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I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

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Re: I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

#71

Post by fowkswe »

newaccount2023 wrote: post #52
fowkswe wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in the US, luxury appliances are what sell houses. Usually the investment pays handsomly when you go to sell.

no, LOCATION sells homes appliances are a commodity that represent a minor fraction of the sale price no one plonks down $2 million dollars on a home to get $30k worth of appliances no one moves into a poor school district to buy a Viking range you can swap out all the appliances in a home in a few days and the idea that these are an "investment"?? how many homes have you owned? no one is making a profit off of insta…

I've owned and sold several homes that I've renovated and they always fetch a premium.

Recently I sold an apartment in a complex with 1200 units - so comps are widely available. The sale happened in a matter of hours with 6 way-over-ask offers, half of which were all cash. The closing price continues to be a high water mark for this unit / line in the complex.

There were other units on the market at the same time as us where the sale took weeks if not months and sold for drastically less. Some of them were recently renovated, but had builder grade finishes.

High end kitchen / bathroom renovations (aka appliances) are most certainly a major factor.

Re: I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

#72

Post by yamtaddle »

cesarb wrote: post #31
fowkswe wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in the US, luxury appliances are what sell houses. Usually the investment pays handsomly when you go to sell.

> Here in the US, luxury appliances are what sell houses. Usually the investment pays handsomly when you go to sell. You don't take your appliances with you when you move?

> You don't take your appliances with you when you move?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Dishwashers are probably the most-likely to stay with the house, followed by the range. Fridge may be included with the house, or specified as negotiable, but often isn't—probably the most-likely one for the seller to keep. Some higher-end models of various appliances (including refrigerators) may be built-in rather than freestanding, and/or to be styled to match the cabinets, and in those cases they almost always stay. Clothes washer and dryer are usually taken.

IME appliances are more likely to stay the higher the cost of the house (they're more likely to be kinda tied to the house, style-wise or physically; the owner is more likely to consider them not worth moving).

Re: I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

#73

Post by yamtaddle »

crazygringo wrote: post #44
cesarb wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Here in the US, luxury appliances are what sell houses. Usually the investment pays handsomly when you go to sell. You don't take your appliances with you when you move?

Absolutely not. They're built into the house. Cabinets are literally constructed around them to fit seamlessly. I know it's common in certain other countries to take your appliances with you, even for rentals. It makes moving so much harder, I've never understood it. To me, a home not coming with a refrigerator or washing machine makes as much sense as it not coming with a toilet or shower.

> Absolutely not. They're built into the house. Cabinets are literally constructed around them to fit seamlessly.

Only true in houses with high-end finishes.

Re: I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

#74

Post by rascul »

newaccount2023 wrote: post #62
jeffbee wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't splurge on a luxury fridge either but I wish I understood why there aren't any good ones. I should be able to install the compressor and the rest of it outside. Coils on the bottom of a refrigerator is undoubtedly the stupidest architecture. And having to listen to the compressor isn't great either.

there are no "good ones" because "luxury" appliances are basically the same as the cheap ones with a nicer finish or luxury brand name ask ANY appliance repair person...they would howl at the comments here they've told me that people who think Bosch or Miele are "good" are just remembering what they were like twenty years ago and today they are just as likely to fail as Kenmore ask ANY appliance repair person, don't…

Depending on which specific appliance, the Kenmore is probably a Whirlpool.

Re: I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

#75

Post by Eupraxias »

whitemary wrote: post #17

Why is the “average life span" given as a range?

My repair guy came by last week to fix my Maytag dishwasher. He noted it was ready to be replaced. We are heavy users.

This guy has been in his job for over 30 years. He uses a flip-phone, and has encouraged me to do my own repairs on multiple appliances over the years. He is not trigger-happy on replacement.

I expressed surprise that the machine needed to be replaced. It was barely 7 years old! I have already replaced the pump, and two washer assemblies. I asked him what the average life span is for a typical dishwasher these days.

His answer: 7 years.

Re: I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

#76

Post by latchkey »

latexr wrote: post #21
andrewfromx wrote: post #3

The irony, you really need two. One for clean dishes ready to be used, one for dirty, and do away with cabinets!

I once saw a kitchen in Italy which had a cabinet right above the sink. You wouldn’t notice when it was closed, but if you opened it you’d see it didn’t have a flat bottom but dish racks. So you’d wash your stuff, put them in the cabinet, and they’d dry in there with the excess water falling directly in the sink. I haven’t used the system myself, but the people living in the house liked it.

Just remodeled my kitchen and I don't have space in my tiny place for a washer.

So, I went with Kingsfors shelves system (similar [0]) instead of cabinets and one of the inserts is this drying rack [1]. Ends up serving kind of as a storage system too.

Really happy with it. I don't understand why people build cabinets around their shelves... you have to open doors to get at things and memorize where everything is at, which is really not optimal.

[0] https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/kungsfors-wall-grid-with-storag...

[1] https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/kungsfors-dish-drainer-40371225...

Re: I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

#77

Post by latchkey »

Eupraxias wrote: post #75
whitemary wrote: post #17

Why is the “average life span" given as a range?

My repair guy came by last week to fix my Maytag dishwasher. He noted it was ready to be replaced. We are heavy users. This guy has been in his job for over 30 years. He uses a flip-phone, and has encouraged me to do my own repairs on multiple appliances over the years. He is not trigger-happy on replacement. I expressed surprise that the machine needed to be replaced. It was barely 7 years old! I have already replac…

Same with washer/dryers. Everything is plastic parts now and they break and are hard/expensive to replace.

Re: I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

#78

Post by loco5niner »

buffington wrote: post #36
steveBK123 wrote: post #7

Dishwashers are absolutely an appliance to splurge on. The difference between bottom-tier, adequate-tier and high-end is basically a few hundred bucks. Bottom-tier are loud, don't actually clean dishes well, are ugly, and fail early. Top-tier are near-silent, clean dishes without a pre-rinse, have all sorts of intelligent drawers & racks to fit all your needs, and look great. Some of them even have fancy features lik…

I have a cheap (in every sense) dishwasher with no fancy features that's nearly silent. Whether I put in relatively clean plates or filthy messy pots, it cleans them perfectly. Prior to that I owned a very expensive dishwasher and it was awful. Within the 90 day return window it broke twice. A week before that window closed I returned it and bought the one I have now for a third of the price. Someone I work with has…

Which one is it? :-)

Re: I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

#79

Post by V__ »

avianlyric wrote: post #57
V__ wrote: post #8

One thing to note about Miele's (but not unique about them): It's not trivial to repair them yourself. You need a specialized inductive cable to read error codes and if you don't want to lose warranty, only a certified repair technician is allowed to fix it. Also, the brand itself is getting more 'blurry'. Miele refrigerators are actually made by Liebherr.

I think it depends on the failure. I’ve repaired a Miele washing machine recently, and found the insides of it wonderfully overbuilt and modular, with every bit of metal bent over to remove sharp corners. It was a real pleasure to work inside of. Far better than the AEG I repaired just before, that was all tightly integrated parts, and sharp edges just waiting to slice you up.

Absolutely, mechanically the inside is great. Electric errors and problems, might be the challenge.

Re: I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

#80

Post by slowmovintarget »

LazyMans wrote: post #50
azinman2 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just had a Miele serviceman come out recently. Wasn’t a generic person at all. Everything including the truck (and the pricing) was branded Miele.

I'm sure it varies brand to brand. Miele isn't scraping the bottom of the barrel for margin.

But it is this combination of reliability and quality service that make the dishwasher worth paying for. It's how appliances used to be. You buy one, and it lasts for 20 years, and maybe you need it to be serviced a few times.

We bought a Miele dishwasher. We've been able to clear clogs ourselves following instructions. It actually cleans the dishes properly, and the door pops open to allow drying when the cycle completes.

Stuff made in China starts going on the fritz. If you get the expensive brands made in China, it means they last one or two years instead of 3 to 6 months. We have a higher-end American brand washing machine (not Miele). It's control panel is starting get squirrely. The machine is fine, but the electronics are starting to fail, and the repair cost for replacement boards is a significant percentage of the cost of the machine. Enough that we'll probably go with Miele when the board fails altogether.

If Miele makes a healthy margin, that's good in my book, because they make products that are worth the money. I'm tired of buying cheap disposable crap. I don't want to buy a toaster every year because they burn out every year. I refuse to go through the circus of buying a dishwasher or washer/drier every 5 years anymore.

We actively search for products that last, and that have good service. We actively avoid, as far as is possible, products made in China, because the quality, and verification of quality is no longer suitable. Buying stuff made in mainland China, even with an American or European brand-name means that it is cheap in the very short term, and costly in both dollars and time in the long run.

If a company can make a profit and not engage in the outsourcing idiocy we've seen in American brands, than they'll get my money, even at a premium.

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