Where's the Fridge?

After a month of living in a hotel, we finally moved into our house! It was such a relief to be out of the hotel that we moved in without any furniture.


And without a washer/dryer or a refrigerator... 


We got our keys at 5:00 pm, and by 6:30 our new mattresses were in our otherwise empty bedrooms, and a dorm room sized fridge from Best Buy was in the kitchen. 


Funny the little things that are different from region to region. In Minnesota, refrigerators and (typically) washers and dryers stay with a house. And if you rent an apartment, it already has a fridge in it. In CA, people move their refrigerators and w/d with them every time they move. Even when moving in and out of rentals. 


Every house we looked at had an empty space where the refrigerator belonged; or, if the house was occupied, it usually had a fridge that did not match the rest of the appliances. Our Realtor thought it was just common knowledge, and common practice everywhere, that people moved their refrigerators with them everywhere they go. 


As much thought as we put into buying just the right appliances when building a kitchen, I don't know that I want to go through the hassle of moving them with me everywhere I go. Having to rent a truck every time you change residences could get annoying fast. I think of all the times I moved in my college years and after we were first married, and a fridge definitely wouldn't have fit in the hatchback of our Toyota Celica. I'm surprised that I've not yet seen a car with a fridge strapped to its roof in the time we've been here. 


So, shopping we went. And it wouldn't be so bad if a person just had to buy the one appliance that's missing (the refrigerator), but when you buy a brand new, shiny fridge and get it into your kitchen, the other appliances start to look not so good! Our new refrigerator (which was accounted for in our moving budget) has turned into replacing the stove, microwave and dishwasher also (which was NOT accounted for in our moving budget). 


Now the only question is, next time we move, can I fit this in the back of my Mazda hatchback?