High End Kitchen Appliances Are A Complete Scam

[zakthor]

Went and looked at appliances yesterday. Horrified mostly by the complexity and the utter lack of repair knowledge in the showroom. As far as I can tell these units are for people that care that the anodizing matches on the knobs, not people like me that have been unable to repair a bad capacitive touch controller that is NLA.

And lastly nothing is in stock, order times are crazy, etc, etc.

I've known so many people with crazy parts prices and stuck with busted high end appliances. $8k ranges that 'broke' and not repairable after 3 years. Friend had a viking 'rise from the counter' hood where the switch that controlled the rise was an integrated mainboard/membrane button that cost $650 to replace. Problem maybe a combination of complexity, parts costs, and total lack of knowledgeable repair people. Probably a bad cap or transformer, or a broken solder joint.

I've used ancient stovetops that were valves for gas and you dropped a match in and whump it started up. The basics of what a stovetop does are super simple, no excuse for how difficult my jennaire is to repair, let alone the non-repairable viking fan switch.

Looks like our best option is some whirlpool derivative downdraft stovetop from home depot for $2500. But before we go that route, is there some common sense stovetop maker? Some startup that is branching out from outdoor grills and making stovetops? Seems like the profit is there if someone could figure it out. Is there some brand that doesn't suck?

PS: Sorry about the downdraft - I know its crazy - but it is the fact of the house. There's just nowhere 'up' and 'over' for the air to go.

[Noah930]

A friend purchased a high end home last year. Within a few months, the dishwasher broke. She called the repairman, and as she read off the unit's serial number, he started laughing. Turns out that while it had a Wolf badge on the front (to match the range/oven/fridge), it was actually a Maytag unit. The PO had just slapped a Wolf badge on the front.

(The rest of the kitchen appliances really are Wolf units.)

[KFC911]

"Barnum" appliances are the absolute best.... Look for his initials on the back though !

[NYNick]

Consumer Reports has been reviewing appliances for decades. Go with their recommendations.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by Noah930

The PO had just slapped a Wolf badge on the front.

Hahahahahahah, that's really funny/bad.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by zakthor

Went and looked at appliances yesterday. Horrified mostly by the complexity and the utter lack of repair knowledge in the showroom. As far as I can tell these units are for people that care that the anodizing matches on the knobs, not people like me that have been unable to repair a bad capacitive touch controller that is NLA.

And lastly nothing is in stock, order times are crazy, etc, etc.

I've known so many people with crazy parts prices and stuck with busted high end appliances. $8k ranges that 'broke' and not repairable after 3 years. Friend had a viking 'rise from the counter' hood where the switch that controlled the rise was an integrated mainboard/membrane button that cost $650 to replace. Problem maybe a combination of complexity, parts costs, and total lack of knowledgeable repair people. Probably a bad cap or transformer, or a broken solder joint.

I've used ancient stovetops that were valves for gas and you dropped a match in and whump it started up. The basics of what a stovetop does are super simple, no excuse for how difficult my jennaire is to repair, let alone the non-repairable viking fan switch.

Looks like our best option is some whirlpool derivative downdraft stovetop from home depot for $2500. But before we go that route, is there some common sense stovetop maker? Some startup that is branching out from outdoor grills and making stovetops? Seems like the profit is there if someone could figure it out. Is there some brand that doesn't suck?

PS: Sorry about the downdraft - I know its crazy - but it is the fact of the house. There's just nowhere 'up' and 'over' for the air to go.

Yep. If you check consumer reports, they say that the functionality and especially the reliability of the "pro" models is usually not as good as the consumer models. The interesting thing is that they also say that the customers reporting issues also love their "pro" appliances and would buy them again.

Agreed, trying to actually purchase stuff right now is a nightmare. Your best (nearly only) bet is to find something in stock somewhere. If it's not in stock, then be prepared to wait.

And funny that you'd mention using old stoves. We just bought a Chambers stove that was built in 1948 to be our "new" stove.

[matthewb0051]

I think it is more than just high end. Our fridge (prob $3k) has a bad water flow sensor meter thing that controls/monitors water for the ice and water dispenser. I ordered it in the spring. Still out of stock and I don't think its coming any time soon. Kenmore.

[masraum]

12-ish years ago, we renovated the kitchen in our old home. We put in new dishwasher, cooktop, oven, and refrigerator. All were Kitchenaid Architect. The cooktop was the second from the top, gas, and the only 2 things that it was missing was an LED that came-on/stayed-on to tell you that it was hot and a special coating to make it easier to clean. If we'd known, we'd have paid for the model with the special coating. We never had a problem with it. The oven was a convection oven. We never used the convection much, but we never had a problem with the oven. We gave our kids the fridge. While they had it the icemaker stopped working. When they moved and we moved into a house, they gave us the fridge and we're still using it. We don't currently have water hooked up to it so the icemaker being broken isn't a big deal. When we get the new fridge for our soon to start renovation of the new kitchen, this fridge will move to the garage to replace the old one that's out there. The dishwasher developed a problem with the keypad. Sometimes you'd have to press a button a bunch of times for it to work. I eventually worked out that it wasn't the keypad itself, but the control module. I ordered one off of the Internet, installed it, and that fixed it. I think all of those things were a bit <$10k back then. I feel like the same stuff if you could get it now would be closer to $15-20k.

[911_Dude]

My sister recently remodeled their kitchen. All crazy expensive stuff like SubZero, Viking, etc. The fridge and freezer have both been nothing but trouble. It's absurd for the cost.

As a person that loves to cook, I can tell you that the only thing I care about in a good stove top and oven are temperature control and range of temperature. I want the burners to go from the heat of a candle to 20k BTUs, and easy to modulate. Jets that are easy to clean, oven temps that are accurate. Its really quite simple. I could give a rip about all the "smart" appliances.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by 911_Dude

My sister recently remodeled their kitchen. All crazy expensive stuff like SubZero, Viking, etc. The fridge and freezer have both been nothing but trouble. It's absurd for the cost.

As a person that loves to cook, I can tell you that the only thing I care about in a good stove top and oven are temperature control and range of temperature. I want the burners to go from the heat of a candle to 20k BTUs, and easy to modulate. Jets that are easy to clean, oven temps that are accurate. Its really quite simple. I could give a rip about all the "smart" appliances.

Right, I don't get the desire for appliances to have bluetooth or wifi or cameras or video screens.

On the flip side, someone is selling this Kelvinator in my general area. I don't need or want it, but if I needed a freezer, that would be really cool. I'm sure it could be "restored" a bit to get the aesthetics back to nearer to new.

[masraum]

And I'm not a luddite. What I really wanted for as a cooktop was an induction stove. I love the way they cook. Gas is good, but induction is better. But, the selection and availability of induction these days (that would satisfy the missus) is practically non-existant. So I was also very happy to go with a 75 year old stove. I hope they work as well as people say.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

This is why I buy top of the line previously loved appliances. Recently picked up this 48" range. The quality is amazing. Gas top and electric ovens. It's analog so if something breaks it's easy to repair. It sold for $8K 5 years ago. The current digital versions is $14K. I got this one for a little less.

[A930Rocket]

In our old house, the ice maker in our new Whirlpool Gold fridge stopped working just outside of warranty.

Haven’t built the house and lived there for two or three years, we sold it and moved into a townhome. The icemaker there stopped working and it was only seven years old. We bought the townhome a year ago and it’s still not fixed. Doesn’t bother me.

But, yesterday when I was making cereal, I open the fridge and it was not cold. I checked the temperature and it was right. I turn off the breaker, turned it back on and heard the fridge kick on. I’m afraid it’s days are numbered. Looking at new fridges, that easily start at $2500 on sale for one with ice and water in the door.

[Gogar]

I love my wolf and Sub Zero scores from Craigslist, and the parts chain is really great if you need something, even for a range that's 15 or 20 years old. I do have pretty simple non-computery, non-membrane switch versions of them and they've been awesome. knock on wood

My Sharp under counter microwave is 3 magnetrons in 6 years tho.

[URY914]

ALWAYS buy the extended warranty

[Crowbob]

My experience is that almost everything sold now is junk. You go to find some broken piece of the toilette at Home Depot or wherever and you end up staring at two or three pieces of worthless crap that you know is gonna break in a year or two and deciding which piece is less worthless to buy.

Everything.

[Crowbob]

Every single piece of legit consumer advice I’ve ever read has said to NOT by extended warranties. The thinking is that everything is disposable now. The sellers of extended warranties get rich whilst the buyers of extended warranties tread water. Statistically speaking, of course.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

This is why I buy top of the line previously loved appliances. Recently picked up this 48" range. The quality is amazing. Gas top and electric ovens. It's analog so if something breaks it's easy to repair. It sold for $8K 5 years ago. The current digital versions is $14K. I got this one for a little less.

Are you sure it's analog, meaning, no ICs/chips/circuit boards that control everything? I'd be a little surprised if a 5 year old range didn't have a circuit board in it somewhere, but maybe not.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

In our old house, the ice maker in our new Whirlpool Gold fridge stopped working just outside of warranty.

Haven’t built the house and lived there for two or three years, we sold it and moved into a townhome. The icemaker there stopped working and it was only seven years old. We bought the townhome a year ago and it’s still not fixed. Doesn’t bother me.

But, yesterday when I was making cereal, I open the fridge and it was not cold. I checked the temperature and it was right. I turn off the breaker, turned it back on and heard the fridge kick on. I’m afraid it’s days are numbered. Looking at new fridges, that easily start at $2500 on sale for one with ice and water in the door.

Why not just fix the one that you've got? There are websites that have troubleshooting guides as well as folks that will answer questions, and then you can buy parts from the same site or a sister site. I've done that 3-5 times over the last 20 years. The repairs have all been cheap (<$100) and easy (<1hr).

[masraum]

Originally Posted by URY914

ALWAYS buy the extended warranty

I never buy the extended warranty for anything. I think I've purchased it 2-3 times in the past, and I don't think it's ever done anything useful for me.