An American in Provence

Today we had the washer/dryer combo and our stove/oven delivered. We bought them on Saturday, after much visiting of the various home appliance stores in the area. It took a while to figure out exactly how to configure our kitchen as there is a 107 cm wide part of the wall that juts out. I guess it was the old ventilation shaft or something. Who knows.
The only possibility was to buy a 50 cm wide stove (smaller than standard 60 cm) and a 60 cm washer. We wanted a combo, and the best was to buy one that opens in front, not on top, and those only come in 60 cm widths. So what about those extra 3 cm? We are going to have to make it unaligned, slightly surpassing into the sink area.
We finally went to a Factory Leftovers type of place, and found the same models, 100 euros less for the washer, and 50 euros less for the stove. Delivery/set-up/removal of old appliances was 40 euros, a definite worth-it.
Except we don't have enough plugs in the kitchen, nor a gas hook up for the stove (which has three gas burners and one electric). So we need to get someone to install a gas connection, as we already have the gas line from the city for our hot water heater. Anything is better than working with two hot plates and a toaster oven. So the stove is in the hallway for another week or so. Making it a little harder to cook. Oh well. I can always order pizza and serve cereal. We had debated whether we wanted to cancel the delivery of this stove (when we realized that though we had the gas, we didn't have the hook up. One thing home ownership has definitely taught me- never assume anything!) and get an all-electric one, but everyone seems to think gas is better. Besides, we weren't sure the company would let us change our order.
(everyone admire... Oooohhhh... Aaaahhh.... ->)

The washer/dryer is a great space saver. In our old apartment I had to haul the laundry to the nearest Laundromat several blocks away. When we moved in here, the woman left her washer, but it doesn't spin fast enough to get any of the water out. So then I have to wring it out in the sink and hang it up to dry. At the moment, we don't get direct sunlight so it takes about three days to dry. Can't wait to try it out. Even if it only dries 4 kg of clothes (washes 5 kg, don't know why there is a difference) anything is better than what we had.
Stove will eventually go right next to the dryer on the right. Then we can start removing wallpaper, repainting, changing the electricity, and buy new sinks and cabinets! Oh Happy Day!