Appliances brands? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Appliances brands?

daught

daught

Well-known member
I'm in the market for a new refrigerator to replace my 30" model. I'm not particularly interested in smart features, screens, mood lighting, or water dispensers. What I really need are strong shelves and sliding mechanisms that can withstand my wife's abusive style in the kitchen. I tend to do most of my shopping at Costco, although I've never purchased appliances from them before. One issue I've noticed is that many store warranties don't cover shelves, drawers, and sliding mechanisms, which are often the parts that break and lead to fridge replacements. While many fridges come with 5-10 year warranties on compressors, these components usually aren't the problem.

At Costco, they offer brands like Haier, LG, GE, Samsung, Whirlpool, and KitchenAid. However, reviews seem to be mixed at best for these options. Does anyone have any opinions on which brands might be better than others in terms of durability and reliability? Are there any other brands or retailers I should consider looking into? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
I can't help but I will say that I'm still on my bare-bones builder special I got with the house back in 1992.

When the time comes to replace it, I'll be like you and looking for something simple and withOUT a circuit board and the fancy options.

And for those that may point to it being inefficient, I bought 1 of those meters that goes between the wall outlet and the fridge plug and I'm using about $8/month of electricity in the summer, less in the winter.
 
LBV said:
I can't help but I will say that I'm still on my bare-bones builder special I got with the house back in 1992.

When the time comes to replace it, I'll be like you and looking for something simple and withOUT a circuit board and the fancy options.

And for those that may point to it being inefficient, I bought 1 of those meters that goes between the wall outlet and the fridge plug and I'm using about $8/month of electricity in the summer, less in the winter.
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Are you allowed to buy a fridge without a circuit board anymore or have the green nannies forced us all into variable speed compressors to meet energy star?
 
There's a lot of label engineering in home appliances, go with the cheapest that offers the features that you want. The guy at Home Depot confessed that most are designed with a service life of about 10 years - the fewer bells and whistles the better.
 
GreyGhost said:
Are you allowed to buy a fridge without a circuit board anymore or have the green nannies forced us all into variable speed compressors to meet energy star?
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Good question but I sure hope I can find one if/when the time comes.
 
I know that LG is being sued over the short lifespan of their refrigerators with linear compressors.
 
TK4 said:
There's a lot of label engineering in home appliances, go with the cheapest that offers the features that you want. The guy at Home Depot confessed that most are designed with a service life of about 10 years - the fewer bells and whistles the better.
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Similar to air conditioners, if you look at the manufacturers labels you often see the parent company listed. Often but not always they are substantially similar mechanically.
 
I would start with a list of what brands to avoid for the specific appliance you need...

For a fridge, simple is better IMO and should last longer. I have no interest in ice makers, water dispensers etc. as they are far too common, for my taste, points of failure (and floods when on vacation). And from way too many people I know, LG in general.

For where, I avoid big box as I know smaller family owned places with better prices and customer service--if they have what I want. I also like to support local.
 
Honestly I don't personally understand how LG appliances even make it out of the store. For things that aren't refrigerators, all their appliances have enraging user interfaces. Like microwaves that just have + and - for inputting time, it's stupid
 
Where are you located? Go to Appliance Canada. Look for Fisher Paykel and they will have something for your size. They are spendy but, worth it. Sub-Zero is more on the custom and commercial end of things but, they do have residential items but, they may not have a lot of display models to look through.


For the “regular” end, Samsung leads the way in terms of durability and warranty claims by units sold. They are not fool proof but, their designs and manufacturing are pretty good.

Kitchen Aid has a wider price point starting from garbage to Macmansion needs so, it gets blurry with price point and quality as you move through their offerings. Their consumer reviews might have more reports on their volume leaders in the low and medium price points and reflect the less than stellar reputation they might have.


The Fisher Paykel are built well and if they do need service, they will have a service call take care of things unlike having the need for a replacement like a lot of mid to low level products.

I work in retail finance and know most appliance retailers across the nation. Most don’t make much from selling the appliances as much as they do extended warranty. However, most seasoned sales professionals don’t want to have a customer come back with a warranty claim and suggest Samsung unless you are looking for higher end stuff.
 
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I have an older Kenmore fridge made by Whirlpool apart from the plastic drawers being kind of crap everything else has been good

Sent from the future
 
Not Samsung. Not Samsung. Not Samsung!

We have had shelves replaced under warranty before. No issues with that. Just needs to be a defect rather than someone smashing a shelf with a giant jar of pickles.

Our LG is happily doing what it should and it has a user fixable/accessible ice maker in the door which is pretty amazing and it works. The Samsung one needed you to be a flexible dwarf with 8ft arms.

Costco service and delivery have been fantastic for any of our appliances but then again so have Home Depot and Lowes for the other appliances we have. Just get the extended warranty! We’ve used it on most of our appliances at some point.
 
jc100 said:
That’s interesting. They are quiet though.
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Especially when they aren't running. My sister had the compressor replaced 2 or 3 times under warranty (can't remember), then when it failed again, LG got her a new fridge. Problem was 3 times she had food spoil.
 
We have mostly kichenaid , but bought a fridgidaire refrigerator last yr . Wife wanted water in door and it’s getting harder to fine that , many are now inside the fridge , which she thought was silly .
My career appliance guy , who actual was the Maytag repair man , hates Frigidaire and told me it was a terrible choice . So I don’t know what to think.

Friends in the middle of a reno wanted a Bosch , they can buy three LG of the same size and configuration vs Bosch . Going with LG , lady in the store was strong on selling LG . Maybe she’s just a sales person .


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daught said:
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I am in Squamish , BC ;) I think I will keep an eye out for used Bosch.
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That is a bit north of the big city but, Trail Appliances knows their stuff if still considering new.
 
Who handles warranty? The store or do they just direct the buyer to deal with the manufacturer?

Trail appliances isn't that far. A 40 minute drive... is usually 40 minutes.

Our current Frigidaire fridge is still decent. The only problem we are having is that food keeps getting moldy in it. It started when it was pooling water. In the end I found the drain tube was clogged. I think it built some mold that won't go away despite cleaning it. I will try cleaning it with bleach and running my ozone generator in it. BTW having a big ozone generator is an amazing gizmo to have around the house.
 
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daught said:
Who handles warranty? The store or do they just direct the buyer to deal with the manufacturer?

Trail appliances isn't that far. A 40 minute drive... is usually 40 minutes.

Our current Frigidaire fridge is still decent. The only problem we are having is that food keeps getting moldy in it. It started when it was pooling water. In the end I found the drain tube was clogged. I think it built some mold that won't go away despite cleaning it. I will try cleaning it with bleach and running my ozone generator in it. BTW having a big ozone generator is an amazing gizmo to have around the house.
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One thing I figured out researching appliance purchases is that the manufacturers change models annually for a reason: there's zero meaningful durability information for anything you can actually buy. There's lots about which cool most evenly or which are more energy efficient, but zero about which will still be working in five years. The only certainty is that Bosch makes the best dishwashers.

That said, I would avoid all Samsung like the plague. They're built to look sleek and modern but the internals are a crap as it gets. We've inherited five relatively new Samsung appliances as part of house purchases, and all died at less than five years old.

We made the mistake of buying a Samsung washer/dryer set when we bought a house in 2015, and about a month after the 2-yr warranty expired, the dryer drum stopped spinning and it started squealing like a stuck pig. After some Googling, turns out it's an extremely common problem where the drum belt tensioner pulley is essentially a plastic cylinder on a bent wire. No bushing or bearing, just wire, grease, plastic. Naturally, the grease eventually burns off, and then the plastic overheats in direct contact with the metal wire and seizes. An extremely common problem, known for years, that Samsung could fix with a $0.50 part, but they continue to save that $0.50 on each unit sold, knowing the grease will last just long enough to see off the warranty. I was able to regrease the pulley by disassembling the dryer, but it clearly wasn't intended for me to do so, as it was mostly held together with cheap snap tabs rather than some $0.05 screws.

The same house also came with a Samsung side-by-side fridge that had a poorly designed evaporator drain hose that would clog, causing the freezer fan to ice over. Defrosting would solve the problem for 3 months or so, but then you'd be dealing with a puddle on the floor and tossing spoilt food again. After the second time, we called a repair guy. He hadn't even taken off his shoes when he saw the fridge, described the problem exactly, and said he couldn't fix it because the drain line was embedded in the insulation, and exposing it would destroy the fridge. He kindly left without charging us, telling us to buy anything but Samsung...

I read an article years ago that talked about how Energy Star had essentially destroyed reliable appliances, as building them to be reliable, cheap AND efficient was very difficult, so the manufacturers pivoted to building efficient junk that were much worse for the environment in their short life than the energy hog Inglis that lasted 30+ years without complaint.

My takeaway from all of the above is to stick with cheap, simple appliances that have fewer things to go wrong and hurt less when they inevitably break down well before they should. You realise quickly that none of the manufacturers (except maybe Speed Queen in laundry) market their products on reliability for a reason...
 
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