The wife has her eye on these and I need some ammunition
from you guys to stop this buying spree (it's not as if our
present stove and fridge have anything wrong with them,
except age).

How long have you been married? If it's more than a year, you should know
this is a losing battle.

Kenmore products are a love-hate sort of thing -- I've had great luck with
them and like them a lot, so I buy them. The flip side is that Sears
products are nearly always overpriced and you can find better priced items
elsewhere.

The refrigerator is tiny by US standards, even at that cost. Down here I
wouldn't settle for anything less than 22 cubic feet. We'll be buying one
soon and we we're looking at 25 cubic feet, side-by-side, filtered water/ice
for around $800 US -- we're just wating to get the bucks together as we
decided to hold off until we could get what we wanted (rather than settling
for less).

We're also looking at a pilotless gas range for just under $300 US to
replace our existing unit.

In our case, the appliances we have are nothing less than 15 years old -- I
believe they're both nearly 20 years old. There will be an immediate cost
savings realized in energy efficiency alone.

Wait a sec...I'm not helping your argument here, am I? :P

James