What are the best cookstoves for rentals?

Question

What are the best cookstoves for rentals? Not looking to spend a fortune of course. Looking for good bang for your buck that should  last a while for rentals.Like to hear what others are using. I’m not looking for the lowest in product. I am putting them A-B class properties.

Terrell Garren · Answer

Stainless is marginally more than B&W at Lowes and HD. Watch a woman's eyes when she looks at a property 'you had me at stainless'...

Account Closed · Answer

I find the best deals at Lowes and they always have them in stock. I purchase whatever brand they have with the sealed burners and without all the buttons and do-dads for about $500. Often, Lowes has them on sale for $399 and sometimes I purchase 3 or 4 of them with 3 or 4 17 to 18 cubic foot refrigerators for about $500 each.

I always go with white appliances because white brightens up the kitchen. A black stove is like a black car where every very tiny spec of dust is noticeable. Stainless steel appliances look depressing and get oily fingerprints that require constant cleaning.

During COVID it was impossible to get appliances at Home Depot and Lowes and their was a backlog of 8 weeks. Incidentally, Home Depot has never ever had stoves, refrigerators or dishwashers in stock when I needed them.

Last year, when  nobody had appliances in stock, I found a company called WDC on the phone. I made one simple phone call two times last year, ordered 4 Frigidaire stoves, 4 18-cubuc foot refrigerators and they were delivered to my warehouse the next day.

We don't screw around with appliances when they break because the way appliances are made today it costs 50% of an appliance just to get an appliance repairman to look at the appliance. That is not a joke. First, it is difficult to find an honest appliance repairman and most of them want $169 to diagnose the problem. Suppose, a repairman charges you $169 for the service call and another $150 to repair the appliance. Your total cost is $319,000. Like I said, for less than $200 more you can get a brand new appliance. That is why we stock so many appliances. We don't want our tenants' refrigerator broke for 4 or 5 days. So, we yank the appliance from the unit, give the tenant a brand new shiny appliance, we save a lot of labor costs on our side because we don't have to paty our workers to meet with the appliance man two times and everyone is a happy camper for many years.

Colleen F. · Answer

Account Closed  Inside the oven door?   does it get the grease off the inside of the window? how do you get the window inside wiped when done?

@Joe S.  Non self cleaning is cheaper although I get self cleaning.   If you get self cleaning always tell them it is self cleaning and not to use easy off. And I give them a bottle of cleaner for glass top stoves on move in.  I also ask tenants to rate themselves on cleaning and anyone who says 10 (very clean) gets instructions repeated on what not to use since they tend to be cleaning freaks.

Account Closed · Answer

WDC's Receipt

Account Closed · Answer

A few days ago, I stated that Home Depot wanted something like $729 for the same stove Lowes sold for $529 and sometimes Lowes has the same stove on sale for $399.

Attached to this post and the post after this one are two receipts I got from Lowes and WDC today.

My wife purchased an 18 cubic foot refrigerator at Lowes today for $579. I think that is an excellent price and the refrigerators look beautiful inside and the tenants are happy.

I attached a receipt I got from WDC today and WDC wants only $399 for GE stoves that look identical to Frigidaire. These stoves have the sealed burner and no clock. Who needs another clock? For the low price of $399 for a stove and $579 we never bother to repair a stove or refrigerator. Last night, a tenant's refrigerator broke and this morning before 11 am we had already delivered and installed a refrigerator and we made our tenant happy by providing fast service where their food is not spoiling and nobody has to discuss who is going to pay for the spoiled food. I think it is only fair to get our tenants a working stove and refrigerator as fast as we can without worrying about trying to save money and every time we call an appliance repair man they want almost as much as an appliance costs to repair one.

As you see in the WDC invoice. Their price for the refrigerators are $688 each and the refrigerator my wife purchased this morning is $579.00. The reason my wife purchase the refrigerator at Lowes is not because she is frugal and trying to save money. It was accidentally that she saved money because she did not want to drive the 2 extra miles to WDC because she has a lot of maintenance issues to handle today and she wanted to save time.

I am going to cancel the 2 refrigerators on the WDC invoice because when I was speaking with the sales person he said he did not have the two refrigerators in stock that I usually purchase and then he told me that prices increased and the best he could do was this refrigerator. When speaking with him I didn't believe he was telling me the truth and if I can save $200 at Lowes they will deliver for free, anyway.

Account Closed · Answer

Here is the same stove at the one at Home Depot without the clock and the price is $280 less than Home Depot. Sometimes, Lowes has the stove with the clock for $399. If you purchase these stove and pay $476 vs. the stove at Home Depot, then for every 2 stoves you purchase in essence you are getting 1 stove for free. The problem I always encounter with Home Depot is they have almost no selection of appliances and they never have appliances in stock when I need one. Lowes always has had the appliance I wanted with the exception of the COVID-19 period when nobody had appliances with the exception of WDC.

Account Closed · Answer

Here is an image showing the stove I purchase with the sealed burners. This is not a self-cleaning stove and this price is crazy. As stated, sometimes, I get this exact same stove on sale at Lowes for $399 and I can't see paying the extra money for a self-cleaning stove because as I stated in a post, some tenants destroy the top of the stove so bad and they destroy the knobs and destroy the oven door gasket, then the stoves are thrown in the trash because for $399 to $499 they are not worth paying an appliance repairman $300 5o $400 to repair a $399 stove, if you shop around. That is why we purchase 4 stoves and refrigerators at a time at Lowes or WDC. I am going to purchase 4 stoves and refrigerators tomorrow and I will post a copy of the receipt. Sometimes, I don't purchase the stoves with the clocks and nobody cares.

Account Closed · Answer

Good question? I don't know if they are self-cleaning. I don't think so.

Hate to brag, but my wife travels from Las Angeles to Las Vegas to help clean the homes so we can put them on the market and she was spending 1 to 2 full days using that Easy Off crap just cleaning some of the stoves. I hate breathing the mist and fumes from Easy Off and feel confident the crap will cause lung cancer. So, I stopped her from cleaning the stoves and toilets and I mix muriatic acid with 50% water, pour the mixture on top of the stove, on the inside of the oven door, inside the oven and in the bottom broiler and I clean the filthiest stove and make it look brand new in less than 30 minutes. I clean the grease on the side of the stove and the stove hood and fan with lighter fluid as lightning speed and the stove and  hood and fan look brand new. It the past, I used to through the stove and fan away and purchase new ones.

I empty the water from the toilet bowls, pour muriatic acid in the bowls, use rubber gloves, Comet powder or some other brand and I make the worse-looking toilets in about 10 minutes and make them look like they just cake out of the box.

Gail K. · Answer

My dad was a janitor and frequently used muriatic acid in cleaning out toilet bowls.  I have some and used it once on a very stained bowl; worked wonders but for a couple of seconds after pouring I wondered if I might have a melted toilet.  It was one of those "pour and run" situations.

As for ranges, always self cleaning.  I hate, hate, hate cleaning ovens after a tenant vacates (and so often one has to do this).

What are the best cookstoves for rentals?

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