Rant: Modern household appliances are of poorer quality

[Jims1025R]

My washer & dryer (Sears) are 30+ years old, and going strong. I will repair, with no intention to ever replace.

My daughter gave us a GE fridge/freezer for our garage, when they replaced theirs with new. This one is about ten years old. I had to reverse the door swing - should be no problem right? No - problem! The hinges don't reverse to the other side. They look like they do, and nearly fit, but when you put them on the other side, they damage the door. Darn... So, I order the proper left hand hinge kit $110. I go to install it, and one of the two hinges in the kit (middle) is right hand, ('same as the one I just took off - and not reversible), the top hinge is correct left. So I call the parts guy I bought from - "Geeze..." he says... "I'll get you another kit, it should be right...". A week later: "You won't believe it, they have four more kits in stock, I had them checked, they all have the wrong middle hinge, there are no left hinges available at all.". I can't return the kit, 'cause I need the correct top hinge I do have. So, an hour on the milling machine, and lathe, and the right hand middle hinge now fits and works correctly on the left side, and I have a correct right top hinge which cost me $110. GE is off my appliance list forever - just for being stupid!

Our brand new Bosch double oven blew a glass when my wife set it to self clean - I replaced the glass, I clean it myself now.

My other daughter's brand new Samsung top of the line oven closed shutters and locked the door when she set to self clean (well, at least it did not blow the glass!). But, after cleaning, the shutters would not open, nor the door unlock. Once away from the wall, I found the motor for that, wound it back by hand, and she manually cleans it.

So, rants on new appliances justified! Old appliances rule!

 

[Hay Dude]

Well I had 2 Bosch dish washers from the early 2000’s that would wash dried concrete off our dishes. One broke and we could not get parts. Replaced with Kitchen Aid. Would have been better off letting the dogs like the dishes clean. It’s a pile of crap.
The other Bosch is still hanging on, but the switches are glitchy.

We want to remove the Kitchen Aid and give it to someone we don’t like as a gift.

We are looking at Meile and Bosch, but haven’t done anything yet.

 

[2manyrocks]

The only thing our last dishwasher was good for was using it as a drying rack for the dishes we hand washed in the sink.

 

[oosik]

I have Sears( Kenmore ) washer and dryer that are both 20+ years and still going strong. This could also be because it's only me here and I don't do laundry every day.

Now - talk about longevity. My toaster is Kenmore. Was given to the wife and I as a wedding gift in 1964. Still works as well as the day we received it.

 

[tacticalturnip]

After going through 15+ washers and dryers over the years, I bit the bullet and bought Speed Queen brand. They have turn knobs on the front and are "supposed" to be the last washer and dryer I will ever hafta buy. They have been flawless for 6 months now...only 19.5 more years to go.

I have never heard of them, so I appreciate being filled in; I've bookmarked their website, for the inevitable.

 

[Jstpssng]

" I have read you can actually buy higher quality appliances in Europe and Japan made by our same common name manufacturers, but those are not available in the States, some suggest because of reasons related to planned obsolescence. I am not much to buy into conspiracy theories, but this makes one consider that suggestion."

That is true and you can see for yourself by looking beneath the hood of a motor vehicle built for use in Mexico. No EPA crap. The infamous Ford 6.0L diesel built for Mexico isn't EPA compliant and as the result a real beast that run's forever and gets 30% better fuel milage.

That has notyhing to do with making them obselete. That is so that we don't go back to the "good old days" when cities were overcome with smog.

 

[MossRoad]

Speed Queen washer and dryer here, too.

We're on our 2nd microwave.... since 1985! 1st one was a wedding gift. Gold Star. Has a big timer dial and a cook and defrost button. That's it. Still works! But wife wanted something from this century, so we got a new one last year. It works much better and is larger.

As for dishwashers, there was one here when we bought the house round 1995. It died. Replaced that. It died. Replaced that. It died. So on our 4th in 28 years. They are about 4-5 hundred bucks and last about 5 years. So a hundred bucks a year comes out to about 37 cents a day. For something that gets used daily, I don't think that's too bad.

 

[jyoutz]

After going through 15+ washers and dryers over the years, I bit the bullet and bought Speed Queen brand. They have turn knobs on the front and are "supposed" to be the last washer and dryer I will ever hafta buy. They have been flawless for 6 months now...only 19.5 more years to go.

We did the same after our last “high end” washer died. We immediately noticed how much heavier the Speed Queen machine is compared to the one it replaced: more metal/ less plastic. And actually still made in USA. I was shocked when I called customer service to buy an accessory to be speaking to someone with an upper midwestern accent in Wisconsin who actually understood my questions.

 

[jyoutz]

I have never heard of them, so I appreciate being filled in; I've bookmarked their website, for the inevitable.

They are the primary source for commercial laundry equipment and only sell a limited quantity of homeowner models, but they are all commercial grade. No big box stores sell them; they are carried by independent appliance stores. Their website has a search function to find dealers in your area.

 

[Dwellonroof]

I purchased a Samsung basic top freezer/fridge and it quit working 1 year and 2 weeks later so tech came out 3 times to deem it nonrepairable.