Do Household Appliances Really Not Last as Long as They Used To?

[TBoneTX 46,372]

A few months ago, a repairman told me to keep my 2011-era Frigidaire refrigerator for as long as it runs, and, if I replace it, to keep it in the garage.  He said that, for one, Samsung appliances are pure garbage.  I'd like to hear people's experiences and whether you agree with the article below.

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Do Household Appliances Really Not Last as Long as They Used To?

 

Everybody knows that household appliances don't last as long as they used to.  But is this conventional wisdom really true?  Or is it just one of those alluring fables we like to tell ourselves about the good ol' days?

Internet searches provide copious anecdotes.  News outlets generally interview repair technicians, who tell a convincing and consistent story.  Appliances built in the 1970s generally lasted thirty to fifty years, they say.  Today, domestic mainstays like washing machines, ovens, fridges, and dryers get replaced about every decade.  Technicians blame an industry push towards computerization, an increase in the number of individual components, and the use of flimsier materials like plastic and aluminum rather than steel.  The results of these trends are appliances that break more often and are harder and more costly to repair.

But where is the hard data to back these tales?  It's surprisingly hard to come by.

Researchers Kamila Krych and Johan Berg Pettersen in the Department of Energy and Process Engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology sought to fill the gap.  [...]

https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2025/03/01/do_household_appliances_really_not_last_as_long_as_they_used_to_1093575.html

[Ban Hammer 13,713]

sounds about right.  my washer, dryer, and refrigerator are from 2002.  i've heard many horror stories with smart appliances costing so much to repair that it's cheaper to just buy a new one, and the repairs come way too soon to make them worthwhile.

[Ontarkie 14,597]

Samsung is the worse. During an interview they outright said they do not have to follow American laws because the sell more outside the US than inside.

 

I was slowly over the year poison by my 2008 SS refrigerator. I had no idea the fridge was not staying at the proper temperature. We bought another SS because we were told the previous fridge was an economy line and the biggest fridge we could fine was another SS. Still all sorts of stomach issues continued and not knowing why I went through all sorts of tests and procedures. Then the wire to the flex drawer on my SS was cut from a bad design. I googled how to fix it because my fridge was just 4 yrs old and a month past the warranty. That is when I found a FB group for SS and learned to put in a digital thermostat in it. Turned out to be the route of all my stomach issues. My fridge never stayed at safe temps, it would climb as high as 53F in the middle of the night. not a single person would be awake keeping a door open or anything. 

 

From this group I found LG and SS to be the worse of the worse. Most ppl have no idea that the temperature on the door does not mean that is the temperature inside the fridge. Most ppl also do not put in a digital thermostat that tracks the temperatures, they might get one of those fridge ones with the needle but that only tells you the temp at that moment when you open the door. 

 

The other part is that not only do other brands have issues it is all about the customer service you have to deal with. GE or Kitchen Aid, Whirlpool, Bosch and such will make things right. LG and SS will blame everyone and your Uncle for the issues. They have the most sales, because they are cheap and ppl will comment on them after a month or two of buying it. Of course everything is fine at that point, and if you're lucky your good until a yr or two later. That is why they score good with CR. Which by the way is a useless site as they don't actually research anything and will not help you if you report fires started by some of those appliances. 

 

Anyway, with my doctor's help and my Govee thermostat I got a full refund from fighting SS. I now own a Whirlpool and it keeps the fridge at safe temperatures 100% of the time. 

[TBoneTX 46,372]

My repairman said that Bosch, Whirlpool, and GE were the least bad, in that order.

[Dashinka 24,956]

13 hours ago, Ontarkie said:

Samsung is the worse. During an interview they outright said they do not have to follow American laws because the sell more outside the US than inside.

 

I was slowly over the year poison by my 2008 SS refrigerator. I had no idea the fridge was not staying at the proper temperature. We bought another SS because we were told the previous fridge was an economy line and the biggest fridge we could fine was another SS. Still all sorts of stomach issues continued and not knowing why I went through all sorts of tests and procedures. Then the wire to the flex drawer on my SS was cut from a bad design. I googled how to fix it because my fridge was just 4 yrs old and a month past the warranty. That is when I found a FB group for SS and learned to put in a digital thermostat in it. Turned out to be the route of all my stomach issues. My fridge never stayed at safe temps, it would climb as high as 53F in the middle of the night. not a single person would be awake keeping a door open or anything. 

 

From this group I found LG and SS to be the worse of the worse. Most ppl have no idea that the temperature on the door does not mean that is the temperature inside the fridge. Most ppl also do not put in a digital thermostat that tracks the temperatures, they might get one of those fridge ones with the needle but that only tells you the temp at that moment when you open the door. 

 

The other part is that not only do other brands have issues it is all about the customer service you have to deal with. GE or Kitchen Aid, Whirlpool, Bosch and such will make things right. LG and SS will blame everyone and your Uncle for the issues. They have the most sales, because they are cheap and ppl will comment on them after a month or two of buying it. Of course everything is fine at that point, and if you're lucky your good until a yr or two later. That is why they score good with CR. Which by the way is a useless site as they don't actually research anything and will not help you if you report fires started by some of those appliances. 

 

Anyway, with my doctor's help and my Govee thermostat I got a full refund from fighting SS. I now own a Whirlpool and it keeps the fridge at safe temperatures 100% of the time. 

Completely agree about SS, not yet sure about LG as we currently have an LG TV and it has been fine for the past three years unlike the SS, I had before that.  This being said, my wife and I just bought a new fridge, and we steered clear of SS, LG and Hisense (even though this brand, from China, was quite cheap).  We bought a Whirlpool, and so far are quite happy with it except for a drip from the water dispenser that lasts 5-10 minutes after use.  We have a new solenoid valve coming, so we shall see how that goes.

 

As to newer appliances lasting as long at old one, we are currently in that situation.  The fridge replaced by the one mentioned above was nearly 20 years old, and is still working fine (we gave it to my niece and nephew), we just wanted a new one.  We also recently replaced our dishwasher that was over.30 years old (due to a main seal leak) with a Whirlpool, so time will tell.

[Ban Hammer 13,713]

11 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

My repairman said that Bosch, Whirlpool, and GE were the least bad, in that order.

maytag repairman is still waiting for work......

[yuna628 9,752]

Our nightmare with Samsung was with a washer and dryer. The washer would become 'stuck' washing and refuse to drain or release the clothes trapped inside and the dryer would not dry the clothes. It took months dealing with it, but the gist was Samsung had no repair people that could come out because we are ''too far away'', that was despite arranging appointments for a person to come out. So even though you have a warranty to repair you will never actually get it repaired or replaced. I hear many of the repair people are actually DirectTV contractors that have no experience anyway. We ended up explaining the situation to the big box store we bought it from, and they were aware of the situation, so they gave us whatever replacement units of our choice we wanted so long as we didn't get Electrolux because they suffer from the same issue. Whirlpool has served us well as these years (though our replacement Whirlpool washer did kick the bucket eventually). Now, to be fair the dryer has died many times over these years past the warranty, but my husband has replaced almost all parts and can get it running within some days.

 

I'm told if you want something to last Speedqueen is supposed to be good. But no I'd never get a Samsung. Phones yes, appliances no. He also hated having to deal with them when needing to replace TVs.

 

 

 

 

[mam521 2,271]

12 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

My repairman said that Bosch, Whirlpool, and GE were the least bad, in that order.

I call BS.  The Bosch dishwasher I had was the biggest POS on the planet.  The thing never washed the dishes properly and even though it wasn't recalled, it had one of those junction boxes that tried to set my house on fire.  The only thing that was arguably good was that it was quiet.  

 

My parents also had a Bosch dishwasher and complained relentlessly about it.  It didn't do a good job washing.  

 

Now, we replaced that headache inducing Bosch with a KitchenAid (Whirlpool) and it's miles and miles better,  equally as quiet and actually washes the dishes!  It dries them, too!

 

The LG washer and dryer have been fine other than we had to replace the water inlet valve on the washer last month.  It was a $20 part on a 12 year old washer.  I don't think this "fine, quality" Texas water does any favors for appliances here, either.  

 

Our Samsung fridge has the busted ice maker but whatever.  I don't have the fight in me to get them to come replace it.  

 

We put a 24" Insignia (Best Buy) fridge into the laundry room for drinks like 2 years ago.  Not sure how it will do, but the price was right.  

 

We had a KitchenAid gas stove in Canada when I was on immigration hiatus and it was awful.  The oven didn't keep temperature and was uneven.  The KitchenAid fridge hated the freezer being greater than half full. The Samsung laundry pair there was horrible about twisting up clothes and bedsheets.  I've never had such issues before.  

 

We recently had an LG TV go out.  It started with continually losing it's connectivity to the internet, then losing the passwords for Netflix and Hulu and then one day it just black screened.  It was 6 years old. 

 

Things are just industrial engineered to the n'th degree and brought down so dramatically in cost that it's cheaper to chuck it and get a new one.  Honestly, it's sad and wasteful to me.  Despite apparently being cheaper to chuck, I don't believe it's actually cheaper for the consumer to replace things every 10 years.  But, that's how they get you...refuse to repair and force you to buy new!