What am I thinking? My wife and I bought a new house two years ago, but it was really more of a blank canvas than a finished painting. We've finally gotten in gear, getting the yard now mostly put together and putting non-beige paint on the walls. The next expedition is souping up the crappy kitchen cabinets and ditching our ten-year-old fridge.

Yeah, Sub-Zero, they make good fridges, right? We've looked at just about everything and we really do like the Sub-Zero. Then they quote you the prices. Yowza! And they quote you the same high prices everywhere, and they mandate sales regions, so you can't order from one of the big Internet discounters. You *must* buy locally. (The dealers always make a point of saying that if they offered you a discount, Sub-Zero could come by and strip them of their franchise.) Frakking anti-competitive behavior.

"List" on a 48" wide Sub-Zero fridge/freezer with stainless doors and an ice-maker/water-dispenser is a staggering $11,500 or thereabouts. The best price I've managed to get quoted, and I probably shouldn't say how so nobody gets in trouble, is still $9700.

It's pretty rough to stomach spending that kind of coin on a fridge. Any thoughts on this?