Help! Need advice on unexciting but essential purchase

[eavesdropper]

[quote=UCGal]I would go with the 4800X.
But I buy appliances for function, maintenance, and cost. Whether a dryer looks good doesn’t matter to me – it’s not in my entertaining space.

And my washer is an old school top loader… Which is super reliable, albeit less efficient with the water.[/quote]

The looks don’t matter to me at all, either (a lot of what I wrote was tongue-in-cheek).

At the same time, the price differential is so enormous that I can’t believe it’s primarily a “taste” issue.

However, what I’m reading here leads me to believe that the dramatic increase in appliance prices doesn’t necessarily correspond to actual innovations in doing laundry (bummer).

But it does explain the Kelly Ripa commercials for Electrolux. If you want people to spend that kind of dough-re-mi, you better make them believe in magic.

[eavesdropper]

[quote=svelte][quote=eavesdropper]
Yeah, but what do I do when the washer goes down in another 18 months??
[/quote] Our w/d usually last a decade or more. Only reason we had to buy 4 years ago is we sold our last w/d pair with the house.[/quote]

That’s the reason I’ve become this conspicuous consumer of major appliances over the last 10 years. I’ve inherited older appliances in two houses I moved into, we built a second home that required outfitting, and we replaced some stuff when getting our house ready for sale 4 years ago.

The current dryer was sold with the house. It’s a 6 yr-old GE, and it’s never gotten seriously heavy use. Knock on wood, we’ve done okay on Whirlpools so far, so leaning in that direction.

[eavesdropper]

[quote=outtamojo]Not sure I agree w/ simple as possible – my sister in law was about to throw out their dryer cause it wouldn’t dry well enough and it gave off a smell of something burning. The thing had a diagnostic mode and told me all I needed to do was clean out the lint and replace a thermostat.[/quote]

Why can’t I have a sister-in-law like that?

Seriously, that was something I noticed when researching yesterday: almost none of the dryers I looked at had the remote diagnostic capabilities, including the really expensive ones. Surprising. It may be because local repair services and appliance retailers started complaining to the manufacturers that the ability of the consumer to diagnose problems was cutting into their business.

[outtamojo]

[quote=eavesdropper][quote=outtamojo]Not sure I agree w/ simple as possible – my sister in law was about to throw out their dryer cause it wouldn’t dry well enough and it gave off a smell of something burning. The thing had a diagnostic mode and told me all I needed to do was clean out the lint and replace a thermostat.[/quote]

Why can’t I have a sister-in-law like that?

Seriously, that was something I noticed when researching yesterday: almost none of the dryers I looked at had the remote diagnostic capabilities, including the really expensive ones. Surprising. It may be because local repair services and appliance retailers started complaining to the manufacturers that the ability of the consumer to diagnose problems was cutting into their business.[/quote]

Diagnostic mode just made it easier- without it I woulda had to one of those multimeter things and about another hour to figure things out. Really tho, dryers are just big boxes with a motor that turns the drum, a blower, a heating element, and a main circuit board.

[zzz]

I bought about 2.5 years ago a LG washer and gas dryer…the models on both were just below the steam as I didn’t see any reason for the steam, it just screams gimmick to me. No problems, they work great. I did a ton of research at the time and they were top rated, but like any appliance, there are always bad reviews for any model, any brand. The worst reviews I read were for Whirlpool, Kenmore. Something to consider is the review on the electronic panels of whatever model you want to buy…. when that panel blows, its pricey to replace, but I don’t remember it being a prevalent problem with LG.

Best Buy will negotiate, Sears was not when I was shopping. I was able to get 1k knocked off between the washer and dryer pair, but keep in mind, they were more expensive when I was buying them 2.5yrs ago than they seem to retail for now, so you may not get as much off each one, but it cannot hurt to ask for a discount.

[briansd1]

When looking at appliances look at the inside and compare them. Regardless of brands, they often are the same with different skins/fascia on them.

Whirlpool, Maytag and GE seem to be all the same.

LG, Samsung and Bosch are different.

I admit, I’m partial to good looking appliances so I’ll pay a little extra for the look. I’ve been pretty lucky and never had any failures. All my appliances seem to run forever.

[profhoff]

FWIW, LG washer complaints and LG has higher repair rate.

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