Uptick in kitchen remodeling boosts sales at Home Depot

Robust sales of paint, bathroom accessories and kitchen installations have boosted Home Depot's bottom line as homeowners start sprucing up their homes again. The retailer reports that transactions of $900 and over are up 3.4 percent as demand grows for appliances, flooring, kitchen remodeling products, and heating and air conditioning equipment. That's good news and we were ready for it with new tests of all the major products needed for a kitchen or bath remodeling project.

Lowe's and Sears haven't reported their earnings yet but the Los Angeles Times says that improved customer service at Lowe's, Home Depot and other home improvement stores has paid off in sales, profits and shopper satisfaction. That's one benefit of the bad economy. When the housing market was booming, it was hard for the lowly do-it-yourselfers to get attention at the big box stores. "Then we get into the economic downturn and people stop spending. Construction goes from bigger projects to smaller renovations, and customers shift from contractors to those wanting to do it themselves," a market analyst told the Times.

Whether you're a handyman or planning to hire a contractor to start a home remodeling project, check our ratings of the best appliances and where to buy them. We also have ratings of the best flooring, countertops and sink materials. And don't miss our two new guides to updating your kitchen and your bathroom.

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Don't be left in the dark by these four lightbulb letdowns

Replacing a lightbulb isn't as easy as it used to be. The new energy-saving bulbs may not give off the type of light you're used to. In fact, some of the compact fluorescents and light-emitting diodes in Consumer Reports lightbulb tests give off a ghastly light color, or are dim. And there are some CFLs that take three minutes to fully brighten—that's enough time to make toast. But among the duds we also found bulbs that dazzled. Here are four lightbulb letdowns and how to avoid them.

Dim bulbs
The fix. More lumens. Check the Lighting Facts label on the packages of CFLs and LEDs for the number of lumens. The higher the lumens the brighter the bulb. When replacing a 60-watt incandescent look for an energy-saving bulb with at least 800 lumens, and 1,100 lumens or more for a 75-watt replacement. If you're wondering about watts, they tell you how much electricity the bulb uses so choose a bulb with enough lumens and the lowest wattage.

Weird light color
The fix. The right Kelvin (K) number. Light color is expressed by its Kelvin temperature. The higher the Kelvin number the cooler the light. If you prefer the warm light of an incandescent but want to trim your electric bills, pick a CFL or LED marked 2700K or so on the Lighting Facts label. At 3000K the light is whiter, like a halogen bulb, and it's cool and bright white at 3500K to 4100K. For bluer light buy bulbs marked 5000K to 6500K.

Unflattering light
The fix. A higher CRI. When the colors of things look off, find out the color rendering index of your lightbulbs. CRI indicates how accurately a lightbulb displays colors and the higher the better. Incandescent bulbs are at or near 100; most CFLs and LEDs we tested are in the low-to-mid 80s. CRI isn't on the Lighting Facts label but may appear elsewhere on the package and some online retailers note it.

Early burnout
The fix. Return the bulb to the retailer, like Home Depot or Lowe's, or contact the manufacturer. You may need the model number or UPC and a receipt. And when you're buying replacements be sure the bulbs can be used in your fixtures. Putting a CFL or LED in a fixture it's not meant for can shorten its life.

To find better lightbulbs, see our Ratings of dozens of CFLs and LEDs and note the Recommended bulbs. After 3,000 hours of testing these top-performing bulbs did not disappoint.

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Home Depot adds three new major appliance brands

Home Depot may be the largest home improvement retailer but when it comes to selling major appliances it trails behind Sears, the leader, and Lowe's. In a seeming effort to change that, Home Depot has added three new appliance lines, Whirlpool, Electrolux and Frigidaire, brands that are already sold by its competitors. All three have fared pretty well in Consumer Reports appliance tests.

According to the Top 100 Major Appliance Retailers Report from Twice, Sears' appliance sales slipped three percent in 2010 to $7.3 billion, while sales declined nearly two percent at Lowe's, to $5.5 billion. In contrast, Home Depot saw a one percent increase, to $3.4 billion.

Home Depot already sells Whirlpool's brandmates Maytag and Amana. Frigidaire is in the Electrolux family. The big box store will be adding ranges, refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers and washer-dryer pairs. Starting this summer, the retailer will expand the appliance sections of a limited number of stores and make the new products available through the company's Depot Direct delivery network in all U.S. stores, according to a company press statement.

Overall, Whirlpool, Frigidaire and Electrolux are well represented in Consumer Reports top appliance picks although they do better in some product categories than others. Kenmore, the house brand of Sears, is also very well represented. Thirty models from Home Depot's three new brands appear on our recommended list of refrigerators including two bottom-freezer models, nine side-by-sides and 19 top freezers. They also fare well in our brand reliability for refrigerators, especially Whirlpool.

One-third of the models on our list of recommended freezers come from Whirlpool or Frigidaire including the self-defrost uprights Whirlpool EV161NZT, $700, and Frigidaire FFU21F5H[W], $650, which are both CR Best Buys. The brands' representation isn't quite as robust in the other categories and there are no models from those three brands on our list of recommended dishwashers.

No matter where you shop it's good to have a number of choices. Before you go, check the performance of the models you're considering and the reliability of the brand on this website. To get started, check the appliance section.

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