need to vent over appliances grrrr!!!!

[zoom-zoom]

Consumer Reports gives expected lifetime on major appliances as 10-15 years now, depending on whether its a water heater, washer etc...

My dad does some appliance repair. He agrees. When our dryer died after about 11 years he said that was typical. Luckily our washing machine is still going strong after 13.

We have fixed relatively minor things on our washer at least 2-3 times, now. This site is fabulous: http://applianceguru.com/ we've ordered parts and done simple repairs that would have had a lot of people simply tossing their washer in the landfill. For chump change we've easily squeezed more life out of our washer.

[channlluv]

Smilingcat, my mom loves her FP washer and dryer. Her Maytag fridge has given her trouble since day one, though. Go figure. Even the Maytag repairman who came out to fix it under warranty told her she got a lemon and the company should replace it. I don't know if they actually did or not. The freezer in her garage is nearly 20 years old, though.

Roxy

[maillotpois]

Our TV died last week and our washing machine died over the weekend. I think the third thing is now the "P" key on my laptop only works if you slam it really hard.

[divingbiker]

Hijack: You need to let your husband know that cookie baking goes a lot quicker if you get some large-sized cookie sheets.

We've got a 1950's oven. Works like a charm (well except for the broiler). Pic is of my husband (who is as old as the oven) making his first ever batch of cookies during the snowstorm. It took him a few batches to figure it out!

Attachment 10598

[nscrbug]

My clothes dryer is from Montgomery Wards

Ha ha...so is our stove! It was brand new when we moved into our house back in 1993. The previous owner purchased it in May, 1992...but apparently had never used it. I had to dig up the owner's manual last week to find the model number of it (for a part), and inside the manual was the original receipt from Monkey Wards.

Incidentally, the stove started leaking CO last Sunday during my Xmas cookie baking marathon. Had to call the fire department out...that was fun having all of our neighbors standing outside to see what the "hubbub" was all about. Turns out that a hose in the back of the stove was "crimped", thus causing a leak. We are STILL waiting on that part to come in...I have been without a working stove/oven for 10 DAYS...and counting!!! At this rate, I'll be lucky if my stove is working by New Year's. I'm so tired of cooking meals in the microwave and on the Foreman Grill. I miss my stove...

[ridenread]

We just had to buy a new refrigerator as well. Not something I wanted to do the week before Christmas. However everything in it was freezing. We had it turned all the way down as low as it could go and everything froze. It was less than 10 years old. The door also was falling apart. All of the shelves were cracking .There is only so much duct tape a refrigerator can take.

The refrigerator I left in an apartment 10 years ago was over 20 years old and worked perfectly.

Fortuantely we were able to find a decent one at the Sears Outlet. It has a dent and scratches on the side but once it is tucked into its space the cosmetic damage can not be seen.

[smilingcat]

Thank you ladies for your comments.

I don't feel slighted now... Geeze only 10-15 years is the life span??

Replacing TV and other appliances every 5 years?? That's really too short I think. Thank goodness we gave up on TVs years ago.

Anyway, I hope to have a new fridge next week. Meanwhile we will make do with our deep freezer and our other fridge in the garage. Bit of a pain but beats going out for dinner every day or having to throw food away...

We decided not to get the Fisher Paykel fridge. Simply because it didn't have the energy star rating. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM??? We also hated the stainless steel look so avoided all those. We ended up with white enamel finish fridge. It's much bigger than what we were looking for but it had a deeper bins for the veggies, nice baskets for the freezer section... And the ice maker, which we never use, is tiny so we are happy. My pocket book is on life support now. The other nice thing is that we got over 20% discount on it Year End Sale Yipppeeee . I wonder if I can talk my partner into finding a second job though ...

[papaver]

We're lucky, my mother in law has worked all her life for Philips/whirlpool. So we always get a huge discount. But I have to admit, our washer broke down at the worst possible moment (don't they all). And even with the discount, it hurts.

Electricity is very very expensive here, so you really have to buy the most energy efficient appliances. This year the Flemish government gave 'eco cheques' to each family. The are 250 euros (350 USD) worth, and you can only buy energy efficient appliances. They are valid for two years. Unfortunately we received ours AFTER we bought our washer.

[sarahspins]

Replacing TV and other appliances every 5 years??

Agreed... that is wrong IMO. It's amazing to me when you look at the quality of components of things made 20-30 years ago, and not even "high end" items compared to what is available now, at any price... what we can buy today is just junk

Our house isn't even 10 years old (built in 2001, we bought it in 2003, as the 3rd owners ), and we've had to replace so much of the door hardware it's not funny.... almost all of our cabinet hinges throughout the house have BROKEN where they screw into the frames, which isn't something that can be fixed, they have to basically be replaced one by one as it happens (I have a whole ton of replacements now so I'm not running out to find the right one as we need them - replacing all of them at once is a daunting prospect since there are just so many).. a couple of the drawer guides in the kitchen have had to be replaced because the supports completely broke. It sucks... yet my mom has hardware in her house that is like 40 years old and I know it was cheap when it was purchased, and it's all fine? It's mind boggling, really.

[badger]

Electricity is very very expensive here, so you really have to buy the most energy efficient appliances. This year the Flemish government gave 'eco cheques' to each family. The are 250 euros (350 USD) worth, and you can only buy energy efficient appliances. They are valid for two years. Unfortunately we received ours AFTER we bought our washer.

We have "energy" rebate program here where you buy an energystart certified fridge or washing machine, you get $50 back. whoppie, but I guess every little bit helps. I've heard that the program's being cut, though.

When I replaced my 19 year old top loading washer and dryer earlier this year to an energy efficient pair, I can't believe how much better it is. It uses so little water and clothes come out nearly dry so drying's a breeze. I can also wash bigger items like mattress protector which I never could with my top loader.

I can't wait to replace my equally-old fridge. I can't have ice cream in the freezer because it thaws, then re-freezes continually so that in a week's time it turns into a gooey, frosty blob.

[Irulan]

When we replaced our fridge about 10 years ago, our uility bill dropped significantly. And I too love my front loader washing machine
.

[Trek420]

When I replaced the washer drier I got a huge discount on my energy bill because my use dropped by almost 20%. It's so efficient and spins the clothes so dry that I hardly use the drier. Most go on the nifty L&L Bean wall mounted drying rack unless it's big stuff like sheets or heavy like jeans.

There was a rebate offer too, I never got that back but figure the energy bill is the rebate.

There's supposed to be a "cash for clunkers" program for appliances soon to get more people to turn in those energy hogs. Buying American would be good too (not that the Chinese don't need jobs, they're great too)

[Tuckervill]

For our wedding, we received a Black & Decker mini-food processor. We loved the thing. We used it mostly for shredding cheese, but it came out at other times. I'd never had a big FP so when I needed one about 7 years ago, I bought a really cheap(equals loud) one just so I could do this one dish and make an impression on someone (don't even remember the dish! Or the person.).

A few weeks ago I decided to make some bean dip with canned beans, garlic, etc. Threw it all in the Black & Decker and went to town on it. But then I heard a strange noise. The blade wasn't spinning. Oh darn, Old Faithful is dead. It's okay--it was TWENTY years old, after all!

Then last week when I needed marzipan and couldn't find any in my town, I decided to make some in the giant, cheap and LOUD FP. It broke, too! Expected that, eventually. Probably only used it about 4 times in 7 years, so no great loss.

My husband started looking for a new mini-FP, and read all the reviews on the new mini-Black & Deckers. Guess what they said? Not even good enough to shred cheese! Oh the irony. So, I'm getting a new, expensive (does that equal quiet? hope so) full sized Kitchen Aid FP on Friday morning.

I'm due for a new fridge, even though DH finally fixed the ice maker after about 4 years of it being broken. Can't WAIT for it to die, even though it is a pretty good one. I love having tools that really really work!

Karen

[tc1]

...no such thing as a free lunch. The reason why newer appliances only last 10-15 years is inherent with their design. Energy efficient means smaller and lighter parts which take less energy to move, which wear faster, and smarter electronic controls, which wear faster.

I love my newer fridge, and brand new washer, which are both energy efficient. We kept the old dryer, because dryers are so low tech not much has changed.

[OakLeaf]

food processor

Underpowered food processors are nothing new. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing in the context of this thread! I've been burning out blender and FP motors for 30 years making soymilk, tofu, and hummus. In the world of grinding appliances, anyway, it's definitely worth the money to get a more powerful motor, all-metal drive parts, and easy-to-find replacement blades. I think the cheap ones are mainly made for pesto and margaritas and you're really not expected to use them for anything else.

I've always drawn the line well before a Vita-Mix, although now that they come only with plastic jars, I kind of wish I'd bought one back when the jars were stainless steel...