Manufacturer warranty is a manufacturer warranty no matter where you buy it from. The service is going to come from a local certified rep from (ie) Thermador, Bosch, GE... whatever. You might want to try and see if you can get AJ Madison to up the savings anty... tell them your concerns.

With that many appliances, it might be worth taking your quote to a local dealer and seeing how close they can get. They have to beat taxes but sometimes they can manage.

(I haven't bought from AJ Madison but have only read good things. They DO have a great website for shopping--my local appliance store uses it, right in front of you, and will do their darndest to be competitive.)

They have to beat taxes but sometimes they can manage.

Well, in CA you are supposed to report what you bought out of state and pay it... FWIW...

Warning!

I am in the middle of an AJ Madison buying experience, and part has been great but another part has been not so great and it is not over yet.

I am rehabbing a 3-unit apartment house in Baltimore. Two of the apartments will be for tenants and the third one will be for me. Rentals will have basic builder grade appliances, my apartment will have high end. I purchased all appliances from AJM because I wanted to get a discount (on top of already discounted prices) on the high-end appliances.

Apartment appliances arrived without a hitch.

High end appliances came in a couple different deliveries. Liebherr refrigerator was fine. Custom 36" FiveStar (black) was definitely not OK. Once inside and uncrated it was clear that something had fallen on the griddle and completely caved-in the whole cooktop. I refused to sign for delivery and the delivery guys became fairly hostile. It was impossible to get through to AJM customer service while this was going on. Eventually, after about 15 minutes of me trying to get through to AJM the delivery guys said "F*** this and f*** you," and re-crated the damaged range and took it away. I tried to take a picture of the damage and they would not allow me to do so.

Later in the day, after literally an hour waiting to get through to AJM, I spoke to a live person and explained the whole thing. After getting put on hold for another 20 minutes or so the customer service rep came back and simply asked if I still wanted to get that type of range (un-broken). I said yes and they said they would put the order in again. This was a couple weeks ago.

Now, I am the GC on this project and I used AJM knowing that the $3,500 or so that I was saving on cost of appliances, free delivery, and no sales tax was not going to be cost-free. I was prepared for just the sort of problem I had, and made sure that the appliances would arrive well before I actually needed them installed.

I would definitely use local suppliers if timing was critical and if I wanted a hassle-free experience. For me, timing was not a big deal and I have dealt with these sort of hassles quite a bit over the years on these sorts of projects. Even though it was tense, I had no problem refusing delivery from a couple hostile delivery guys. If you think you might, then think carefully about using these guys.

Good luck.

Thank you for the feedback. I am going to contact the local compamy tomorrow and see if they can make any price improvements. If not, then we'll probably go with AJ Madison. Our remodel isn't starting for another couple of weeks....so if there are problems, I will have time on my side.

We ordered a range, microwave and dw from ajm. I gave them a call to see if they could throw in anything or give more of a discount because we were buying multiple appliances. They threw in 3-year warranties on all the appliances, which would have cost me several hundred dollars. The products arrived without a hitch. Definitely give them a call to ask.

Sales tax shouldn't be a concern as appliances are capital improvements not subject to state sales tax. At least that's what The Great Indoors told me when we purchased from them. They provided me with a form to complete and a second copy of the sales receipt to submit for reimbursement of sales tax. We received a full refund without any problems.

I am like your husband and pretty nervous about the online purchases I have made for this kitchen. But my husband and I weighed the options. I read a lot and got recs here at Gardenweb.

I ordered a hood from AJ Madison based on this site, and it was a great price but was backordered. I am willing to wait, but did to call to check up on how it is going and they were really happy to talk the current status through. I will post back when it's all over, but hoping for the best. (I also bought a sink from faucetdepot, recommended here, and am even more nervous about that.)

ntruro, do you know if the tax thing is a state by state thing on the capital improvements? My salesman didn't mention it...Ohio.

The tax thing is definitely a state by state thing.

I ordered all my kitchen appliances from AJM when we built our house four years ago. Can't remember the savings but it was significant. Everything came in without a hitch except for the warming drawer - it had a huge dent. I called customer service and they said no problem, we'll send you a new one and they did within a couple of weeks. They didn't want the dented one back so I ended up selling it on ebay for $200. Worked out great!

For additional savings, check your utility company or state rebate options on green saving appliances. They can be significant and want to use the money for more grants in next year.

I'm in So Cal and we ordered our MW Drawer and Warming Drawer from AJ Madison earlier this year. We tried to bargin with Pacific Sales (which is where we got our Bertazzoni floor model range) to price match and they were willing to come down on the MW but for some reason the Warming Drawer was almost twice as much through them so the cost was just a lot lower through AJM. They both came on time and we had no problems. Since I never had to call customer service I can't comment on it. Good luck!

I got a quote for all my appliances from AJ Madison then took that quote to a local appliance store and they were able to match the prices. The only thing I couldn't get from them was the hood so I ended up going with AJM. Price was great, customer service was great, and delivery was fast with no problems. Would buy from them again.

The salespeope are experts. I would not buy appliances before i check in with AJ Madison. They will go through everything with you. Their prices are competetive & the delivery is typically seamless.
I actually had the opposite experience. I went to a local store, spoke to the salesperson, found him to be clueless, went home called AJ Madison & at that point i just used my store to make sure im not overpaying by AJ Madison. I think the most aggravating part of appliance shopping is getting the wrong thing & that is where I rely on the folks in New York.

I ordered a wall oven from them because it was the only place that had it in stock. The local bertazzoni dealer didn't know how to get it so that was the only thing. I brought in a few price quotes I got off the internet and was able to haggle some things down to nearly the same. Dealing with a local firm is kind important to me so it was nice. Plus they threw in some store warranties to keep my business with them.

Anyway... the wall oven arrived maybe 10 days after ordering it. It was in good condition but the shipping terms were strange. Everything I got locally I could just say "put it in the garage on 'such and such day'" which they did perfectly. AJM shipped via some trucking carrier I had never heard of. I had to take the day off work, sat around for 3 extra hours waiting for the truck. Kind of a hassle, I would have much rather gotten everything from my local place but it was the only way to get a matching oven so I had to take the plunge.

Would I order from them again if I could buy everything around here? No way, even if it saved me a couple hundred bucks.

We redid our kitchen about 6 years ago, and needed all new appliances. I found good prices online, but then I went to a local appliance dealer, and he met the prices (he did call the company to check--not sure anymore if it was AJM or not) so I was very happy. Now we are moving to Florida and will have to redo the kitchen there (we will be doing IKEA again)so here we go again!

We are in the middle of an AJM fiasco right now. we ordered a whole suite of appliances and the stove had a huge dent in the side- preventing the lower oven from closing properly- but also a dent in the side of the appliance itself. they are attempting to refuse to take it back b/c we don't have the box. they offered to replace the drawer and extend our warranty by one year- this after a 30 minute wait on the phone - but we are afraid that something has been damaged internally...

I used AJ Madison to research my appliances, including specifications and prices. I then took print outs of the web pages for the appliances to three larger appliance dealers with beautiful showrooms, and got their best counter-offers. All the counter-offers were significantly higher, especially when I added sales tax.

Then, however, I went to a very small family owned appliance store. Its showroom was mainly a lot of appliances lined up. Not very inspiring, but since I had seen the appliances elsewhere, it really didn't matter to me. The family-owned shop was within $10-$40 of the AJ Madison price on each appliance. At that stage, the real difference was sales tax being factored in at the time of sale.

What made the biggest difference for me, and why I went with the local company was (1) it was a local company;(2) they allowed me to pay 1/2 up front and then the other 1/2 on delivery; (3) they will store the appliances until I need them, and won't deliver them until I need them; the salesperson said that the warranties shouldn't start running until delivery, which could be several months down the road; and (4) they will dispose of my old appliances for no extra charge (which I don't need, because my GC will do that, but I appreciate the fact that they include that service).

I did my due diligence on this business before I bought from it. My sister has used them several times over the last decade; it gets stellar reviews on AngiesList, and an A+ rating from the BBB. They also treated me extremely well, and called me back within 10 minutes after I left a panicked message with them about a stupid screwup of mine, and they handled it.

I'm over a thousand miles away from you, so my appliance dealer won't help you. But I would suggest that you explore small distributors and see what they can do for you in addition to matching AJ Madison's price.

Thank you for all the feedback. Not sure what we are going to do, but your responses are really helpful. I'll keep you posted.

Has anyone not being able to order from AJMadison b/c the buyer is are outside their authorized dealer's region? Specifically, I was going to buy some KitchenAid stuff from them but can't and now I either have to go local and spend more money b/c of sales tax or find another online dealer but one that is within my region.
(I should probably just do a seperate post but was searching first to see if this question had already been answered.)

Don't overlook Abt, who also ships nationally and which got top ratings in customer satisfaction from Consumer Reports.

Here is a link that might be useful: Abt

I rely on google's shopping thing where you put in a model number and get a bunch of online stores with their buyer ratings and prices, including tax and shipping. AJ Madison and Abt are frequently at the top of the list, especially buyer-rated (not product-related). I've bought two expensive TV's from Abt and they shipped them, without sales tax or shipping charges, to my state significantly cheaper than I could have bought them locally. They both were shipped by air freight and arrived in perfect condition. I'll be checking them again - and also AJ Madison, because they also come highly recommended - when I order my new kitchen fridge, cook-top, dishwasher, and microwave oven.

FYI: Doing the google thing, beware the unrated or few-rated stores. I just ignore the prices of those guys until I see a reasonable price from a highly rated store. Also, FYI, if an online store doesn't have a phone number - only online chat for customer service - stay away. They tout this type of communication lowers costs and is cutting-edge, but it is a nightmare. I've been there - but fortunately for a low-priced item.

Good luck!

Abt's is too far for me also. I need someplace in FL, TN, AL, NC but NOT Georgia.

Before posting I tried to do a little google searching but I was just wondering if anyone already knew of a good online place in the Southeast. Thanks though.

I know there are certain items that AJ Madison can't ship outside of their sales territory. We did end up purchasing somethings locally because of that, and paying sales tax.

NSB... I'm in the same boat. The KA fridge I want to order is out of range for me also and I'm in MD.

Newsouthernbelle, Califkitchen and Mercymygft - you are all saying you can't order online because the online store is "out of range" or something like that. Please try calling the website on the phone to order, not ordering online. We bought a Kitchenaid dishwasher from homeeverything dot com, and the website page said something similar that we couldn't purchase due to being outside of the territory or whatever. But when I called them on the phone, it was no problem. I am linking a thread where I posted my experience ordering appliances online; I posted both directly after I placed my order, and I posted a follow-up after delivery. Note that most complaints about ordering appliances online have to do with the shipper, not with the retailer. I talk about that on the linked thread.

Funny, cause Abt is about 20 minutes away from us - it's the best appliance store in the world, and it's ginormous. If you are in the Chicago area sometime, it's actually worth a visit. But we instead ordered from Brooklyn. Abt, our "neighborhood store", would have charged for delivery, and we would have had to pay 9.5% sales tax.

Also, just a comment on Jgopp's post about waiting around for delivery. I have had to wait with the eternal "three-hour window" whether I've ordered from a local store or whether I've ordered from a website. It's just part of the delivery process, where they can't tell you exactly when the delivery will happen, even if the store is 15 minutes away!

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread Called Home Everything or AJMadison

alwaysfixin - thanks for sharing. That is exactly what we are all saying. I will give AJMadison and Abt a call to check and see if I can order KitchenAid even if it is out of the service area's range. I'll report back and let everyone know. This would obviously save me between 6 and 8% in sales tax, which when you are ordering a ton of appliances, really adds up. Thanks again!

FYI - I'm in TN and Abt shipped to me, no problem. Air freighted it, no shipping, no sales tax, and no problem.