Grumble, grumble, another appliance rant

[Pilot]

Earlier post was about refrigerators, how they don't make them like they used to--really. Our '78 model lasted until 2002 and we replaced it rather than repairing because we suckered into the claim that energy savings would cover the cost of a new unit. It's replacement lasted about 5 years and sales people said to expect new ones to last about 8-10 years. All this is because of the drive for energy efficiency, which doesn't consider the energy cost of manufacturing, shipping and trashing of the unit when it wears out in just a few years.

Now it's the dishwasher. Installed when we built the house 20 years ago, but the rollers in the racks have worn out, they wobble and when you pull out the racks, the rails don't stay aligned and it drips water onto the hardwood floor. You can no longer get replacement rollers or racks. Otherwise the dishwasher performs like new. So for the lack of replacement rollers which should cost less than $5 each, it's time to replace the whole thing.

Looking at new dishwashers, the sales people say to expect about 10-12 years at most and are impressed we got 20 years. Racks on most of what we have looked at wobble and the Bosch models, which CR says are the best, the tines are too close together to really fit our dishes (we tried our dishes on the floor models). Real world customer reviews on any makes I could find are generally not favorable on any of them. Exceptions are when you find only one or two people posted about their dishwasher they have had for a week. And they all have circuit boards, prone to failure (according to reports) which will go out with a power surge which are common around here in the winter storms or they just decide to go bad, which happened to our 2 year old stove. Our old dishwasher has a mechanical timer, not bothered by surges. And most new dishwashers take about 2 hours or more to wash and dry, while our old one takes about 45 minutes. Lastly, Maytag really doesn't make them like they used to (we still have our trouble free 1978 Maytag washing machine) because Maytag is made by someone else now.

I'd be tempted to have some roller custom made, even if it cost $200, but I'd probably have another unavailable $5 part fail 2 months later.

If anyone is happy with their late model dishwasher, I'd like to hear about it, make & model.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

We just replaced our dishwasher, stove and microwave with new Maytags. Big mistake. Don't know what I would buy next time, but it sure wouldn't be Maytag.

 

[sweettractors]

Our last refrigerator was a Maytag and lasted 8 yrs with 4-5 service calls during that time period. Replaced it with a Samsung this summer. Also replaced washer and dryer with Samsung this summer. Lots of electronic stuff on these new machines. Time will tell if they will hold up? Ken Sweet

 

[Bird]

We bought this place in 2005 (about 7 years and 2 months ago) and there's a 1999 model KitchenAid dishwasher, Model KUDC25CHBL-1, in it. No problems so far, and my wife likes it.

 

[Bikewanderer]

I have some rental property. I currently own 8 dishwashers and refrigerators.

I just buy used and fix them when they break. Parts for newish ones are avaialble on the web. look at Appliance Parts at RepairClinic. 125 Brands. 365 Day Returns.

 

[dave1949]

I have a 6 year old Bosch dishwasher that has been trouble free. Our Amana frig is also 6 years old and no problems. I can find the model number if you want. I put a similar Bosch dishwasher in the condo where my Mom lives 1-1/2 years ago, no problems. I try to buy the quietest DW without going overboard. The last one cost $957 at Sears including install, old DW disposal, and a 5 yr warranty. The Sears is a local catalog-type store and is a franchise. The owner's son does the installs. That works well for me since I'm in Maine and Mom's in Ohio.

I don't think appliance lives are shorter now due to energy efficiency requirements, it's just because they are made for a given lifetime and sales price point. I don't know how the current prices would compare to 1975 prices adjusted for inflation. If you think about how often people remodel kitchens and move, it sort of makes sense that they aren't going to build dishwashers with 25-30 year life with a price to match, and if they did, the number of folks who would buy them is very small I bet.

An interesting way to look at it is how many hours does the median wage earner work to buy an average refrigerator? If you had data for every decade from 1950 to present, that would tell you something meaningful.

 

[Bird]

I don't think appliance lives are shorter now due to energy efficiency requirements

And in many cases, the life isn't actually shorter now. We bought a new house in 1972, sold it, and moved to another new house in 1977. During that 5 years, I replaced the pump and motor in our dishwasher (Gaffers & Sattler), the next door neighor's dishwasher, and my sister's dishwasher. Now the house we bought in 1977 had the same brand dishwasher, but it was still trouble free 11 years later.

Of course the GE dishwasher we got with a new double wide mobile home in 1997 lasted almost exactly 3 years and the part to repair it, if I did the work myself, would have been just over $160.

 

[LBrown59]

Our Refg Range and Furnace were boought new in 1971.
The washer and dryer about 1978.
All are doing fine and working well.

 

[Travelover]

My gripe is that the proprietary electronic module controls seem to die just out of warranty and cost about 1/2 the price of the appliance. I know darn well these modules are knocked out in China or Mexico for less than $5 a piece.

 

[MBTRAC]

As a matter of principle & in the interests of sustainability we try to avoid buying any appliance built in China & Korea or other "throwaways" , so in the absence of local manufacturing (in Australia) most of our home appliances are European brands (albiet not always built in Europe).
We have:
1. Dishwashers - no complants here, the old 20yr Miele was only displaced because of a kitchen renovation & is still going strong being used as an "industrial" parts washer in one of the machinery sheds for the past couple of years... handles ag grease, oil & hydraulic fuild remarkably well..
- 5yr old Bosch
- c.20yr old Miele
- 2yr old Miele x2
2. Washing Machines/Dryers - all going strong/no breakdowns, front loaders with the Miele's extremely water efficient (important to us because we've no mains water)
- 5yr old Miele Washer/Dryer
- 18yr old Miele Washer
- 10yr old Bosch Washer
- 1yr Asko Washer/Dryer
3. Refrigerators/Freezers - only issue we have was with the icemaker on one of the newer Bosch units, component replaced under warranty
- 10yr old Asko
- 16yr old Bosch
- 2yr old Bosch x2

 

[kenmac]

I guess mine is about 15 yrs old I don't have the mod.# on hand. It does have the SS. tub.I have replaced the door gasket. Kitchenaid is a high end whirlpool.

 

[s219]

We're buying appliances for our new house, and I find customer reviews to be all over the place. Even the top rated consumer reports models will have bad customer reviews if you look hard enough. I concluded that we should buy the ones we liked the best that were as high rated as possible, but make sure we get a good deal in case they turn out to have problems past the warranty.

For dishwashers, we started looking at Bosch, which were highly rated by CR as noted. But we didn't like the racks, or the smaller size of the interior. Ended up with a Kenmore Elite model on sale last weekend, which also had decent ratings from CR (plus it's super quiet at 46 dB).

In the past we've had a cheapo GE dishwasher that was junk, and currently have a Frigidaire that has been fine. I am pretty sure the Kenmore we bought is made by GE, but hopefully it will do better than the previous GE.

 

[tcreeley]

I like my inexpensive under the counter Kenmore dishwasher. I buy parts like washer arms etc. from Appliance Parts at RepairClinic. 125 Brands. 365 Day Returns.
Pretty easy to work on- I fixed it after I ran a copper brillo pad through it and it fell apart causing leaks.

 

[kenmac]

I am pretty sure the Kenmore we bought is made by GE, but hopefully it will do better than the previous GE.

Probably whirlpool. Hard to say as sears will contract out to the lowest bidder. You couldn't give me an appliance whith GE on it

 

[SPIKER]

My farm house has some old Kenmore appliances in there and all still work well. we bought NEW Stuff and have had 3 failures and required repairs & parts. The GE Washer was a joke, finally told HD to take back the washer (it was mid range High Cap washer.) Low Water use type machine, toss in a load of clothing the the top layers would not even get wet. First they brought a different unit same thing it did same thing we ran a load with them on site. It had a glass lid which was nice as you could see the laundry would not move. Then they said it was the Low Water model so they had a 3rd one in the store. I told them to Keep em all and give me my $ back. (HH Gregg had some front loads on sale too,) the manager @ HD gave us a High End Whirlpool Low Water use. It has worked pretty well other than fact the thing is rather complicated. It is couple years old and seems to be working real well.

the Drier is a couple years OLDER but have had similar issues with it. I've repaired it 4 times now usually overheat thermostats burn out, it is a Maytag.

Mark

 

[Scooby074]

My advise is to avoid samsung. Their customer service sucks. It took 6 months to fix my dishwasher. Microwave is acting screwy now. All out of warranty of course. Garbage.

Next stuff will be Miele. Dad has some. Very nice, well made and never breaks. Customer service (for questions, not repairs) was excellent. You pay more, but its worth it

 

[IXLR8]

My neighbor bought a Bosch dishwasher, due to CR ratings. Lasted 3 days, 2 uses, and a board went and it was going to take 3 weeks to get in a replacement... he told them to just remove the dishwasher and he bought a different brand. I bought a Bosch oven, second down from their top of the line. Oven pre-heat doesn't get it fully to temp, it is off by 25dF, we need to wait another 15-20 minutes before it is actually to requested temp. Then when you put cookies, the temp drops 35-40dF and never recovers during the 8 minutes it should take to cook the cookies, cakes are a disaster. Bosch tech says oven is working to spec, there are no issues!! Our $55 Cuisinart toaster oven does a better job. At the same time I also bought a Bosch washer and dryer, again due to the good ratings on line. My old Maytag Neptune washer and dryer worked MUCH better and was more consistent about drying. Bottom line of my rambling... no more Bosch for me.

 

[dmccarty]

We have had two Maytag dishwashers and both failed within the first week of use. We just bought a Bosch to replace the seven year old Maytag that failed three times. The last two failures were major repairs but one was covered under warranty. The last one was not and was not worth fixing so we researched and bought a Bosch. Bosch's racks are interesting to say the least. Our dishes do fit but we have to load differently. Bosch is very specific about how you should load your silverware! :shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing: Now, we ignore the manual and so far so good. Time will tell but we are very impressed with the washer.

I took out the Maytag and installed the Bosch. The attention to details in the Bosch is VERY apparent. The quality seems to be in the washer but time will tell.

Regarding fixing your baskets. The Maytag we had was a POS. The wheels would break on the racks and there were no way get replacements. I found some parts I was able use at Lowes on the screw and nail aisle. These parts would eventually fail but I was finally able to find some brass "wheels" on the same aisle that worked well. I had to modify the racks a bit but the brass parts I found were still working fine when I took the POS Maytag to the dump.

We have a Maytag fridge that failed right before the warranty expired. If the compressor fails again we will have to buy a new fridge. No way is it worth repairing.... They don't make them like they used too, or at least Maytag does not.

Later,
Dan

 

[PoorPlowboy]

All of my appliances were GE. Not a single one lasted a day over 4 years with very light usage. Replaced the washer & dryer with Fisher & Paykel, dishwasher is now Kitchenaid, and the fridge is a Kenmore Elite. They are at the 3 year mark trouble free as of now. Time will tell.

 

[kenmac]

When I bought my Kitchenaid. 15 yrs ago. I think I paid $800-$900. What are you guys paying for these appliances.Are you buying the lower line less expensive mods ??