Home Depot, Lowe's or Best Buy: where is the same appliance cheapest?
Summary
Choose the lowest itemized total for the model, color and delivery address you need. In the example below, the white GE GFW550SSNWW was $779 at Lowe's and $779.99 at Best Buy on 2026-11-08. Home Depot's price for that day isn't included, so no store is named cheapest. Delivery, required parts, installation and removal can change the order, and Best Buy's price match excludes delivery and installation. Compare the same work, seller and return terms before paying.
Comparing shelf prices
Price the same brand, model number and color at each store on the same day, checking availability as well as the item price. Then get delivery, installation and any removal itemized for the same address. Keep those details with the quote so a change in service or model does not pass unnoticed as a lower price.
The white GE GFW550SSNWW front-load washer provides a same-model example. On 2026-11-08, Lowe's showed $779 as a sale price ending November 11, down from $1,099, for the store its page had selected. Best Buy showed $779.99 as a holiday deal. Both pages identify the same model and color, and both prices are before delivery, installation, removal and tax. A 99-cent gap decides nothing; the services added to each will. Home Depot's page was not readable that day, so this is a two-store example, not a ranking of all three.
Add the same required parts and services from each store, then see whether the lower item price survives them.
GE's own GFW550SSNWW page states that the model is no longer being manufactured (checked 2026-11-01). That does not mean the stores have run out: both pages above still offered it for delivery. Sale prices on a discontinued model can end quickly, as Lowe's November 11 date shows.
Delivery, installation and haul-away
Here is what each store's service page said when it was read on 2026-10-23.
| Store | Delivery | Installation | Haul-away of the old unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home Depot | Varies by zip code; cost is applied in the cart | Offered; charge not stated | Offered for an additional charge |
| Lowe's | Quoted for your address | Quoted for your address | $50 with delivery of a new appliance; free for select MyLowe's Pro Rewards members |
| Best Buy | Quoted for your address | Quoted for your address | $49.99 with a replacement product delivered by Geek Squad or Best Buy Home Delivery; $199.99 for standalone haul-away of up to 2 large products |
Use the same address and model for every quote. A full cart total makes the service differences visible before you pay.
Best Buy's removal costs four times as much without a replacement delivery, so book it with the new washer. Tied to a delivery, Lowe's $50 and Best Buy's $49.99 are within a dollar of each other, and a select MyLowe's Pro Rewards member pays nothing at Lowe's.
If one quote includes removal of the old unit and another covers only the new delivery, get the same work quoted by each before choosing. Otherwise you would be comparing a complete service with a partial one.
The washer or fridge already in the apartment often belongs to the landlord, so check with your landlord before you pay anyone to remove it. Also find out what installation covers in your building, such as water and drain hookups, gas or vent connections, or taking off doors to get through a narrow hallway. Settle that at checkout, not when the truck arrives.
Price matching
Best Buy's Price Match Guarantee, read on 2026-10-23, matches "the current price" of its Qualified Competitors on identical new products, meaning the same brand, model number and color, that are immediately available. It excludes marketplace, clearance, refurbished and open-box items. It also excludes delivery and installation service prices. Check Best Buy's Qualified Competitors list before you count on a match against Home Depot or Lowe's.
Add the separately quoted delivery, installation and haul-away charges to any matched product price. Compare that total with the other stores' quotes for the same work. Home Depot's and Lowe's matching terms aren't covered here; if you rely on one, check that it applies to your exact model number and color, and whether it covers the item price only or the delivered total.
Returning a major appliance
Best Buy's return policy, checked again 2026-11-01, lists 15 days for most products and 60 days for My Best Buy Plus and Total members, counted from receipt. Its extended membership windows exclude Marketplace purchases.
The policy also excludes major appliances from shipping returns. So the general membership table doesn't settle returns for a washer: check the window, condition rules and pickup arrangement shown for the exact washer and seller in your order before paying.
For Home Depot and Lowe's, find out before you pay how many days you have from delivery to return a major appliance, whether an installed unit can be returned, who arranges the pickup, and whether any delivery or haul-away charge is refunded. Write down the answers. If a fridge doesn't fit the space, the cost of sending it back can be larger than any price difference between the three stores.
Measure the opening, the doorways and the route into the building before you order, so the return policy is a backup. The measuring guide covers how to do this, and this site's cost page shows how appliances fit into the full cost of setting up an apartment.
Allow for electricity separately
Running cost is a separate budget line. This site's appliance list uses $0.1834 per kWh, the US average residential price in EIA's Electric Power Monthly table 5.3 for June 2026 (on this site's list, checked 2026-08-22). It also assumes yearly electricity use by household size. The two estimates below are this site's arithmetic and are illustrations:
| Appliance | Household | Yearly use | This site's estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fridge | 2 people | 500 kWh | 500 × $0.1834 = about $92 a year |
| Washing machine | 1 person | 100 kWh | 100 × $0.1834 = about $18 a year |
These estimates come from household size and the average rate, not from any store's price. They show how much of the cost of owning an appliance sits outside the purchase price.
Sources
- Home Depot: Appliance Delivery & Installation
- Lowe's: Truck delivery help
- Best Buy: Recycling and haul-away
- Best Buy: Price Match Guarantee
- Best Buy: Return & Exchange Policy
- costofcomfort.com: Apartment furniture list (appliance energy figures, EIA June 2026 rate)
- Home Depot: GE GFW550SSNWW (checked 2026-11-01)
- Best Buy: GE GFW550SSNWW (checked 2026-11-01)
- Lowe's: GE GFW550SSNWW (checked 2026-11-01)
- GE Appliances: GFW550SSNWW (checked 2026-11-01)