Appliances

When money is tight it’s tempting to cheap out when replacing major appliances. Sometimes you can get away with it, sometimes you can’t.

First off, I’m going to mention two names. Samsung appliances, pretty much across the board, are terrible. That’s what the appliance repair guys tell me. Then there’s my experience years ago with Maytag. They were still advertising  “the lonely Maytag repair man.” The guy was all alone with nothing to do due Maytag quality being so good. When I bought mine they were just starting to make them in China. Worse washing machine I ever owned. The repairman came to the house twice and never got it to stop leaking oil. 

Rule of thumb when buying appliances is to get commercial grade if you can afford it. They are expensive, but cheap in the long run. Too bad my budget doesn’t run that way. If you have to pick one appliance to go commercial I’d go with the clothes washer. 

Dryers tend to last a fairly long time for most brands. If you don’t mind mismatched appliances you can get some real bargains on the used market for dryers. 

All the appliance guys use Bosch dishwashers. Not cheap, but I got mine gently used for $50 because it didn’t fit the previous owner’s kitchen remodel. Great bargain. Washing dishes by hand isn’t the end of the world either. 

Where you can save money is refrigerators. The trick is to avoid bells and whistles. Don’t get things like ice makers in the door. Go simple and you can go cheap. Of course, there is always commercial grade but that’s a lot of money where a cheap simple fridge will usually do the job. 

Stoves are generally pretty trouble free or only require inexpensive repairs. Even Samsung stoves aren’t terrible. The one thing you have to do to avoid premature stove death is to avoid the self clean function. The high heat generated by that function will age the stove like crazy. 

When appliances are out of warranty don’t be afraid to go to YouTube university and repair them yourself. Might as well give it a go if your other option is to throw it out. I don’t know about your budget but I’m not in a hurry to do that. 

-Sixbears