We have a GE refrigerator in our basement that has been running for 45 years!
My 8YO coffee maker died this very morning. Having the bottom rust out of my water heater and flood the basement was twenty times more inconvenient and considerably more expensive to replace … but Saturday morning without coffee?! twitch
Also, garbage disposal.
Gas cooker, a few years back. And I was lucky. That constant slight headache I’d had for a couple of weeks? I was in the kitchen one day, caught a very faint whiff of gas and realised that the little fucker was leaking.
And a few months ago our washing machine started going BANGABANGABANGAWHIRRRRR and smelling strongly of burning rubber.
Our septic tank pump isn’t quite a “household appliance”, but fits nicely under “pooped out”.
A few years ago, the gas stove went (I figured it out when it filled the kitchen with gas), and our dishwasher has also pooped out.
Within the last month or so: a plate glass shower door exploded–luckily while no one was home, the car’s AC died–happily the weather is cooling down, my glasses fell apart in my hands, and a dining room chair was destroyed. I think the universe wants me to be a Zen Buddhist.
I’ve only lived here 6 years. I replaced the washer & dryer with new before even trying the old ones, and even though my fridge was second hand when I got it, it worked until I replaced it on a whim.
I thought I was doing awesome, not even losing a computer or anything, until I got to “sump pump.”
I’ve had to buy TWO in 6 years. TWO!!! And I had a backup installed last time. Hopefully I don’t need another one any time soon.
Wow, I didn’t realize how lucky I’ve been. My home is 20 years old and I’ve been in it 10. I replaced the furnace at the same time as the AC when the AC crapped out last summer. I did it because of the tax break and got a much more efficient furnace. I’ve replaced the original microwave. Other than the washer and gas dryer, everything else that came with the house is still working (knock on wood).
I had to buy a washer and dryer when I moved in, so I purchased a low-buck, energy star front loading washer. It crapped out on me a couple of years ago. I replaced the motorboard and it ran for another 18 months. It up and died again just after I had forked out the money for the new furnace. I replaced it with an LG that I am very happy with. The cheapo dryer still works great though.
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We have a GE refrigerator in our basement that has been running for 45 years!
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I can’t even begin to imagine how much electricity that thing is wasting.
In the past years, I can’t even remember how many printers I’ve gone through.
Just in the last year:
My cell phone-Samsung something with a touch screen, screen failed while within warranty period. Replaced at no cost.
The Dryer-Heating element went out, replaced it ourselves with very little problems.
Digital Camera-No idea why, but the damn (cheap) thing just wouldn’t work anymore. Bought a much better model.
Most of the appliances in our house were circa-1980s anyway, so we just resigned ourselves to the fact that we’d have to replace most of them. Since we moved in, we’ve replaced the furnace (it was cracked, and the furnace tech just advised us to replace it), the washer and dryer (the washer died), the water heater (I don’t think it died, it was just old and starting to go), the dishwasher (died) and the fridge (died). I’ve got the stove, the air conditioner, and the water softener left, I think - and the stove’s got a ceramic glass top, which is broken over the two left burners (we’re saving up to replace it.)
We’ve got a microwave, but don’t use it for much - reheating and popcorn, basically. It’s 11 years old, but going strong.
Washers and Refrigerators: I’m surprised that the poll percentages aren’t higher; in my experience, 4 - 5 years is an excellent lifespan.
Toasters: I don’t know why we still bother - I honestly don’t think we’ve ever had one that lasted more than a year.
Printers: I’ve never had problems with the printer itself, it’s the ink cartridges that tend to crap out on me. I’ve had a colour cartridge that stopped printing anything that wasn’t either red or yellow, and a black cartridge that, half way through printing a page, suddenly spewed out a load of garbage characters and couldn’t be made to work again (the printer itself was fine - I’m guessing that the cartridge’s firmware somehow screwed itself up). These cartridges weren’t cheap, and still had about 90% of the ink remaining.
Games Console Controllers: I will never buy unofficial controllers again. My official PS2 controller finally bit the dust after more than 8 years of service, and I replaced it with an unofficial wireless one. It lasted less than 3 weeks (maybe 15 hours of gaming in total) - in fact, it died before the batteries even needed recharging (but just after the 14 day refund period expired… how convenient). As I couldn’t get my money back I decided to open it up. I found a large black scorch mark on the circuit board; it had cooked itself.
This isn’t really an appliance, but… Light Bulbs: a couple of years ago, we went through a period where no less than 10 bulbs blew in 3 weeks!
Microwave: 21 years and still going strong.
PC Hardware: Apart from the aforementioned printer ink cartridges, I’ve never had a hardware failure in 12 years of owning PCs.
my favorite little four-cupper went on to that Great Kitchen in the Sky this morning. 
i had it for almost ten years.
on the other hand, my mother’s jurassic-era Osterizer (an ancient brand of blender), which was a wedding present 57 years ago, is still going strong.
I just replaced the TV set that the folks bought for me Xmas of '87 with an HD flat screen after it had the audacity to crap out on me.
I replaced the microwave that I began housekeeping with in the early eighties about three years ago when the fan motor died.
Over the years in houses and apartments, I’ve had several AC units and refrigerators crap out on me. Oh, yeah, I forgot to check water heaters. My last two apartments both had water heaters bite the big one. Coffee makers? I just plan to replace them every couple of years, except the old, stove-top percolater I keep primarily for camping. Toasters? I think the one I have is the first one I ever bought. Cars? I’ve worn out many old beaters over the years.
After 21 years of service, our Whirlpool washer died (the water pump stopped pumping).
I had fixed two years ago, but I figured it made no sense to spend more money on it-so we bought a new Maytag. The new machine is better in every way-but I doubt it will last as long.
Regarding other appliances: my main beef is with cordless phones-we had a Panasonic (made in Japan) years ago that lasted 10 years-near the end, the thing was held together with duct tape. Now the ones we have bought (Sony, Panasonic, GE) all seem to fail within 18 months to two years:smack:
When I opened this I was thinking that I would just be reporting my water heater. I guess it was memorable because it had the terrible timing of breaking down 2 days before I was scheduled for surgery necessitating organizational feats of brilliance in order to get people covering all necessary locations (dogs, holding my hand, waiting for plumber).
As I went down the list however I remembered the dishwasher and AC that didn’t technically break down on me, the seller of the house lied about the AC(It had been on FIRE, there was actual melted wires and fire extinguisher foam inside) and changed the dishwasher between inspection and closing. I blew up a snowblower in the great winter storm of 1999 in Toronto, had a lawn mower we inherited from my in laws finally give up the ghost and our 30 yr old Sony TV finally stopped working a year after I gave it to the kids.
In general though, very good luck with most items.
I’ve been living in this house for very nearly 40 years, so you can imagine lots of appliances have had to be replaced. We’ve had three fridges. The current one, five years old, needs new plastic trays which are cracked. Generally the insides work fine; it is the plastic crap they use that breaks. We had a B&W TV until we acquired a used Color in 1976, which last till 1991, when we bought a new one. This stopped working on 9/09/01 and a repairman came and took it away on 9/10 and returned it repaired on 9/12 so that we missed seeing the events of 9/11. Just as well. We’ve probably had 4 or 5 washers and as many dryers. The latter seems to have continual problems. And 3 dishwashers. Our CD player no longer opens, although if I pry it open it plays fine. We’ve had maybe 3 coffee grinders. But the best has been a 30 year old original Cuisinart. The machine works fine, but the bowl seems unreplaceable and seems to be losing corners. Since more modern machines have been hedged with so many safety features that they are almost unusable, it will be a wrench when we have to replace it (we use it a lot!) I gave up on toasters but we have what is probably a 20 year-old toaster oven that works fine. New cars have lasted me first 13 years, then 17 and now I have one that is 4.
Computers don’t so much wear out as become obsolete. Laptop batteries eventually stop taking a charge, but still run powered. My very first laptop, 1990 vintage, lost its screen after a couple years, but all the rest still work. I powered up a 1995 one a few months ago and it ran fine (on Win-95). I haven’t tried it in years, but the last time I did my 1982 IBM-PC (2 diskette drives, no HD, 640 K of memory) still ran. A visitor used it as a dumb terminal for a year. This was before web access was common, but it was fine for email.
Both our refrigerators died in the same year. One is extroverted, and chose a spectacular death with sparks, smoke and loud noises. Everyone in the house heard its swan song, and we were able to move quickly and save all the food. The other one, the introvert, decided to slit its wires in the garage one night and no one noticed for a week. We lost 80 pounds of venison to that one.
Since when are cars, digital cameras, lawn mowers and cell phones “household appliances”?
Our water heater worked for probably 12 years before it started making odd gurgling noises. Some attention was paid to it and it chugged along about two more years before it finally crapped out, in the middle of winter, naturally.
Our gas furnace died December 31 a few years ago. Fortunately we have a heatilator fire place and that gets the house warm. The new furnace was installed on January 2nd.
The one that was suppose to last the longest was the roof. About five years ago ( the same years as the furnace crapping out issue) we knew we could not put off reroofing the house. The shingles were suppose to last 20 years and didn’t, and the company that made them went out of business because of the product or something. So crapping out $5k for a new roof like that was not a happygoodtime.