High End Kitchen Appliances Are A Complete Scam

[McLovin]

I have many Speed Queen commercial washers/dryers.
They are definitely work horses. Made to be as simple as possible.
They take quite a bit of abuse (I swear it’s like the clown car gag when some people load them, it doesn’t even seem possible to stuff that much mass into that space), are in use 10-15x more than a home system, and are pretty reliable.
Not perfect (my guess is 20 years ago they were better made), but seem better than anything else out there for durability and reliability.

[mjohnson]

Originally Posted by zakthor

I don't know why induction would be less unreliable. Knowing how bad the applience engineers are its likely the dials on a modern induction cook stove go to a fancy regulator involving a cpu and some crazy rube-goldberg sensing device. The sky is the limit for how much complexity they could build into it...

Ours is the made out of only the finest Chinesium that a few hundred bucks can buy from the billionaire with the unfortunately-shaped rocket ship, so I'm seriously managing my expectations.

At lower power levels (I run that mode, the temp control seems to be crap) it cycles on and off rather than doing PWM or some other fancier control. That's a bit disappointing, but it also wasn't $1600+ like the USA-made Volrath.

That said, 3500W is some serious power. Um, a guy I know, not me of course, is thrilled to have a 220V 15A plug in the kitchen. Between that cooker and a UK-sourced kettle there's probably a place in house inspection hell for him, but at least tea's ready in <90 sec.

[Bill Douglas]

My VERY crappy Fisher and Paykel dishwasher - dishdrawer model, got sick and I was sick of paying $300 for it to get fixed. No more Fisher and Paykel. I've replaced it with a Bosch and paid extra to get a five year warranty

[billybek]

Originally Posted by Hads930

Received an all gas Viking range and overhead vent hood 19 years ago as a wedding gift and they have been great. Replaced the stove burner igniter module, >$100, and the oven igniter elements once. The service guy did say the older ones are a bit more desirable.

On a related note does anyone have any experience with Speed Queen products? Gas dryer is not heating and I am buying a new one this week. TIA.

I have replaced the thermal fuse in my gas drier twice. You need to pull the back to expose the wiring in the back and typically the wiring diagram is there stuck to the back or in a little service folder.

[greglepore]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

My VERY crappy Fisher and Paykel dishwasher - dishdrawer model, got sick and I was sick of paying $300 for it to get fixed. No more Fisher and Paykel. I've replaced it with a Bosch and paid extra to get a five year warranty

I inherited a pair of these with my house. I get the efficiency, but dang, they're both usually full, and they are finicky. The least amount of invisible soap film and the interior buttons stop working. Parts and service in USA difficult to impossible. Next time one needs service, out they go.

As to the premise of the thread, yeah, high end stuff is a crapshoot. Some is excellent - Wolf, Miele, older Viking, GE Cafe. Some is just relabeled pedestrian stuff.
Some is very nice but service non existent-Dacor. I love my Dacor ovens (they do some things others don't) but need to source parts online and repair myself as no one will touch them. The cooktop on the other hand is stellar-6 burners that all go from a low simmer to full blast and all the same size (much nicer than others that have different sized burners to accomplish the same thing), and the only thing to break is the igniter module, which isn't absolutely necessary to operation.

[asphaltgambler]

We bought Kitchenaid's 'industrial look' suite of appliances a few years back. While not Viking or other high-end products, they are pricy to us. Pictured below is the fridge we have - the grab bars have these red inserts at each end, the inside is a light grey with LED lighting - which is what sold us. Guess what went bad after 1 year? Half the top light set - and it looks like I have to replace the $$ main board to repair as I have already tried the cheaper route on this

.................pisses me off really as much as these things cost

[gregpark]

Bought an expensive LG a few years ago. The water dispenser push switch failed after a year due to a frail plastic part. Looks to me like the whole fridge door needs to be dismantled to replace the stainless switch cover. Easier to lift the lever with my finger to get water or ice out of the door 😔

[zakthor]

Yeah maybe the thread title is wrong. Should be

"Buyer beware! A bunch of Expensive Fancy Looking Appliances are Actually Unreliable Unservicable Pieces of Junk"

Our house came with a subzero built in. Worked great for 15 years before insulation 'failed'. Unrepairable. So we put it in the garage on a tray to catch the condensation. Still working 10 years later.

Downside we had to pay $15k for a new fridge as it was either that or a complete kitchen remodel. New unit has been flawless for 10 years now.

Washer/Dryer:
We were unhappy with how our speedqueen washed. It was ruining my sports clothes and just not cleaning well. I purchased a used miele washer/dryer pair from craiglist for $200. Was holy hell to move that washer into place (essentially moving an awkward 260# 2.5 floors up windy stairs). Had to put in 2.5" sheathing plywood to support the new weight across the joists. I had to replace the dryer moisture sensor (carbon pucks were worn). But... those machines are made really well. The washer gasket is still available but $260 (compared to $50 for a regular front load washer.)

I saved the speedqueen for when these fancy things broke so I could swap them in. That Lady says: "It is NEVER coming back into our house". That miele washer dryer is amazing, cleans really well, high temps when you want it. And the dryer is big and gentle and is one of the older kind that still vent outside. $200 felt like a dumb hobby risk but its worked out well for us.

So I guess I don't hate stupid expensive stuff, just stupidly made stuff that is also expensive.

[cgarr]

This Jenn-air was in the place when we bought this cabin, it’s about 1998 vintage and works awesome. I have the top frame off it getting it powder coated What’s nice is every part is still available.

I hear their new stoves are junk though.




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[gregpark]

I look at Miele and Bosch as the Porsches of the appliance world. Very good but not infallible. As with anything, if it's made by man it will fail

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by gregpark

I look at Miele and Bosch as the Porsches of the appliance world. Very good but not infallible. As with anything, if it's made by man it will fail

True. My Bosch Nexxt washer and dryer are somewhere around 20 years old now, used 2-3 times a week and my only failure has been putting too much in the dryer so a switch inside flipped and I just had to press a button to reset it. Can't beat that.

[908/930]

Can not put Miele and Bosch in the same quality bracket, the top end Bosch is similar to Miele, the lower end stuff is not close. Bosch also owns Thermador now.

[gregpark]

The Bosch products made in Germany I suspect is the good stuff. They now manufacture in China and India too. Got to be careful buying Bosch. Ya git whatcha pay for. It must be profitable but you would think the outsourcing would hurt their brand in the long run

[greglepore]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

We bought Kitchenaid's 'industrial look' suite of appliances a few years back. While not Viking or other high-end products, they are pricy to us. Pictured below is the fridge we have - the grab bars have these red inserts at each end, the inside is a light grey with LED lighting - which is what sold us. Guess what went bad after 1 year? Half the top light set - and it looks like I have to replace the $$ main board to repair as I have already tried the cheaper route on this

.................pisses me off really as much as these things cost

Actually, it IS Viking...Kitchen Aid and Viking refridgerators are both Frigidare products. The interiors are strikingly similar. Its the exterior finishes etc that are better.

[asphaltgambler]

Other than the light issue in the Fridge, all the other matching stuff has performed flawlessly. Last time I checked, the main board was @$300

[zakthor]

Originally Posted by cgarr

This Jenn-air was in the place when we bought this cabin, it’s about 1998 vintage and works awesome. I have the top frame off it getting it powder coated What’s nice is every part is still available.

Wait, ours is a jennaire gas cooktop and the igniters and the spark units are definitely no longer available.

[Jim Bremner]

I have a Jenair 48" Pro. Other than igniters going bad after 12 years it's been perfect.

Matching hood blower motor failed but I would leave it on all day on hot days to keep the house air moving out

My $3100 Samsung fridge that I bought 12 years ago has broken 3 times

I will replace it soon

[gregpark]

That looks like a nice stove. Double oven and lots of burners. And you cook with cast iron 👍 only way to go

[911 Rod]

We just went through 6 weeks of hell with Frigidaire/Electrolux.
Totally dysfunctional company.

[tabs]

Jimmy said put on a sweater if you are cold..Americans didn't like that so they voted Ronnie..

As far as stuff being made lessor..PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE..In the old days stuff was made to last and that meant you are not a customer again for decades.. That will not do!! To keep the Global Economy of Scale GROWING you need to be repeat customers..so the life span of a unit continues to be shorter..and made cheaper..where cost to replace is lessor than cost to fix..

To fuel that GROWTH you need customers with the where with all to BUY BUY BUY...The US Consumer went BUST in 08..the FED and US govt have been subsidizing the US econ since so the party could continue. The USA and world for that matter is BANKRUPT..and the wolves are tearing it apart.

You have had a lot of ABUNDANCE ON THE CREDIT CARD.

This goes to the HEART OF THE PROBLEM.. Americans and you Boyz in particular think this is a RICH NATION and that you can afford to have LUXURY APPLIANCES...this delusional state is what has caused the GREATEST NATION ON EARTH to go broke broke broke.



PS Last week Colbert had a segment about a Security expert being engaged for what he thought was going to be lecture...it turned out that his audience was 5 or 6 multi Billionaires ..name you would recognize...they each had their Get away Bunkers....where one even had retired SEAL TEAM guys on call... THEIR question was how do they protect themselves from their own security personnel?

That was the very thing I queried long ago..Caligula's own Praetorian Guard whacked him.. One day they would wake up and think they don't need you..Nobody is safe...