Chinese appliances now. 3-5 year life spans.
Old fridge or washer/dryer would last 20-30 years.
Total ripoff!
“Chinese appliances now. 3-5 year life spans.”
All of our appliances are on year six with no problems.
“Old fridge or washer/dryer would last 20-30 years.”
My mother’s fridge is on year 17.
My GE washer is a 1976, my GE dryer is a 1973, still going strong. New appliances are junk. I know what I’m talking about, I was a GE service tech for 31 years until last October.
As a result of the sale to the Chinese I was eligible to take my pension early and I got out. Couldn’t stand trying to explain why the product sucked.
BUT,, the freezer part of the refrigerator was inly 12 X 12. And you could only defrost it after LOTS of trouble.
Now i can get endless ice THROUGH THE DOOR without filling ice trays. And there are No ice trays!!! The water fills without having to do a thing.
I could go on and n .... yes, they did last forever but we added lots of features and made it a two door with separate freezer and NO FROST .... it never freezes over!!!
i’m sorry, but appliances last more than 3-5 years. I have a 7 year old refrigerator and 5 year old washer and dryer that are just chugging right along. And they have more features and use less power than those build 30 years ago.
I know the posts deriding anything new, and telling us how great the old days were are popular, but most of the time they’re crap.
I bought my mother a Slovenian made clothes washer at Home Depot in 2003. It was dirt cheap. Don’t see them any more at Home Depot.
Built like a russian tank - simple, crude, and just keeps on going. 100% mechanical, no electronics. The internal water heater heats water to 200F. Whites are boiled clean. Mom loves it
That Slovenian machine will outlive us all.
Don’t look now, but a Korean company will be making appliances in the U.S.
As for lasting 20 years, try the simpler home appliances. Contrast a car to a microwave. If something goes wrong with a microwave, you throw it out. It’s “totaled,” meaning not worth repairing. But, with a car, if something goes bad, you repair or replace that one thing. Cars are so expensive, that they’re only totaled when they sustain significant damage.
If you do buy a top-end home appliance, e.g., a refrigerator with things like an ice dispenser, consider buying a warranty along with it. Let the manufacturer worry about repairing it or totaling it. Or, buy multiple simple appliances. One to refrigerate and the another to make ice.
Instead of buying a top-end refrigerator with ice-make costing $1500 to 3000, buy one of these along with a simple refrigerator:
https://www.amazon.com/ice-makers/b?ie=UTF8&node=2399939011
Our Kitchen Aid washing machine and drier made in Findlay Ohio are in their 17th year running strong.
“Planned Obsolescence”...
I’m using a 20+ year old washer & dryer set. The advice I get is to keep using until they fail because the new ones are governed by wash/dry cycles set by enviro lawyers & politicians so that cleaning what I want, how I want is damn near impossible.
Just replaced a 4 year old LG washing machine.
Also had to replace heating element in matching dryer last year. Not impressed at all. Life is not so Good.