When Deric Bradford’s delivery of a new clothes washer was delayed for several weeks this September, the 43-year-old banker started hauling his baskets of dirty clothes to John Calderon’s place—“like I was a college student,” he said.

The two are friends, but the laundry runs are all business. Mr. Calderon is the owner of Los Angeles-based Advanced Building and Remodeling Inc., which helped Mr. Bradford buy appliances for the Hollywood Hills home he moved into over the summer.


Hot tickets
Mr. Calderon and other remodelers and appliance sellers are trying to keep consumers like Mr. Bradford happy in the midst of delays on many appliances. Manufacturing and supply-chain problems have turned household amenities into hard-to-find trophies, leaving consumers and salespeople alike scrambling for workarounds. Appliance sellers are doing double duty as therapists to frustrated consumers, who may find themselves eating cereal for dinner and doing dishes in the bathtub for months.

Jacqueline Feeney, an interior designer, ordered appliances last August for her new apartment in Rye, N.Y. The delivery dates kept getting pushed back, but she and her husband moved in anyway, making an Instant Pot pressure cooker the center of their kitchen while waiting for their stove. Ms. Feeney, 33, initially used a Yeti cooler to store food, but was eventually able to borrow a mini-fridge from her appliance store, a practice that suppliers said has become common among retailers hoping to soothe customers.

To save refrigerator space, Ms. Feeney said she and her husband only cooked one dinner a week, eating it as leftovers and supplementing with ready-made meals and some takeout.

“It was like playing Tetris to see how many things we can shove into the mini-fridge without the door popping back open,” she said. Their full-size refrigerator didn’t arrive until September, after more than a year.

Supply-chain problems that slowed production of household amenities after the onset of the pandemic have only gotten worse, manufacturing industry officials say. Producing them got tougher as shortages of steel, plastics, computer chips and labor spread, while space on trucks, ships and trains grew scarce.



Adding to that are delays on piping, cabinets and other needed parts. A shortage of skilled workers means that scheduling plumbers, electricians and countertop cutters has become more difficult.

Meanwhile, rising home prices, stimulus checks, a growing economy and 18 months of at-home activities are leading more people to upgrade their kitchens, designers and appliance sellers said. (It hasn’t all been bad: One retailer’s email about delayed furniture turned into a bonding session for a couple hundred strangers.)

Delivery times for certain models of refrigerators, stoves and dishwashers can be six months to a year out, appliance sellers and designers said. Major domestic producers like Whirlpool Corp. and GE Appliances said supply chain challenges are resulting in longer lead times.

“We know [consumers] are frustrated,” said Joe McGuire, chief executive of the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, a trade group.



Steve Sheinkopf, the head of Boston retailer Yale Appliance, said he has lent out so many cheaper appliances to customers that he feels like he’s running a lending library. His staff have been berated by homeowners missing ovens and dishwashers. He said that he added “combat pay” and threw ice cream parties and free pizza to try to boost morale.

“We have to take the calls that are less than understanding,” he said. “We feel bad for the people who work here.”

Shea Pumarejo, a kitchen designer in San Antonio, said she has handed out restaurant gift cards to clients waiting on major appliances. “There is only so much apologizing you can do,” she said.

In Los Angeles, Mr. Calderon, 42, said he is trying to manage customers’ expectations, and to connect customers directly with manufacturing representatives to show that he doesn’t have any more information than they do about when their dishwashers will arrive. Still, he feels like it isn’t enough.

“If it wasn’t for Covid, I would go over and do their dishes,” he said.

In Brighton, Mich., Dawn Nabozny said she sometimes wakes up to the sounds and smells of her husband cooking breakfast in the microwave at 5 a.m. The problem, she said, is that their old microwave and hot plate have been in their bedroom since January while their kitchen is being renovated.

“It smells most of the day,” acknowledged Anthony Nabozny, her husband, 47, who works for a coatings manufacturer.



The Naboznys improvised by putting a microwave and hot plate in their bedroom and washing dishes in their bathtub.

They had to make do without a kitchen sink and dishwasher for several months, so in the evenings, Ms. Nabozny would take the dirty dishes from their dining room through the bedroom and into the master bathroom. She placed the dishes into her walk-up bathtub, added soap and scrubbed away. A drying rack balanced awkwardly on the edge, without enough room to sit fully flat.

“We are leaning over the bathtub washing dishes,” said Ms. Nabozny, a 46-year-old teacher. “It is such a challenge.”

John McClain, a California-based kitchen designer who is 46, said he put together a temporary galley kitchen, including two fold-up tables, a small convection oven, a hot plate and a microwave, while the renovation of his own kitchen dragged on for nearly a year.

His induction stove top arrived a few weeks ago, Mr. McClain said, but he discovered the opening for the countertop wasn’t cut out correctly, so he had to get the countertop cutter to return.

“I’ve pulled every string imaginable,” he said. “I didn’t think it would take this long.”



LINK: https://www.wsj.com/articles/o...1?mod=hp_featst_pos5

Wow. Damn

We are planning on a full kitchen gut renovation this coming year in August (that's how far out the contractor is booked out and we set that up in May!)

Should I be trying to buy appliances NOW and store them? We are replacing everything; going from electric range to gas, new fridge, dishwasher, microwave etc.

This stuff is really starting to get worrisome.

My parent's fridge had the compressor fail and it took almost 2 months for the repair tech to show up and diagnose it and another 2 months getting a new compressor, the tech told them it's been virtually impossible getting certain parts...luckily, they still had my grandparents old fridge

I'm just waiting for people to get tired of this ridiculous, unnecessary shit.

The oven died at our vacation place and we decided to replace the very old fridge and terrible glass electric cooktop at the same time.

I spent an entire day trying to find stuff that would fit that I could get in a reasonable time frame.

I ordered in early December. The appliances were delivered in mid-March.

Really - I couldn't find anything I could get in less than three months.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Wow. Damn

We are planning on a full kitchen gut renovation this coming year in August (that's how far out the contractor is booked out and we set that up in May!)

Should I be trying to buy appliances NOW and store them? We are replacing everything; going from electric range to gas, new fridge, dishwasher, microwave etc.

Not a bad idea, if you're hard-committed to the project and want to minimize risk. In that case, I'd look for the predictable sales and snag whatever I needed when/if it went on sale, and find a place to put it. It probably would mean earlier spending (cash flow) as well as burning some warranty period sitting in storage/garage and taking up space, but it would reduce risk.

We live in an era that came to be built on the assumption of fast shipment of needed items worldwide, and that's not the world we're inhabiting at the moment.

Think of all the things a kitchen remodel might need...lumber, fasteners, cabinet hardware, electrical components, appliances, sheet rock, paint, and maybe flooring. Skilled and unskilled labor for sure. And you need all of them, there, on schedule. And you also need the contractor to honor the booking, which, if some piece(s) of the puzzle aren't then on hand, they might well opt out and work on a different project where all components happen to be available. So, not to be debbie-downer, but you could have all the appliances in hand and have issues on an entirely other front.

I've indefinitely deferred similar projects here at the house, and at the rental property because I have the option to do that. I do think things will stabilize but I am not holding my breath.

I did read that very high end appliances have less of a wait time.

We bought a defective gas range in August - a replacement won't be available until January, after being given 3 dates that kept getting pushed back.

I suppose I got lucky. Back in June I had a gas GE oven delivered less than a week from being ordered.

My first attempt did fail though. I had first ordered the oven from Home Depot which failed to deliver it on the day promised, so I canceled the order from them and reordered from Best Buy. They managed to deliver the appliance exactly on the day and at the exact time they said they would which surprised the hell out of me.

Anyway, glad I don't need anything else at the moment.

If you are looking for appliances, check the local estate auction houses in your area, people pass away and leave homes full of brand new appliances among other things.

I get notices from one local to me they always have stainless steel refrigerators, washer dryers etc. Doubt you'd find dishwashers and oven/stoves.

quote:

doing dishes in the bathtub

Are kitchen sinks in short supply too?

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:

quote:

doing dishes in the bathtub

Are kitchen sinks in short supply too?

If you look at the photo that goes with the article, it shows a half completed kitchen with no plumbing at the sink...

True story that is still unfolding.

My wife and I bought a new washer and dryer as ours was 14 years old and we USED them hard.

New one has all the bells and whistles. I got the max warranty and service policy and the appliance vendot provider has their own in-house technicians.

14 months later the dryer does all the cool stuff except provide heat (no bueno). Repair tech comes over, pulls it entirely apart to access and replace a $6 fuse. Fixed for 1 month. Same isse (no heat). Same tech comes over and says two "coil harnesses" and the fuse need to be replaced. Normally these common, realtively inexpensive would be in their warehouse. Parts ordered. Two weeks later I harangue them about the parts and getting my dryer fixed.

Turns out that their service warranty plan is ran by a third-part provivder (gulp). I call them, and amazingly, their customer service is AWESOME. The appliance seller had been sent the parts in two shipments. They signed for them, yet had NO record of their arriving. So a week had gone by with them losing the parts in the system and never saying a word to me. They spend 2 days "researching" the issue. They then check every major vendor in the U.S. for the missing parts. NOPE, and no ETA on when they can get them. They lost the only parts that could fix the dryer in the U.S...winner-winner, chicken dinner.

The warranty provider stayed on them daily, and they eventually admit defeat (if not blame) and request the warranty folks to have a store credit issued. One day later they say they will replace the dryer with a new one of the same model next week Tuesday. A dryer needing $200 in parts will be junked due to incompetence and lack of parts at the national level...

And I've had to do my laundry at my brother's house for the past month with one more week to go..

We ordered 50 laptops in March for a project that was kicking off in June. Thought we were being smart giving so much lead time, our supplier said we should have them by the beginning of May at the latest.

We have received 11 laptops and we were just told today the the remainder may ship in mid to late November. I highly doubt we will see them before the end of the year with the holidays right around the corner.

Ridiculous.

Around here, you can get appliances with no problem.

Maybe not the exact one you want, but you can get them immediately.

I was told that no appliances exist by two big box stores, one local appliance dealer, and a couple other retailers.

I went to a major appliance manufacturer website, looked for in stock merchandise, ordered refrigerator, dishwasher, range oven, and microwave. Took advantage of the 10% rebate they offered. Manufacturer e-mailed that my appliances were on the way in less than one week. I arranged delivery on the date they were needed with the delivery company. No issues.

I am not sure why some retailers say appliances can’t be ordered or delivered. I don’t think they are purposely lying. But, I have a working kitchen, with white glove delivery of new LG products.

Took us months to get a dishwasher, and I can't get laptops for work at all

I'm a cabinetmaker and havent been able to get drawer slides or hinges for over 90 days I have several jobs installed with the doors and drawers in a pile in there living rooms, just not much I can do about it. paint is the same way.

Cabinets were ordered in May, they arrive tomorrow. Range ordered beginning June, arrived 3 weeks ago.

Now the tile is discontinued.

Just rolling with it.