re: I need a new dishwasher...leaning towards a Bosch...what are your thoughts?

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All machines break. Always keep this in mind when contemplating a new appliance purchase. Failure to consider repairability at the time of purchase is to guarantee heartbreak in the two to four years (industry average) when the appliance has its first malfunction and requires a repair.

And, brothers and sisters, let us always be mindful of the Golden Rule for buying appliances: Don’t pay so much for an appliance that you’re married to it. If the appliance suddenly requires an outrageously expensive part or has been a troublesome box of bolts requiring frequent repairs, you want the freedom to Deep Six that pig-dog and git you a new one. Well, how free will you feel to jettison said pig-dog if you’ve paid $4,000 for it? Marry a human, not an appliance.

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3. The “Authorized Servicer” Racket

In my opinion, this is tantamount to a form of blackmail and it does a great disservice to the customer. An all-too common example is that someone has an appliance from a manufacturer who plays dirty like this (and I name names below) and they need a repair. The “Authorized” guy says he can’t get there for three weeks. And while the person’s regular repair guy can get there tomorrow, he declines the job because he doesn’t have access to the latest service bulletins needed to fix the damn thing.

So, I ax you, mah bruvahs and sistahs, in whose best interest is it to restrict access to technical service information: you, the customer and end user, or the manufacturer with this medieval policy? Think on these things.

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4. What about Kenmore?

Most people understand that there ain’t no Kenmore factory in Malaysia or some place. The Kenmore “factory” is several floors on the Sears Tower where corporate bureaucrats beat up other corporate bureaucrats at manufacturing companies, like Whirlpool or Electrolux, to make their stuff for them and slap a Kenmore label on it.

Kenmore is nothing more than that– a label slapped on an appliance that someone else made. Kenmore is merely a marketing company in the Sears Tower in Chicago. The real manufacturer is coded into the three digit model number prefix. Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with that. But it creates problems such as crossing over a Kenmore model number to the real manufacturer model number, which is needed to look up tech info like service manuals and bulletins. So it affects repairability.

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5. The Four Prime Criteria™ and General Brand Recommendations

Having laid all that groundwork, you are now ready for me to reveal my Four Prime Criteria™ for selecting an appliance brand:

- Repairability: the appliance should be constructed in such a manner that it is easy to work on.
- Reasonable markup on parts compared to the markup on similar parts from other manufacturers.
- Availability of parts meaning it has a widespread and robust parts distribution system as opposed to having to buy exclusively from the manufacturer or one of their “Authorized” dealers (and usually get screwed in the process).
- Access to technical info, the big bugaboo I ranted about above, which also ties into Repairability.

To help summarize this information, I’ve developed recommendations based on how well a manufacturer lives up to the Four Prime Criteria™:

Recommended- Meet all the criteria.
Recommended with reservations- Meet some of the criteria and may be worth considering e.g., get a great bargain price on one.
Not recommended- Meet none of the criteria, not recommended for purchase under any circumstances.


General Brand Recommendations (recommendations by appliance type are in Section 7)

Recommended:
LG, Dacor, Electrolux, Whirlpool / KitchenAid, GE

Recommended with reservations:
Bosch

Not recommended:
Samsung, Viking, Sub-Zero, Fisher-Paykel

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6. Notes and Observations on Specific Manufacturers

LG: Free access to their tech site for professional appliantologists, an enlightened policy that generates good will among appliantologists and, in turn, good word-of-mouth to customers– a guerilla marketing tactic. Relatively new to the major appliance scene but their front-load washer is already proving to be one of the best out there.

Electrolux - Frigidaire: Excessive compressor failures in refrigerators. On their front load washers, they removed front panel access to drain pump to save $.50 per unit in production cost; greatly decreases Repairability. However, they allow free access to their tech site for professional servicers so kudos for that.

Whirlpool - KitchenAid: This manufacturer acquired Maytag and so owns the Maytag, Amana, Jenn-Air, and Magic Chef brands. Excessive tub bearing failure in front load washers. Allow access to their tech site for professional appliantologists but it’s NOT free; $500/year for non-authorized appliantologists; $250/year for authorized.

GE: Allows access to technical info like Whirlpool but for a much lower fee ($160/year) and their tech site is a helluva lot better, too. GE’s TAG (Technical Assistance Group) is also very innovative about getting training information on their new appliances out to independent techs in the field. For example, they do things like put on webinars for techs. Old news for most other fields but that’s bleeding edge in the appliance world!

Samsung: What were the engineers smoking when they designed this refrigerator? Restrictive access to technical service info, quasi-restrictive parts procurement. Often a nightmare getting the right part the first time unless you have access to their good ol’ boys network, GSPN. Rots o' ruck widat, GI!

Fisher-Paykel - DCS: Poor reliability on all products. Flimsy products all the way around. Restrictive parts procurement. Restrictive access to technical info. Avoid. Warning, Will Robinson!

Bosch - Thermador - Gagmenow: Restrictive access to technical info. In the case of Thermador, overpriced products with a high failure rate and difficult to work on.

Dacor: Good-quality but pricey products. Robust parts distribution. Open access to technical info. All American-built products.

Sub-Zero: Restrictive access to technical info. Restrictive parts procurement. Excessively high failure rate for the price paid. Sticker price is a marriage license.

Viking: Draconian about access to technical info. Have threatened lawsuits against servicers to keep their tech info off the web. Restrictive parts procurement. Very poor construction quality on all their in-house built stuff. This manufacturer fails all the Four Prime Criteria. If there’s a more effed-up appliance manufacturer out there, I’ve not seen ‘em yet.

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7. Recommendations by Type of Appliance

Here are my (updated) bottom line recommendations by type of appliance, listed in order of preference:

Front load washer: LG, GE, Electrolux, Whirlpool
Top load washer: Whirlpool direct drive (also sold as the Maytag Centennial washer), Whirlpool Cabrio (also sold as the Maytag Bravo and Kenmore Oasis washer)
Refrigerator: Any of the Whirlpool-built products, GE, LG
Dryer: Whirlpool-built with lint filter in the top panel, LG, Electrolux-Frigidaire-Gibson
Dishwasher: KitchenAid. Yep, just KitchenAid but with the caveat that all dishwashers built today suck. And you can thank the Energy Star requirements for that.
Dishdrawer: KitchenAid by Fulgor, not the piece-of-trash KitchenAid that was previously built by Fisher-Freaking-Paykel.
Oven/range/stove: Electrolux, GE, Whirlpool, Dacor


Samurai Appliance Repair Man
www.Appliantology.org

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