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Black Friday home goods deals: Best bargains will be on small appliances

Although a washer-dryer or pair of drapes might not make the most exciting of Black Friday purchases, you'd be remiss to rule out saving on home items during the biggest shopping season of the year.

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Jean-Marc Giboux/ AP Images for Kmart/File
A woman checks out a cartful of blenders at Kmart in Chicago.

Although a washer-dryer or pair of drapes might not make the most exciting of Black Friday purchases, you'd be remiss to rule out saving on home items during the biggest shopping season of the year. In the past, we've seen prices drop to all-time lows on a wide range of essentials from big brand kitchen appliances to groceries.

This year for our Black Friday predictions, we've created a "cheat sheet" with the top tips you need to know when shopping this season. For savvy consumers who want more information, scroll down for our in-depth analysis.

So what can you expect from Black Friday home deals? Read on below! Then, consider signing up for the DealNews Select newsletter to keep track of the latest deals in your inbox, or download our app to have them at your fingertips.

The Cheat Sheet: Black Friday Home Predictions

Prices to Expect

  • Small appliances starting at $3
  • Major-brand coffee makers starting at $65, K-Cup multi-packs for as low as $8
  • Major appliances discounted by up to 90% off
  • Power tools and kits starting at $10

6 Quick Shopping Tips You Need to Know

  • The best day for home deals will be Thanksgiving, since that's when Editors' Choice deals spike.
  • Be sure to check out Home Depot: Around 40% of the store's Editors' Choice offers will be on home goods.
  • Looking for tools? Black Friday will be the best day to shop for top tool deals.
  • Keurig coffee machines will fall to best-ever prices on Thanksgiving.
  • Amazon's Lightning Deals section will disappoint home goods shoppers; last year only 18% of its top deals were for home deals.
  • Super cheap appliance deals, at all-time low prices, may require mail-in rebates or in-store pickup.

Want more details on how, what, where, and when to buy home good deals this Black Friday? Then check out our full analysis below.

When to Shop

Prices Will Drop Early...

Increasingly, we're seeing major stores announce their Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving or evenearlier as each outlet tries to beat the competition and drop its prices first.

Starbucks and Sears both kicked off their sales on Thanksgiving last year, while Bed Bath & Beyond's Black Friday deals section opened up a whole three days before the main event. Most stores also start the week off with a pre-Black Friday sale, which Home Depot, Cymax, and Sears Outlet all did in 2015.

But Wait Until Thanksgiving to Splurge on Your Home

That said, while deals are aplenty in the run-up to the day, it may come as no surprise that we traditionally see the highest number of Editors' Choice-worthy home deals on Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

Nearly half of the home deals we posted on Thanksgiving were at Editors' Choice prices, making that the single best day to shop.

For comparison, just 8% of the home offers we listed last September and October were deemed good enough for our lauded Editors' Choice nod, while a massive 48% on Thanksgiving were good enough to meet the mark. Black Friday trailed behind slightly with 43%, while 40% of Cyber Monday's home deals made the cut (although we listed significantly fewer home goods in general once Cyber Monday rolled around).

What to Buy

Small Appliances Will Drop to as Low as $3

If your kitchen is in need of some refurbishment, we recommend you wait until Black Friday week to at least stock up on those all-essential small appliances: from toasters to kettles and pressure cookers to hand mixers. Last year, and on a number of Black Fridays past, we saw some incredible Editors' Choice offers on small appliances — provided you didn't mind redeeming a mail-in rebate to nab the deal.

Looking at the spike in hot kitchen deals from last year's Black Friday week, we anticipate that around 50% of this year's small appliance offers will earn the Editors' Choice nod, in comparison with a typical 19% from the rest of the year.

Prices on these appliances fell to as low as just $3 apiece, predominantly at mega department stores which boasted sitewide coupons, like Kohl's, Kmart, and Bon-Ton. Although some of the deals did require rebate hassles or in-store pickup, the price lows were among the best we'd seen throughout the entire Black Friday season. Irons and hand mixers dropped to $3 for example, while toaster ovens were available from just $10 and Cuisinart food processors fell to as low as $30.

Keurig Coffee Machines & K-Cup Packs Will Hit All-Time Low Prices

We're expecting roughly half of all K-cup and coffee machine deals to be discounted to Editors' Choice prices during Black Friday week, with Thanksgiving hosting the very best of the offers. For comparison, throughout the year, we typically only see about 20% of these deals at Editors' Choice prices.

This is prime time to score Keurig-brand machines in particular. A number of big stores, most notably Target and Kohl's, dropped the appliances to their best-ever prices — if you account for a bundled gift card that yielded a lower net price. (In these instances, if you didn't use the gift card, the price was just OK.) Not a fan of gift cards? Walmart omitted the gift card from its deals, but still threw up some Editors' Choice offers on the big brand brewers.

The value to some Keurig deals will come in the form of a large free gift card. Make sure it's a card that you can use though, otherwise the deal might not be that great for your bottom line.

And if you need to stock up for your Keurig-style machine, K-cup multi-packs offer amazing value. Last year, 48-packs fell to as low as $10, if you didn't mind a trip in-store at the likes of Best Buy and Home Depot. Also, the kings of coffee, Starbucks, also joined the fray on Thanksgiving when it kicked off its all-things caffeine-related Black Friday sale, with prices as low as $4 on beans, tumblers, and other coffee accoutrements.

Big Sales On Major Appliances

During the rest of the year, a quarter of the deals we list on washing machines, refrigerators, and other household essentials are best of the year prices. But during Black Friday week, about 35% of major appliance deals earn that distinction.

Generally, it's the major department stores that offer the best deals on major appliances once their pre- and then actual Black Friday sales kick off. Because many of these stores flaunt once-a-year coupon offers, like Home Depot did last year, or free sitewide shipping, like Target or Sears Outlet, we always see a selection of Editors' Choice lows on washers, dryers, and ovens. For some other appliances, look for dishwashers starting at $250, and chest freezers from $135.

Discount D.I.Y. Is on the Cards With Cheap Tools

Whether you're a D.I.Y. expert or hapless handyman, Black Friday is the best time to stock up on top tool deals, as roughly one fourth of these deals will earn the Editors' Choice rating — muchhigher than the rest of the year.

We expect the bulk of these Editors' Choice tool offers to be available at large department stores that are offering limited time free shipping or additional coupon offers. Home Depot took the lead last year, listing a healthy number of tools on Black Friday itself. Even power tools are super affordable this time of year, with power saws starting at $20 and drills from $55.

Where to Shop

Skip Amazon and Shop at Department Stores Instead

Although Amazon is the undefeated champion of Black Friday Editor's Choice deals, just 18% of these were for home goods. Meanwhile, 96% of Home Depot's Editor's Choice offers were on, you guessed it, home items. So, if you're on the hunt for big discounts on home refurbishment items, tools, and appliances, shop department stores like Sears, Kohl's, and Home Depot instead of Amazon.

Home Depot rarely touts sitewide coupon offers or free shipping, but on a number of Black Fridays past we've seen the store break out those cost-cutting codes, which helps it undercut the prices of appliances and tools at Walmart or Lowe's.

Home Depot will likely have a rare free shipping offer this Black Friday, which will sweeten the price of many of the store's appliance deals.

Sears should be the next store on your list, as 77% of the outlet's Editor's Choice offers were on home items. Deals included highly discounted Kenmore appliances and super cheap bedding offers that were among the most popular deals of the entire season. Sears Outlet is also a must, as it frequently advertises the best appliance sale of the Black Friday season, coupled with free sitewide shipping.

Also worth your time are Kohl's and JCPenney. The department stores rarely disappoint, especially if you're shopping dinnerware and bedding deals, as they generally break out their biggest coupon codes of the year during the Black Friday shopping season.

This article first appeared in DealNews. 

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