Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by KGIII 3223 days ago
A bit less than ten years ago, I had my home built and purchased nothing but high-end industrial appliances. I admit, this was costly and I made similar viewpoint purchases for the rest of the house.

So far, I've not had to have anything repaired - at all. I haven't even had to change an appliance lightbulb. I just keep the consumables replaced on schedule.

Initially, it was quite expensive. I do think it may be cheaper on the long run.

1 comments

Do cheap appliances really have longevity problems though?

My place is going on 22 years old with the same gas oven/stove top, built in microwave, and standing washer dryer combo. No repairs needed that I know of and even if they did, they are all standard, whirlpool type appliance with an abundance of cheap parts online. Even the fridge was going strong until we had an internal water leak a few years ago which was easily fixed for $100. We did recently get rid of it for a more efficient model though.

Now that I think about it, the dishwasher was replaced a few years ago. Mostly because we didn't think the old one was cleaning well enough. But the new one was barely $200 all in.

Commerical, high end versions of these appliances would need to last more than my remaining lifespan to pay for themselves.

I don't think much financial argument can be made for spending large amounts of money on regular kitchen appliances for their longevity.

It's always a gamble, but I feel like your appliances probably fall in the threshold of manufacturers giving a damn about longevity.

Our 32-year-old home, with original washer/dryer, dishwasher, fridge, and oven were only recently renovated mostly because of aesthetics - not operation. Of those appliances, the dishwasher was the only real dud the last year.

I haven't crunched the numbers but I'd say the lack of hassle also has value. I'm not sure where to even get that data. If you know where it is, I'll do some math.