Recommend your Appliances!

emily1004 · March 2014

I'm starting to research new appliances, (refrigerators, stoves, washers, dryers, microwaves and dishwashers). I'm having a hard time finding good reviews. Also, did you get them from big box stores or local appliance shops? Since this is MM page, what prices did you pay? Please share with me your recommendations! (Also please share the ones I should stay away from!)

brij2006 · March 2014

We've had really good luck with every single Samsung appliance we've bought so far. Washer, dryer, TV's, and microwave.

formerlyGDaisy09 · March 2014

I love our Amana French door fridge ($1600). looking into Bosch when we need a new dishwasher. our Samsung Tv/Blueray player are great.

If you can get access to consumer reports that was so helpful in deciding what to buy. I'd recommend staying away from the box stores if you can. A local appliance shop might cost you more but you should get much better customer service...and I'm all for the shop-local movement.

hoffse · March 2014

I don't have much to add to this, but I'm in research mode for this as well.

Check consumer reports for washer/dryer reviews. Apparently the high efficiency washers don't wash your clothes as well as the cheap washers because they use less water. That kind of grossed me out.

The front-loaders also tend to mold around the rims. This really grossed me out.

So I think we're going to end up going low-efficiency/top-load for our washer. Hopefully mother nature will forgive us. My H actually really likes the washing machine my apartment installed. I'm pretty sure it's the lowest-end whirlpool you can buy, but it does a great job and is pretty quiet. I think it's this one:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Whirlpool-3-4-cu-ft-Top-Load-Washer-in-White-WTW4800XQ/203003917?N=5yc1vZc3oc

Honestly at that price it's almost disposable when it breaks. Ours has been going strong for at least two years now.

Oh and for microwaves: my only suggestion is to get one with the control panel in the door instead of to the side. It gives you a LOT more space inside the microwave itself. My parents have one, and it's pretty awesome. We can heat up 4 plates at once.

A double oven is also glorious. It makes Thanksgiving (etc.) so much easier. If you don't have space for a wall oven, you can get a double oven in a stove/oven combo. They're kind of $$ but 100% worth it. Bonus: you don't have to heat up the big oven if you just have a casserole or something.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/LG-Electronics-6-1-cu-ft-Double-Oven-Gas-Range-with-EasyClean-Self-Cleaning-Oven-in-Stainless-Steel-LDG3035ST/204191244?N=5yc1vZc3oy

formerlyGDaisy09 · March 2014

As far as ovens/stoves go (we going to be in the market for this soon ours is 19 years old) We are looking at a dual-fuel oven, not sure on brand yet, but the dual-fuel has an electric convection oven and a propane range....so you get the even baking power of electric convection and the fast cooking times of the propane top. I'm so tired of it taking 30 minutes to boil a pot of water for pasta on our glass-top.

Xstatic3333 · March 2014

Our washer is a Kenmore high-efficiency top loader. I think it's one of the cheaper ones Sears sells, but not the cheapest. We've had it for two years and love it. Despite being high efficiency it washes our clothes perfectly fine. Our dryer is the Maytag Centennial and we love it as well. H did a ton of research for both purchases.

In general, we avoid appliances with too much gimmicky computerized features. Just one more thing to break if you ask me. If you're moving from an apartment, I recommend looking into the yearly operating price of each item as well. When we moved from a 1 BR apartment to a 2 BR duplex, our rent barely increased but our electric bill tripled, despite us being very careful about turning things off. When we were gifted a newer fridge and stopped using our landlord's from the 1950s (no joke) our bill dropped back down around $20 a month.

Xstatic3333 · March 2014

I forgot prices! Both were in the $400-$500 range. The Kenmore was obviously from Sears, the Maytag was from a local store that does price matching.

daisy662 · March 2014

Stay away from GE. We built our home 2 years ago and we had to buy a new dishwasher last week. And, our fridge has been causing issues. GE was the brand the builder used in our neighborhood and many other neighbor save been having issues as well. And they are all brand new higher end models. We just bought a Bosch 500 series dishwasher after doing a ton of research, it got the best reviews. So far so good! We paid about $900 at HH Greg which was a good deal compared to other retailers and that included delivery and install. As far as washing machine, I will never buy front load again. I always forget to put something in and once it starts, you can't add anything in. Also, you have to leave the door open and clean it out all the time or it gets mildew and smells and makes our clothes smell. As a working mom, I look for the easiest ways to do things because I don't have a lot of extra time and cleaning a washing machine is not how I want to spend my time!

ta78 · March 2014

All of our appliances are Kenmore from Sears. I love all of them.. we waited until there was a sale and got 30% off. They have appliance sales fairly often I think.

JoanE2012 · April 2014

We bought LG appliances. We got HE washer/dryer (top loader) and have no complaints on the washing. I love them. We also got a double oven range. LOVE that! I love being able to cook two different things at two different temperatures at the same time.

During my research, I was told by several appliance people to stay away from Samsung, so we didn't even bother with them. We are looking for a french door fridge and are open to other brands, so I'll be curious what other people say.

JoanE2012 · April 2014

hoffse said:

A double oven is also glorious. It makes Thanksgiving (etc.) so much easier. If you don't have space for a wall oven, you can get a double oven in a stove/oven combo. They're kind of $$ but 100% worth it. Bonus: you don't have to heat up the big oven if you just have a casserole or something.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/LG-Electronics-6-1-cu-ft-Double-Oven-Gas-Range-with-EasyClean-Self-Cleaning-Oven-in-Stainless-Steel-LDG3035ST/204191244?N=5yc1vZc3oy

This is the one we own.....it's absolutely fabulous!

ta78 · April 2014

Gdaisy09 said:

As far as ovens/stoves go (we going to be in the market for this soon ours is 19 years old) We are looking at a dual-fuel oven, not sure on brand yet, but the dual-fuel has an electric convection oven and a propane range....so you get the even baking power of electric convection and the fast cooking times of the propane top. I'm so tired of it taking 30 minutes to boil a pot of water for pasta on our glass-top.

Our new glass top has a turbo boil setting. It takes about 3 minutes to boil now. I love it.

jjbmstinco · April 2014

We just bought a Bosch dishwasher. It is great! We have only had it for a month, but so far it gets everything super clean. It doesn't melt plastics when they are on the bottom.

formerlyGDaisy09 · April 2014

Our new glass top has a turbo boil setting. It takes about 3 minutes to boil now. I love it.

interesting, I still miss our propane range from our last apartment, hated the oven, loved the cook-top. our heat and hot water already run on propane, so running a line to a stove would be NBD. Our glasstop has scratched really easily, it looks awful.

abrewer5 · April 2014

We got a package deal around Thanksgiving from Home Depot on Whirlpool appliances. Total we paid $2000 for stainless steel french door fridge, dishwaster, and electric stove. The fridge ended up getting damaged twice (just my luck) so they knocked another $200 off the price.

So far we love them! The dishwasher is quiet and works great. The stove does take a while to heat up which is weird, but I'm also used to a gas stove. The fridge has plenty of room in it, and I love the freezer on the bottom! It doesn't have a dispenser on it for ice/water, but we know a lot of people who had issues with the dispensers on french door fridges, so you may not want that.

Delivery was a good experience, the guys were nice and worked quick. My lesson learned is to go in store when there are issues, Home Depot's customer service call center is miserable but the in store staff is awesome.

abrewer5 · April 2014

JoanE2012 said:

We bought LG appliances. We got HE washer/dryer (top loader) and have no complaints on the washing. I love them. We also got a double oven range. LOVE that! I love being able to cook two different things at two different temperatures at the same time.

During my research, I was told by several appliance people to stay away from Samsung, so we didn't even bother with them. We are looking for a french door fridge and are open to other brands, so I'll be curious what other people say.

My only sugggestion if you want french door is not to get the dispenser for ice/water in the door. I know a few people who have had major issues with it including leaking because the fridge just doesn't keep the ice cool enough. It caused issues with their flooring and they ended up turing off the feature until they were able to get the manufacturer to refund their money. Just my $.02.

brij2006 · April 2014

Sorry, I didn't have much time to post yesterday.

Here's the Samsung washer and dryer we purchased. Ours are 5 years old, so they're the older models. But we've had zero issues with them, and I love that I can easily fit my queen size bedspread in them. My mom also brings over her california king bedspread and washes it in them with no problem.

Washer: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/4-2-cu-ft-8-cycle-high-efficiency-front-loading-washer/3452002.p?id=1219091561687&skuId=3452002&st=categoryid$abcat0910000&cp=1&lp=9

Dryer: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/7-4-cu-ft-13-cycle-steam-electric-dryer/5907754.p?id=1218704671976&skuId=5907754&st=categoryid$abcat0910000&cp=1&lp=11

We paid $2,400 for the set and 2 pedistals for them to stand on (were worth it to me). This was also when they had the red colored ones, which was an extra charge, and our dryer is gas (extra $).

We bought ours from a small local appliance store, and we loved that they were willing to negotiate with the price. Our price included deliver and install and taxes. Best Buy also had them on sale at that time, and they price matched their price.

Samsung also offers the steam ones. My MIL bought those and loves them too (3 years old).

This is the microwave we purchased. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/1-8-cu-ft-over-the-range-microwave/2622213.p?id=1218342185551&skuId=2622213&st=categoryid$abcat0903000&cp=1&lp=1

I love that I can fit just about anything in it, and it has a lot of presets we use. H loves the reheat leftovers button. It heats the food back up to warm temp using a sensor.
We've only had this since December though. So I can't say on how long it lasts.

maple2 · April 2014

We used Consumer Reports to help us evaluate options when we purchased a new washer and dryer. We ended up going with an LG HE washer and dryer. We've been happy with them, and we are pretty rough on washers since we were cloth diapering for most of the time we've had them. hoffse is right that the front load HE washers can have a problem with mold, but we knew that going in and followed the recommendation to dry the rims between uses and haven't had any problems.

I ordered ours from Home Depot because we were moving to a different state with a toddler and 6 week old baby and wanted them as soon as possible in our new home. I didn't really have the time or opportunity to research local appliance dealers. We didn't have any problems with Home Depot, but when I replace other appliances I will probably go with a local place because I like being able to talk to someone about the purchase and know that they are nearby for repairs in case of a problem.

JoanE2012 · April 2014

abrewer5 said:

JoanE2012 said:

We bought LG appliances. We got HE washer/dryer (top loader) and have no complaints on the washing. I love them. We also got a double oven range. LOVE that! I love being able to cook two different things at two different temperatures at the same time.

During my research, I was told by several appliance people to stay away from Samsung, so we didn't even bother with them. We are looking for a french door fridge and are open to other brands, so I'll be curious what other people say.

My only sugggestion if you want french door is not to get the dispenser for ice/water in the door. I know a few people who have had major issues with it including leaking because the fridge just doesn't keep the ice cool enough. It caused issues with their flooring and they ended up turing off the feature until they were able to get the manufacturer to refund their money. Just my $.02.

That's good to know. I've always been skeptical about the ice/water in the door to begin with.....it's just another thing to break down. But I didn't know about the potential issues with the french door fridge.....we have wood floors and I'd hate to see them damaged with leaking issues! Will definitely take that into consideration....thanks!

hoffse · April 2014

JoanE2012 said:

abrewer5 said:

JoanE2012 said:

We bought LG appliances. We got HE washer/dryer (top loader) and have no complaints on the washing. I love them. We also got a double oven range. LOVE that! I love being able to cook two different things at two different temperatures at the same time.

During my research, I was told by several appliance people to stay away from Samsung, so we didn't even bother with them. We are looking for a french door fridge and are open to other brands, so I'll be curious what other people say.

My only sugggestion if you want french door is not to get the dispenser for ice/water in the door. I know a few people who have had major issues with it including leaking because the fridge just doesn't keep the ice cool enough. It caused issues with their flooring and they ended up turing off the feature until they were able to get the manufacturer to refund their money. Just my $.02.

That's good to know. I've always been skeptical about the ice/water in the door to begin with.....it's just another thing to break down. But I didn't know about the potential issues with the french door fridge.....we have wood floors and I'd hate to see them damaged with leaking issues! Will definitely take that into consideration....thanks!

That's definitely a good point. I've never really cared about water in the door. But I hadn't thought about how the ice probably wouldn't freeze in a french door fridge (or, I suppose, any bottom mount fridge with the freezer on the bottom). That seems like asking for trouble.

I'm curious about how long people's fridges have lasted? I can find lots of reviews for brand new fridges... but very few more than a year old (unless it's broken and the person is writing to complain). Nice fridges are so $$$$ that I'd really want at least a 10-year lifespan. It seems like every review that's more than a year old starts with "I can't believe I bought this piece of junk!" I know it's a bad sample size, but I'm starting to think they are all designed to break as soon as the warranty period is up. Can anybody tell me how long they've been using their nice fridge?

I know most of the Costco appliances come with a 2-year warranty that includes labor, rather than 1-year-parts-only warranty like you get at other places. Maybe that's what we should do.

brij2006 · April 2014

@hoffse Our current fridge and stove are GE. They were the highest options when my parents bought them 17 years ago. Our plan was to have them last us 3 years, then we expected they would go and we would have to replace them. It's now been 5 years we've had them, and they're still going strong.

The only issue we have is that the one burner on the stove we use a lot seems to keep the heat very well. So even when it's on low, it will boil things. But we just move it to a different burner or stir often.

formerlyGDaisy09 · April 2014

We have had our Amana french door (water is inside the fridge, not in the door, you have to go into the freezer to get the ice). for almost 2 years. we got it from a local appliance shop, it took it a month to come in, but they had free loaner fridges for anyone who purchased a new fridge from them, so we got by for a month with a cheap loaner.

the previous fridge we had, that came with the house was a whirlpool side-by-side, the previous homeowners bought it from best buy, it was 2 years old when it broke (the compressor was fried). neither best buy or whirlpool would stand by their product.

bmart33 · April 2014

Ugh this information helps so much! My fiance and I are closing on a house next month and it doesn't come with a washer and dryer. It was difficult to find real world advice about what to buy online but this helps a lot. I'll definitely be checking out Samsung as far as brand!

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