I find myself shopping for my 5th Refrigerator, a year after shopping for our 4th dishwasher (in approx 17 years)
Microwaves last 6 years, and my year old Samsung Washer AND dryer have had to been repaired once under warranty.
When shopping for the dishwasher, I asked the young’un selling them ‘You put dirty dishes in and get clean dishes out, what makes this one $300 and that one over there $3200?’
He looked at me like I was the first person ever to form that question.
Back to my 5th refrigerator. The 4th one has been repaired thrice, for water and ice delivery issues. It’s a GE…I don’t recall every really having issues with GE.
How on earth do I find a Fridge that lasts? I hear anecdotes about Bosch and Samsung, I’ve never owned an LG, I have no clue if they’re good or not. (Nor, I suspect, does Consumer Reports, how do you tell if it’ll last 10 years in a new test? If I drop nearly $2g’s on one, it really ought to last more than a decade.
With the frequency they change models and designs, and based on good brands going bad over time, how on earth do you shop for one with the expectation of having it actually last?
I start with reviews. For large, non-chef level appliances, I use Consumer Reports. They rate on a number of categories, and also include a handy list of brands and likeliness of repair.
Then I start comparison shopping online at stores like Home Depot, Sears, and CostCo, to see who has models with features that I like and the right prices points. I try to keep an eye out for sales. With large appliances I find that I can save 40-60% if I can afford to be patient. There are often reviews on those sites, but usually there aren’t many and they are heavily weighted to love/hate. I ignore them unless I can validate them elsewhere.
To answer your dishwasher question, for example, you are likely paying for noise reduction, flexibility, extra features, and brand. I am willing to pay more for noise reductions and some extra features, but I haven’t had to go more than $1200 yet to get what I want.
I’ve been warned by several people that today’s appliances are crap when compared to what was sold in the 70’s and 80’s.
My Fridge, Washer and Dryer all lasted almost thirty years each. I bought them when I bought my house in 1989. Fridge had the freezer fan replaced. The plug and cord on the dryer melted. I had the cord replaced and an electrician installed a new 220 receptacle.
I knew the clock was ticking. Repairs are costly. Replacing the freezer fan in my fridge was almost $140 including parts & labor.
I’ve replaced all three appliances. I’m very apprehensive that they won’t even last 20 years.
I went with top price appliances. My Samsung fridge was over $2200. I bought Maytag washer & dryer.
We’ve had pretty good luck doing research first, to determine what the features are, whether or not we need them, and roughly what price tiers include which features. The hard part comes in comparison shopping between stores (certainly by design), because one store’s GE Quantum is not quite another store’s GE Ultimate, etc…
So what we’ve had good luck doing (at least as recently as 2013) is to basically identify the price tier that we want to get, and then start looking at the online reviews for models with more than some arbitrary number- say… 300, and which ones are highest rated. We look at the distribution of the reviews- ideally you want them clustered toward the 4-5 star reviews. And we read a lot of the bad ones, and some of the good ones as well.
Generally speaking you can find good models if you’re diligent and have some leeway in your spending of about $150 or so and you’re not absolutely stuck on one specific feature or brand. That’s where they get you, I think. If you can stay within a somewhat wide price range, and be willing to branch out as far as brands and features go, you’ll be able to use the reviews to find a very good model.
FYI- Since about 2011-ish, we’ve replaced a refrigerator, washer, dryer, 2 dishwashers (the first was godawful; it didn’t clean worth a shit), oven/range and built-in microwave, and we’re very satisfied with what we ended up with based on the strategy. Interestingly enough, for the laundry stuff, we ended up with GE stuff, and the kitchen is Maytag, with the exception of the refrigerator which is a Frigidaire. And not coincidentally, the least satisfactory, because we were stuck on stainless steel counter-depth fridges, which gave us very little freedom.
The problem is that it’s not the features I’m particularly concerned with. I’d much rather NOT have an Android tablet in the door and a smaller door in the larger door so you can door while you door.
I’m no stranger to installing a hard start kit in year 11 on the way to having a 14 year fridge replacement, what I’m dissapointed with is…being disappointed with the new appliance purchases. The Samsung stuff looked nifty, but while watching the repairs, you can see that they’re running the absolute minimum material necessary to sell the appliance. (A bearing on a tensioner failed…I swear to god they’re the same skate bearings my son uses on his skateboard.
If there were a ‘you must spend at least X’ or ‘Brand Y is an exceptional value’, that’d be great, but the market is so fragmented (different model numbers at the Big Box Store as at the Appliance Outlet), that it’s impossible to make an educated decision.
I’m fixing the water delivery on the Fridge one last time (because face it, I don’t HAVE a spare $1500 and I don’t WANT 2 years same as cash debt right now.), once was the solenoid, the second time it was the flow control at the water filter…it’s this stupid little wedge that opens a valve when you screw on a new filter…I suspect that’s what the problem is now, as I’ve got both lines off that part and I can’t blow air through them.
Compare the relative prices then and now. Okay, so you bought top of the line - fridge was $2200. Most people don’t pay that much. I saw a 1980 advertisement for a top-freezer refrigerator and it was $469 - roughly $1380 for the inflation calculator I looked at. On Sears.com today, not a single top-freezer refrigerator cost that much. People like cheaper goods, and if there isn’t enough market to make the more expensive (but more reliable) ones, they don’t get made.
I’ve also heard energy efficiency hurts reliability, but I really don’t understand why it would. Maybe in washing machines, with moving parts, the lower water usage functionality could hurt reliability, but why would it hurt refrigerators?
Edit: for the record, the only appliance I’ve had to replace in the last 9 years is a toaster. And it was cheap. Did replace an element in oven (cost maybe $30?). Did move a couple years ago, and only appliance I took with me was washer/dryer. Parents have old microwave in shop. All three doing okay. But 9 years isn’t a lifetime. FTR, none of these appliances was high-end. Old stuff was in a trailer, so you know what to expect there. Maytag washer/dryer was second-cheapest available.
Appliances have more problems because manufacturers have jammed so much technology into them, which is difficult/impossible to repair, expensive to replace, and prone to heat and vibration issues.
When our washer control panel began malfunctioning after only about four or five years, I got into Sears’ appliance insurance program. I paid $60 for the guys to come out and replace the $500 module. Next up was the oven, which was off by 25 degrees. $60 to adjust it and to replace a faulty ignition (gas). They will repair any major appliance, regardless of manufacturer or place of purchase and even have options for your furnace/AC if you want it. And get this: if they are unable to repair it, they will replace it. I can’t remember offhand what we’re paying per month, but I do know that we are, at this point, money ahead.
Just a random anecdotal yet personal data point for you: My fridge is a lower budget Sears Kenmore that is approaching its 13th birthday. It does not make ice or dispense water or anything special. Maybe keeping it simple is the way to go.
I am a great reader of reviews - I find Amazon reviews excellent for opinion forming. I start off with a list of essential features: My fridge/freezer must be large (we use it as a larder), dispense water and ice, be reliable.
We are fortunate to have an excellent warehouse supplier in the UK with a good website and reasonable prices including next-day delivery and installation. They are my first port of call for large appliances, followed by the major retailers. We might also visit a retail site to get some hands-on experience of the product.
All of that said - I know that some brands have a reputation for being more reliable than others - I never mind paying for quality, but I won’t pay for gimmicks.
The last time I had a repair, it was because an electronics panel that regulated the temperature in the upper section of my refrigerator failed.
The repair guy said that was his most common service call for refrigerators. So I asked him which makes were better and which were worse. He said the compressors can last forever, the defrost units can last forever, but it’s the electronic panels that always fail.
So I guess the answer is to get appliances that don’t have any electronic controls or features. Good luck.
For me appliances always come down to space and features. I have a certain size space I want to fill and for me I want as few frills and extra features as I can get. Features like ice-makers and the like I have always found to be “weak points” while more basic models tend to last forever for me. Our stove is over 30 years old and our fridge is over 12 — we’ve had 2 in 40 years. I always go KISS when we’re talking major appliances.
Of course, we both drive sticks so ----------- YMMV.
I was told this too by a guy who maintain our washers and dryers at my condo , he worked at an appliances store . I told the guy that our machines are getting old they’re at least 14 years old by now and wanted to know when we could get new ones . The guy said the machines today are crap and don’t last as long and we could get 10 years more out of the ones we have . I have used Consumer Report , I was able to use it online for free but I not sure if you can do this anymore.
My wife and daughter are at this moment looking at new refrigerators…
Consumer Reports is fine, but the amount of details in their reviews doesn’t match what they did years ago. It’s worthwhile to see the repair rates by brand. They’re not satisfied with most of the higher-end brands.
Like others said, read reviews on Amazon, Lowes and Home Depot. The last fridge we bought had the features we like, but it’s really noisy (GE). I wish I had noticed that in the reviews.
Check and see if your utility company offers an appliance service plan. We have one that covers our kitchen appliances (including the dishwasher, which is extra), but also the A/C and furnace and washer/dryer. We’ve come out ahead over the last two years on these, mostly replacing electronics controls.
Speaking of refrigerators, they have gotten HUGE! Make sure you measure your openings before you shop. I found the dimensions hard to find in the stores; the manuals are usually inside a bottom drawer if the dimensions aren’t clearly posted.
So I looked a little closer at the fridge today. The waterline goes into the fridge around the filter location and another line goes from the same spot down to the solenoid switch. I disconnected the lines and blew into them. As I suspected - no water was getting through the filter assembly. How ironic that the part they added to develop a little recurring income, is also the part that fails prematurely.
There’s a cutoff valve in the filter assembly so you can switch filters without shutting off the water. It’s actuated with the teenyest little wedge shaped lever, which I suspect has been mangled into failure.
So I used a push-connector and cut the hoses to bypass the filter (I felt very star treckian, bypassing a broken system to keep the rest of the system in the battle.)
Got it all back together to find I couldn’t get the hose from the wall to the fridge to stop leaking…they’re one-use-items, ya know.
New line and the fridge is once again making ice…unfiltered ice.
We’ve had this thing maybe 5 years. What REALLY bugs me is: it’s got a crappy ice maker. During all the defrost cycles, I reduces the ice in the tray into a single monolithic mass that I have to break out and manually pitch every couple of months.
But that’s the kind of thing you don’t notice right away, which was the reason for this thread.
What blows my mind is: While waiting on the guy at the parts counter, I wantered over to the new Fridges. There’s two Freezers. Same brand…nearly the same volume (26 cu ft or so), the look nearly identical…and one is DOUBLE the price of the other ($1400 vs $3200)…WTF?
You’re not sampling a wide enough variety of stores. If you want to buy something like that today, you use your computer. Looking up the model online, there will be a clear list of feature differences. You’ll be able to check all the major stores online with a few clicks. And, like always, the lowest prices for a given model are always found during a deal. It’s quite possible that the cheaper one was under a heavy discount deal and that the normal price difference is smaller.
You can easily cut and splice with that pex stuff, and get yourself a replacement filter, again, online, for $20 or so.
Now the next issue is which deals are “real” : actually below market price, and which ones are fake. Mattress stores are perpetually always pulling gimmicks and making their overpriced mattresses regular price.
Least time consuming way I know of is the specific website slickdeals. It’s user driven and pretty much all the deals that hit the front page on that site are real. So if I were shopping for a fridge, slickdeals would be the first thing I’d hit, then I’d check reviews of that particular model.
Because the new technology keeps getting more energy efficient, you don’t want to repair your old appliances. You want them to last about 7 years and then you want to get new, better, more energy efficient ones. Buy mid-range appliances, they should last 7 years. When they break, buy new. The improved energy efficiency should pay for itself, compared to getting it repaired.
I know there are people out there who are very proud of their top-loading washing machine from the '70s, but they’re paying more in bills.
I dived into this last year when my washing broke. Getting it repaired would not have been that much cheaper than getting a new one (cheaper, but not much). The new one earns itself back with its super efficient setting. It has a ridiculous jingle though, which becomes an earworm. It’s the saddest thing to have your washing machine’s jingle stuck in your head.
It doesn’t even need be the “right” kind of maintenance guy; for example, in Spain Fagor has all kinds of appliances and a very good image, but they’ve also been circling the drain for about twenty years. Any repairman can tell you to avoid them: yes, design is good, but if you ever need a part you’re screwed and that applies whether we’re talking about their fridges, their blenders or their gas heaters.
The first thing I do is check space and decide which features I need and which ones I want. For example at one point I was hunting for a fridge with separate cooler and freezer motors, and the ability to have either one on without the other. The one model I found with that feature and in the right size happened to be steel, but I would have bought it if it had been Barbie Pink. It would have looked like shit in a mostly-green kitchen, but just don’t look.
