Recommendations for Appliances that Outperform and Outlast the Rest

Repair what you have, or plan to have regular repairs every 6 mos....it's a real crapshoot out there...

I did. I cut the compressor lines and fan and hooked them to a 3.99 timer.

( upright freezer)

I'll hook into the defrost line as needed

I don't bother screwing the back on all the way on most things. Why bother.

Lawn mower

The Bosch Rotak range of corded electric lawnmowers are great mowers for "not so great" lawns. A bit over $100: they're just really simple and robust.

THAT'S THE THING: Getting appliances that are SIMPLE AND ROBUST.

If you have a large lawn,I recommend a Grasshopper commercial mower.

Built like a tank and virtually bullet proof.J Deere is cheaper,but comparing side by side I chose the Grasshopper,all American made.

My 2C worth.

I'm going to keep my 1989 Maytag washer and dryer until they pry them out of my cold, stiff fingers. They cost me $1,300 for the set back then. Nearly a month's salary after taxes, but probably the best money I ever spent. We raised four kids on those machines. I did have to replace the transmission on the washer recently, but something I was happy to do. $200 for the part. Well worth it to keep them going. Did the drum bearings and glides on the dryer a few years back plus the electric heating coils. Again, it restored the machine to new performance for about $120 in parts.

New appliances are crap.

We have a mid-nineties 'Maytag' (Whirlpool the great Satan of appliances) dishwasher. What a POS.

I've replaced main circuit board twice, the touch panel three times and the pump filter screen. I so regret letting my early-nineties KitchenAid dishwasher go with the house when we moved. That was the kind with a real heavy enameled steel tub, a heavy, stiff door and a pump that actually cleaned dishes with real stainless steel wash arms. The new stuff is just flimsy, crappily-designed plastic garbage.

I wouldn't mind paying two to three times the price of today's garbage if they built it like a commercial machine to go in a business.

I'll be interested to see if anyone responds that are happy with their newer appliances (after four to ten years of use).

I had a Whirlpool dryer for 27 years.

About every 5 years I had to replace the belt.There was usually enough change in the bottom to pay for the belt.

First time I changed it was hard,but next time,it was less than 10 minutes.

Replaced 1 idler pulley.1 motor shorted out by a coin on stator winding.

The speckled lining was completely worn away,and looked like stainless steel.

After 27 years,the heater element shorted out,and smoked up the utility room.

I could have replaced the element,but I let it die an honorable death in the service to it's owner.It died in action.Loyal to the last.

They don't make 'em like that anymore.

I replaced it with a Amana.

First week,it was rattling like a can full of marbles.

The tumbler bars were loose.

I fixed it myself by putting Red Loctite on all of the screws.No more problems since,and that has been about 12 years.Of course now it does not see the hard duty since there is only my wife and me.No kids at home.Maybe one load a week,instead for 5 or 6 loads on the old Whirlpool.

I prefer a gas range to electric,but it is not always feasible to do it if you do not have the required head space clearance above the stove to meet code requirements.

I had a GE refrigerator from the 1950's that was still running fine when I gave it to my uncle.It was the old round cornered type,with the small freezer for ice in the corner.He now keeps it in his sop for beer.

All of the old standards of quality and reliability have disappeared and the focus is now on quarterly returns.Get the product to market first,we will address the problems as they crop up.

This philosophy applies across all sectors,even software;Especially software.

Ironic and sad that we taught Japan how to make quality cars,and we have forgotten how to apply the same standards here.

It's a shame you have to "re-build" it like they should have done in the first place.

Like you say, it's a race to the bottom on quality. Make them last barely ten years, if that, and people are ready to buy the next shiny button.

The buying public seem to be more enamored with features than intrinsic quality.

While others are saying "That's neat!", I'm thinking it is one more thing to break.

I bought a bunch of 100 year light bulbs years ago.Guaranteed to last 100 years. I bought them because the profits went to a Veterans' organization.

I really did not expect much from them.

The glass bulbs were very large,about 3 1/2 inch diameter... reminded me of the bulbs in the 40's.

They used a longer filament to reduce the amount of current they had to carry,and the large glass bulb allowed the bulb to run cooler.

They were not super bright,but a pleasant warm white...kinda laid back,like the era they were born in.

I have moved them to my shop and they are still working,been nearly 35 years ago.My lights will go out before they do.

I have a 1948 Allis Chalmers B tractor.It is still running fine and gives good service.I modified the lift to 3Point to use modern equipment.Everything on this tractor was shimmed to allow for wear.

Even the connecting rod and main bearing inserts were shimmed,but the shims were tapered to allow for the change in radius when you shimmed them.

They were stacked like onion skin. A farmer could drop the oil pan and remove a shim,and be back in service in less then 15 minutes.

I have 1948 Ferguson TE20,made in Coventry England.

Still going strong.

Those were the days my friend.

I have bought a couple of "supermarket brand" microwave ovens in the past 20 years or so, They're about £20/30 ($30/40). Curiously to me the ones with analogue controls are a lot cheaper that the ones with digital controls, but the ones with analogue controls are much easier to use (and probably less likely to fail).

Glass surface electric ranges and cook tops:

If you want a sleek decoration for your kitchen, they are nice

If you enjoy cooking, they are useless! They are slow to heat and slow to cool.

And, a dropped pot lid or what ever, the glass is broken. The replacement cost is more than half the price of a new stove!

I have had mine for three years, and I have broken the glass top for the second time. The first time it was covered by warranty, but now it is my liability.

Interesting enough,... these durable goods appliances, they hire statisticians to perform equipment life cycles of a unit, from purchased to repurchase.

And I experienced it quite often and is quite accurate...

water heaters (leaked 6 months after warranty),

big screen TV, 3 months after (2) warranty, (I had a similar model going on 8 years now, without a problem.

my wife gets ‘Consumer Reports’ magazine, seems pretty reliable,

The Kenmore water heater that was in my house didn't start leaking until 25 years after the manufacturing date. (I assume it probably wasn't "on-the-shelf" for more than a year. They seriously screwed up designing that one.

(But, I am on municipal water that is of very good quality.)

A company called A.O. Smith they also had the blue glass line silos on the farm (see picture below). They also made glass line water heaters.

We had a A.O. Smith water heater... it had a 6 year warranty... glass lined. Thought that would be the last water heater we’d have, it replaced the water heater that we had for 20+ years...

6 years and 3 months since we installed it, it leaked.

the well we had, it was a shallow well, 90 ft, water, the water was sweet... may have been due to lime maybe... having shipped Grade A milk, well was test yearly... grain hardness was actually pretty low.

and how did we know it was sweet, contractors that worked on the farm, (putting up buildings or silos) would comment on that... when they left, they’d even filled jugs up to take home. But I digress.

We drilled a new well since then, to government regulations, it was 280 feet deep and what a disappointment.

Did the glass-lined water heater have an anode? It would be interesting to pull it and examine it after the leak to see if it was all eroded.

I had a house at one time that had an A.O. Smith direct-vent gas fired water heater. Owned the house for about 11 years. That one seemed to be O.K. I don't know if that particular model was glass lined unless all the A.O. Smith water heaters are glass lined.

I thought all water heaters had anodes.

the leak was right at the fitting base. Poor weld...

I used to get C.R. for years..

I don't think the average review is over a long enough duration to be beneficial to anybody except the manufacturers

.that and this lady in the video just said LG was a good choice. Ha ha ha!!!

Spare me the BS.

As SE pointed out..ts all garbage and anything worthwhile that makes it through is a mistake... someone should loose their job.

LG tv’s are good.

I was a Samsung. Had a 53”, for 8 years now,.. no problem...about 2 years ago, I bought a 65”, for-filled a promise to the wife (to shut her up... ) lol

well, again, 3 months after the warranty expired, backlight screen went out.

anyways, I replaced it with an LG, it’s 3 months until that warranty expires... so, I’ll probably be looking again in a few months... lol... just kidding.

Here’s something,... LG televisions, used to be called Zenith... ‘The quality goes in, before the name goes on’ Zenth.

When the salesman tries to sell you an LG do what it says, Leave Graciously, not a reliable product.

Had an Hitachi washer lasted 25 years until the mechanical timer failed but no spares. Wanted to buy another Hitachi but they stopped making washing machines.

Now have a Westinghouse over 15 years old and still going but they too stopped making washing machines or at least importing them.

VAX tub vacuum cleaners, one going on 30 year old and another 20 year old, still going strong. Hepa filter fell apart and not wishing to become a amputee I installed a Ford air cleaner in its place and now it is used for farm house cleaning.

Have Volta upright carpet sweeper cleaner, rotary floor brushes wore out so modified set of brushes off another brand and still going well. Only 40 years old and thyristor control pot died but new $1 pot and back going.

Inherited a new VAX upright carpet sweeper cleaner and it is rubbish with plastic wheels and bearing surface just where dust leakage happens and bearings worn out on the bottom. Swap L for R and will get some more life out of it but is heavy enough to qualify for workout device.

Large screen TV is a Sharp and now 10 year old without a problem.

Mowers, petrol, anything with a B&S motor or a Chonda, who can afford a Honda, will do as all the generics use B&S motors and when the motor falls apart I just fit Chondas. Now people bad mouth Chondas (Loncin) but never had a problem and you could buy 3 Chondas for the price of a Honda. Several Chondas have outlasted B&S motors by a good margin.

I’m glad you eventually made it clear about what the hell chonda is.

Sorry for the confusion I may have caused, a Chonda is a Honda copy or even a Honda made in China.

I’m the one that should apologize... I’ve edited my post (to take the edge off) but it didn’t take and left the original post. I was using my iPad... First I thought it was me, but This happened a number of times to make me wonder if CR4 did an up grade, if this had anything to do with it.

Speaking of knock offs small gas engines... I had bought a High Pressure Washer from harbor freight with the Predator engine (Briggs and Stratton knock off). And frankly I’m impressed.

A few years ago, my brother (who’s a dairy farmer) had to replace his Honda engine on his feed cart for the cattle, he replaced it with a predator engine,... his complaint was the pull start was cheaply made and had broke. Plus that feed cart was used quite extensively... where he needed to start it 12-16 times daily. He just looked at it as a consumable.

This summer I had brought up my pressure washer for him to use, and the quality has improved since he bought his engine.

Kelvinator upright refrigerator/freezer been trouble free for 10years now. Previous Fridge n freezer pair went for 30 years before the plastic began to fail in the freezer while the fridge is still going strong as a drinks fridge.

LG is a acronym for Lousey Gear at least as far as I have seen with friends experiences.

My Kelvinator worked for about 20 years and then had to replace it (working condition), since it became too small as the kids grew up. Same age for my Sony - Black-belt TV, the CRT type - at last the remote gave way, and then on the first break-down, there were no ICs.

I would agree that LG products generally don't work to begin with, or they fail quickly and you can't get parts.

Some years ago, I needed to replace our washer & dryer. Went to a locally owned appliance dealer and told them I wanted a simple, reliable set. They recommended a washer & dryer by Speed Queen. No bells or whistles. They seem to work fine, but that store doesn't recommend Speed Queen anymore. Not sure why.

I've had good luck with a Samsung refrigerator and a Whirlpool dishwasher. I've been pleased with Panasonic microwave ovens, too.

I've got a Whirlpool refrigerator that has had a LOT of problems, and it doesn't even have an ice maker.

didn’t LG have a good (as in durable) cell phone?

funny thing... I was just talking about my LG tv replacing my Samsung last spring. Wife just came to me and said the remote isn’t working good... tested the batteries, and then changed them anyways. Ya,... the remote is going.

Speaking of Whirlpool, Maytag are now the owned by Whirlpool... After Congress put a Kabash on the sale of Maytag to China because they felt Maytag was a strategic industry. ^{(And our Uranium supply isn’t...)}

i Purchased a Maytag Neptune series washer and dryer in the late 90’s. It was a great washer... but they did have problems with the seals on the washer door getting mold behind it.

Got to put in a vote for Numatic vacuum cleaners:-

Not sure if they're as common in the US.

Something which really bugs me is the price of white goods spares. If they've made something which has failed, they should be keen to try to get you going again for an absolute minimum of fuss and cost. Surely that would pay dividends in the effect on their reputation.

I seem to remember that Andy Germany was designing a PIC based general purpose replacement for white goods controller boards. I wonder how far he got? I'm pretty sure you could do it for less than half the price of the OEM parts (or what they charge).

Couple of years back I bought an Electrolux front loading washing machine. It failed just before the 1-year warranty had expired, but I couldn't get hold of the distributor until just after. The guys were good about it... but although they could get the parts, it turned out that if any of - #1. The Main control board, #2 The Display board, #3 the Door lock or #4. the pump - failed, it would take out all the rest!

Since Electrolux would not supply any circuit diagrams or test data, after replacing all of the above at least once on separate visits to no avail, they gave up and walked away, as the retail cost of the parts by then had exceeded the price of the machine, and the first call had been logged 2 days after the expiration of the warranty. Both circuit boards were multi-purpose boards made in China to suit practically any machine by putting the jumpers in the right places, and the door lock was a bizarre device that probably only worked by magic until it blew up - and 3 had blown up by the time the tech gave up on the whole project!

One piece of advice which might actually be useful: research the brand you are thinking of buying with 4 questions: #1. Who owns the name now? #2. How long have they owned it? #3. Where is it made? and #4. Has the factory moved in the last 5 years?

The reason for this is that many good brands are bought up just for the brand name, and that name is then attached to the cheapest goods the new company can cobble together quickly. That's why buying the same brand that all your friends swear by and had given you such good service in the past can just land you with another lemon (apologies to citrus growers)

Good post,... I have to say Kirby vacuums are still the top of the line,... but you also pay for it... and is a beast to carry up stairs. (Bought it in 1988, still going strong, my wife also has one that about 15 years old... that’s is powered assist.

the thing about Kirby, you can’t buy replacement parts, you need to bring it to a Kirby authorized dealer to have the part replaced. Which is ok... and better if you pay cash.

I found that out when the foot switch failed,... I took the foot switch out, thinking part was readily available on the shelf. Nope,.. I had to take it in.

I have to agree on the Norelco razors, they are dependable, reasonably priced, last a long long time, charge quickly....bang for buck they are hard to beat...

I've got a GE electric stove, oven, water heater, and Whirlpool dishwasher, refrigerator, and Kenmore washer and dryer...and an Arctic King deep freezer....all good so far...Got a Sony 40" 8 years no problem, 46" Samsung about the same age, had to replace the capacitors a few years back, and recently bought a TCL 55" Roku no problem so far...

I have a Black and Decker jig saw from the 1970's.Still runs fine.Original brushes,switch,and cord.New ones cannot compete.

We are supposed to be getting better with modern CAD,etc,but the problem is in management,not tooling.It is much easier to design anything now,but greed interferes with all decisions.

An accountant would assume that if one ship can cruise to Europe in 3 days,then 2 ships should do it in 1.5 days.

I think it's just a growth phase, technology has changed everything so fast that everyone is still starry eyed over the flashy new things, and quality still needs to catch up....

"Knowing exactly what to say,I said nothing." --Mark twain.

Nothing beats the reliability of a Westinghouse toaster.

Silex, a Quebec, Canada company, are also known for the longevity of their kitchen appliances. An excellent coffee percolator - integral hot plate.

Probably 70 to 80 years old. Still works fine.

manor manner

An anonymous pedant.

I understand why you must remain anonymous.

Along with major appliances, there are the items that are shipped from the manufacturer KD (knocked down) that may be assembled before their retail sale. I have a Weslo exercycle that I could tell some stories about. After some rebuilding, it is working fine now, but it suffered greatly from the local "assembly" efforts.

Pretty hard to beat the Bosch dishwasher, so quiet, energy efficient and do a great job.

We picked an old one up off the side of the road (in Australia) it just kept going.

When it died (over 20 years old) we got another and it has been great.

Years ago, I found an old Zenith tube type tv beside the road,so I picked it up for parts.

It was a portable,wood grain metal case,control knobs on the side,manual tuner.

The side of the case was bent,looked like it had been hit with a sledge hammer.

One rainy day,being bored,I decided to take a look at it;Maybe salvage a tube or two,or a fly back transformer

Nothing broken inside,so I plugged it in and discovered a bad tube socket on the damper tube.

I replaced the tube socket,and it played perfectly.No alignment was necessary.Static and dynamic convergence right on spec.

I put it in my boys' room and they watched it for years.They grew up,moved away,and I sold it to a friend,and he kept it till the NTSC was replaced with the digital system.

It was one of the Zenith hand-wired-chassis.Hard to beat for reliability.

It is worth more now as an antique than it was when new.