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Goodbye non-KISS appliances

willbush.dev

31–40 of 499 posts

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#31
post #4

At first, I thought "Wow, this guy knows a bunch about fridges!" but then I realized it's not by choice. I like not having to know anything about my fridge except basic maintenance, it feels like a gift now.

Late last year over the span of two months I got the privilege of learning how to diagnose and repair problems with my water heater (bad flame sensor), HVAC (feather/cruft blocking a tube), and oven (bottom element burned out).

While I’m glad enough to save the money, definitely not eager to learn how to fix the fridge too.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#33
> the combustion engine and hybrid cars are surprisingly reliable

The OP brings up an interesting contradiction: appliances have become less reliable but cars have become more reliable. Cars have become worse in some of the same areas as appliances, like the use of touch screens instead of physical controls, but cars have nevertheless become more mechanically reliable. What would explain this opposite trend?

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#34
For the most part I agree with this, over engineered feature creep is really just horrible stuff. I never need a fridge with wifi and I absolutely swear that that anything more than auto-off is a waste in a coffee machine.

But I think the "Other appliance anecdotes" part suggests that the author has very different requirements than I do. I grew up without a garbage disposal, but its a huge convenience to have one. Also I've had top loader washing machines that don't have easy access to the trap, gimme easy access to the trap ANY DAY and I don't care how its loaded.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#35

> the combustion engine and hybrid cars are surprisingly reliable The OP brings up an interesting contradiction: appliances have become less reliable but cars have become more reliable. Cars have become worse in some of the same areas as appliances, like the use of touch screens instead of physical controls, but cars have nevertheless become more mechanically reliable. What would explain this opposite trend?

Cars are highly regulated.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can afford it, get Miele or specifically the Bosch models that are made in Germany (many lower-end Bosch models are contracted out to e.g. Turkey, and not quite as good).

Exactly - Miele, or Bosch Series 6 or 8 are usually made in Germany with longer warranty. And Siemens(which is just rebranded bosch nowadays, usually with even better finish and longer warranty).

The "Bosch Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH" was founded as a joint venture in 1967 already, the company has been producing both brands from the start.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#37
When I bought my house I also asked to keep the old (circa early 2000) appliances. They are stupid simple, reliable, and have no extra features or wifi. Meanwhile the last place I rented had a brand new fridge that broke twice in 6 months..

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#38
Bought a dumb white top-freezer Whirlpool fridge 11 years ago (WRT359). No water dispenser, no ice maker, not even a light in the freezer; temperature and airflow controls were just knobs. The freezer drain line ran inside the back panel and was a PITA to clean, and the butter compartment lid squeaked so loudly that it was physically painful, but otherwise it was solid.

Had no issues until the plastic drain pan cracked while moving the fridge to redo the floors. Rather than deal with the repair (a replacement drip tray alone was $120 shipped) we sold it to an appliance flipper and put the money toward a new one. I was bummed, but when the buyer came to haul off the old one he was pleasantly surprised that it had made it a decade mostly intact.

Replaced it with a dumb white top-freezer Whirlpool fridge (WRT318). Both were about the same price, inflation adjusted, when new (~$650 from Lowe's). It was in stock and installed the next day. Only tech "upgrade" in the new fridge is a membrane button to control the fridge temperature instead of a knob.

When my wife wanted a touchscreen in the kitchen so she could queue up Spotify, I got a refurb last-gen Lenovo Duet chromebook/tablet for $120. The tablet back has a strong magnet for the cover that made it perfect for slapping onto the side of the fridge. We put a pair of used Kantos on top of the fridge and charge the tablet off its USB port; Google Keep also handles the shopping list, Google Voice on functions as our backup phone. 100% of our "smart appliance" needs done and dusted.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#39

I’m about to buy all the appliances to a new place in Europe and could use some more horror stories and learn which brands to avoid. So far I’ve been told to stay away from Samsung ovens. Anyone has any regrets on appliances?

One useful resource for gathering experiences is r/BuyItForLife/, the term is useful for finding other places of discussion as well.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#40

I’m about to buy all the appliances to a new place in Europe and could use some more horror stories and learn which brands to avoid. So far I’ve been told to stay away from Samsung ovens. Anyone has any regrets on appliances?

Liebherr has been good to me. They also make industrial machinery so maybe that culture transfers over internally in the company.

Seconded. No-Frost freezer compartments since the 80's i think and they are manufactured in Germany actually. Miele's fridges are also whitelabeled Liebherrs
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