website for two reasons:

1. I knew I would never be able to take pictures as good as those on the realtor's promotional website. Because I do not take good pictures, ever.
   
   
2. I knew that once we'd moved in all our stuff, the loft would look less "minimal" and more "combined home of two divorced people who were bad negotiators and therefore have a lot of mismatched crap plus two cats each."

*****************************************************************************

Dear JCPenney,

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to purchase and review your lovely Linden Street furniture. I am getting to that point in the story in like, 5 minutes. I swear. I am sorry my photos are no good and likewise apologize in advance about the licking thing.

Love,
k

*****************************************************************************

You can see what the loft is supposed to look like here. Do you notice how it's all artsy and fancy and not covered in cat hair or filled with a Baskin-Robbins-like assortment of "wood" furniture?


The Preamble Gets Even Longer

When I got divorced and moved 3000 miles across the country, I did not take furniture with me. Over time, as though to suggest I'm a grown-up, I bought furniture. Some old, some new. Some just because it was affordable.

When Pete got divorced and moved 3000 miles across the country, he did not take furniture with him except a set of three tables he got while he was living in China. Over time, as though to suggest he is a grad student, he bought furniture. From Ikea.

When our apartments combined, we discovered just how uncoordinated our furniture was, especially the wood pieces. His tv stand and bookshelves were one kind of wood; my coffee table was another; my round table another; his Chinese tables another. We couldn't afford to replace everything, of course. Instead, we did the only reasonable thing we could think of to do.

We went out and bought the two things we really needed -- a set of storage shelves and a dining table -- in A TOTALLY DIFFERENT WOOD. Which goes well with the apartment and not at all with anything else we own. Perfect!

Enter JCPenney.


We Get Close To The Point

Thanks to BlogHer.com and JCPenney.com, because they gave me a $500 gift card to buy furniture from their new collection, Linden Street.

Now, when I first heard I was going to get to be part of this promotion, I was all YAY! and might have run around a little bit in my cube. But then I was like, "Um? Really? Furniture from JC Penney?"

To be honest, I was a little concerned that Penney's furniture would be a little too suburban-soccer-mom-potluck-centric and not exactly urban-loft-friendly. But then I did a little reality-checking and was reminded of the fact that anything would go with our current, "Loft Eclectic" look and who was I kidding. Worst case, I figured I could find something to display our too-expensive-to-use salt.

And then I was pleasantly surprised.


The Review! The Furniture! The Point!

So here's how it went down.

First, I went to the site and did what I was instructed to do: I searched for "Linden Street."

Except actually I'm already lying to you because I did not search for Linden Street. I put the words "Linden Street" into the box where you're supposed to enter catalog item numbers and got very confused. Then I realized I was an idiot and fixed my mistake and got to the right place.


The pages were easy to navigate, and I was pretty surprised by the selection. Right off the bat, there were a few decorative things I considered purchasing (I like their lamps and clocks). But after perusing and discussing and clicking and weighing, Pete and I decided we should take this opportunity to rid our living space of my light pine coffee table (that goes with nothing) and his clunky old Chinese tables that we were using as side tables (that go with nothing).

We opted to replace two side tables with one Ebony Lane "X" End Table,

and replace the coffee table with two of the Ebony Lane "X" Bunching Cubes:

Note: I have never heard of anything called a "bunching cube" before, and if I had, I certainly wouldn't have thought it was something I'd put in the middle of my living room. Ahem.

So anyway. I ordered them.

The awesome part was that they arrived in less than a week, without even requesting rush shipping.

The not-so-awesome part was that they arrived in three separate boxes. Small boxes. As in, the tables were not assembled even a little bit.

This came as a bit of a shock to me. For the record, "some assembly required" means I might attempt to put the thing together before whining to my boyfriend to fix it. But "entire piece of furniture in a box"? I just don't even touch. It is better for all of us that way.

So when the time came to put together the pieces, I sat down with a glass of wine and my laptop and camera, and Pete got to work.

Here are the results!

1. A photo of our apartment "before." JCPenney will be helping us achieve a more uniform, dark-wood look, which is more appropriate for the industrial space we live in. You may note that the cats find the current mix of woods unfazing. I don't know why there's a fire-breather on the television.

2. A closer-up photo of the different woods. And the drum set from our Rock Band for Wii. And Monster. And Comfort (she's about to get kicked off).

3. Here are the three, small, totally manageable-looking boxes that got stacked neatly next to the piano until such time as I was ready to write about Peter putting them together. (Because blogging about furniture construction takes a lot out of a gal! Whew!)

4. The table in the left of the photo is yet another type of wood. The piano is, too, but at least it falls into the "dark" category. Sherlock thinks the boxes are fine as-is and would be perfectly happy for the contents to remain packaged. This is why we don't let our pets decorate our apartment.

5. Sherlock perches. "Why would anyone need to unpack these?" I pretend he wonders. Mostly I think he's thinking, "Will you give me a treat if I sit here? No? How 'bout here?"

6. Now that I'm paying attention to the boxes, they become the most interesting piece of "furniture" in the apartment. Eddie decides he, too, must sit on them.

7. Oh hai. We can haz buncheen cubz?

8. Pete gets down to business, opening the first box. Eddie helps. (I love that they are in the same stance.)

9. Iz not buncheen cubz! Iz fort.

10. I think at this point, Pete made some stupid joke about a bowtie. But it was stupid and so I'm not repeating it. Clearly, he needs to be taking his work more seriously.

11. For some reason, the tools and screws and stuff come in a bright orange bag thing. This is good on the one hand, because you're certain not to miss it. But on the other hand, it kind of looks like police tape. (Also, Eddie is in the background with glowing eyes.)

12. Pete starts constructing the end table. He puts it together in the box so as not to scratch it on the floor.

13. Looks like he's really getting into it!

14. Blogging is so hard, good thing I have help! I'm practically working up a sweat trying to keep up with photographing the progress and watching tv and drinking wine!

15. Ta-Da! The first table is completed. To make it look lived-in, we immediately place a stack of magazines on top of it. Notice how the wood looks to be the same color as the wood on the foot of the sofa! We are one step closer to hip-ness!

16. End table from the angle of the (light pine goes with nothing) coffee table.

17. Pete goes to work on the other boxes. It's amazing how much packing material comes out of such a compact thing, huh?

18. Sherlock decides that a stack of cardboard in the middle of the room in the middle of construction makes an excellent bed.

19. Leon (cat #4) decides to notice that there's some sort of furniture-y mayhem going on, and so abruptly decides to shift his position in the chair from here to here-and-a-quarter. I have captured the extent of his movement pretty well. Pete continues to tackle the task at hand with aplomb, deconstructing boxes and constructing tables like a champ.


The Part About The Head Licking

These tables are great but they are really freakin' heavy! Pete says, sweat dripping from his forehead.

Awww! You're doing a great job! I say, trying to encourage him because I do not, at any point, want him to ask for my help.

But do you see this? I'm like, totally sweating!

That's because you're working so quickly! See how encouraging I am?

Unfortunately, I am also stupid. And I push my luck. As follows:

Me: Hey, can I take a picture of your sweaty head?

Pete: What, for the BLOG? NO.

Me: Oh, come on! It'll show how hard you worked!

Pete: No. Absolutely not.

Me: But it's...cute.

Pete: Don't lie to me.

Me: I'm not lying to you! It's cute that you're sweating to make the furniture. I should totally blog about your head sweat.

Pete: It's not cute.

Me: Please can I take a picture of it?

Pete: Only if you lick it.

I was momentarily shocked. I never had brothers, I was never a college boy, I don't really "get" fart jokes. I was not prepared for this kind of boyish dare. Lick it?

Me: Lick it?

Pete: Yeah, like a real, honest-to-goodness lick. Like this.

Pete stuck out his tongue, dropped his chin and then scooped his head upward, very dramatically. I didn't want to show fear, so I hastened to reply.

Me: Okay!

I was kind of lying, but Pete didn't skip a beat and came right up to me and stuck his sweaty head right in my face. And I stared at it and could smell the salty moisture and wrinkled up my nose and...

...and I couldn't do it.

Me: I can't do it.

Pete: HAHA!

He walked back toward the boxes.

But then I thought of the greater good.

You know? I have a job to do. I have an obligation. JCPenney wants the truth about the furniture buying / assembling / living-with process, and BY GUM, THEY WILL GET IT!

Me: NO NO! I'LL DO IT!

Pete rushed back over to me.

I drew my breath.

And I licked his sweaty, sweaty head.

So that I could photograph it for you.

I believe this makes our furniture acquisition blogging experience complete.

Behold.

It glistens.

Oh, blogging.

Anyway.

After that, it was all downhill.

I should point out that one of the two Bunching Cube boxes did not come with any tools (the bright orange bag was missing completely). Luckily, there were enough leftover pieces and screws and things Pete could use from the other two tables, so we were still able to construct them. (Though I will have to refrain from tap dancing on top of them, just in case one is a little less stable than is optimal.)

The Finished Product

20. Here are the two super cute, dark and chic Bunching Cubes, i.e., our new coffee table.

21. We moved the side table to go between the sofa and chair, to balance out the set-up. Notice how I've artistically added two books to one of the cubes.

22. It all looks so coordinated! (Except for the Rock Band drums, and the random green chairs in the back of the room. Whatever.)

23. The lovely side table and cubes from the perspective of the Rock Band drums. In case you're wondering, Pete is checking his email. I decided he could have a short break before getting rid of all the packing materials.

24. Here is a close up. And my knee. (See? Wasn't kidding about the photographic skills, was I?)

25. Even closer.

26. It's like they're already part of the family.


The Summary

Shopping for furniture online is something I have done a lot of, but I will admit that before this awesome promotion came along (Thanks again, BlogHer! Thanks again, JCPenney!), I never would have thought to check out the Penney collection.

I was definitely surprised by their more modern offerings, and impressed with the price and quality of the pieces I bought.

I was a little surprised about the furniture assembly, though that's probably an oversight on my part. The tables we got are very, very sturdy, but they are also very, very heavy (so this is a good and bad thing, depending). Obviously, we weren't too happy that the screws/tools were missing from one of the shipments, but we've been able to compensate. I will also call customer support and see if I can get extras sent (I'll update this post when that happens).

Bottom line: there are a handful of websites I always go to when I'm looking for a specific piece of furniture, and I am earnest in saying I'll be adding JCPenney.com to that list. And, given the affordability and quality of the pieces we got, JCPenney will be one of my first click-to's from now on.

The End.