Home appliance reviews?

Rich

Rich

Asshole at large
Joined
Mar 17, 2005
Location
Central PA
Without bowing to the evil empire that is Consumer Reports, anyone know of a pretty non-biased source for home appliance reviews and comparisons?

Fridges, washer/dryer, dishwashers, etc..
 
Rich, searching online stores they usually have reviews on them. Seem to be unbiased too, since many of them are not all that favorable
 
A thought...

We were involved in the whole Maytag Neptune BS and are still in the ongoing class action suit regarding our wash room burning up, I had bought Maytag cause I had always heard it was the best and it had a great reputation. Well I learned real quick what I knew. When I had to replace it, I called several appliance repair shops, and talked to their service manager/dispatch people, and just asked their opinion. For washers and driers I quickly heard 1 surprising name repetitively, researched it and then bought it. It may work for ya....
 
WHile this doesn't answer the original question, I had a repair guy out a few weeks ago to warranty repair our dishwasher. ( turns out the grinind noise we were hearing was a piece of bone caught in the food grinder)

I asked him questions about refrigerators to which his reply was , "they are pretty much the same any more, chose the features you like for the best price you can find", though he did say to stay away from Samsung at this time.
The Samsungs have a lot of innovative and useful features, but the electronics aren't there yet. He stated once Samsung gets the bugs worked out, they'll be walking all over everything.

I have a subsciption to CR, and followed thier recomendation in 2000 when we bought the house, and bought a Kenmore "Elite" washing machine. Well, it shit the bed last summer, 7yrs isn't exactly a stellar performance for a $1000 appliance. Yes it could be repaired, but while I was in there looking around I found several other tiems that were corroding and leaking that made me decide it was better to replace it.

I find still that CR usually has Kenmore as a top rated brand in most catagories, which I find sort of biased. ( Seeing as Kenmore is basically another brands market study )

Last year we bought a new washing machine ( Whirlpool Cabrio) a new free standing range for the kitchen ( Frigidaire, solid surface convection) and a dishwasher ( Maytag Quiet Series ) none of which were "CR Top Picks" so far have been very happy with all of them.

We'll be looking at refrigerators in the near future, probably HVAC units as well.
 
http://www.consumersearch.com/

Seems to look all over and find various reviews and writes something based on all of them... pretty neat.

Blkvoodoo said:
though he did say to stay away from Samsung at this time. The Samsungs have a lot of innovative and useful features, but the electronics aren't there yet.
Click to expand...

I dunno if I buy this.. Samsung has been doing appliances in Europe for years and years.. they're just new to the US.
 
If you're just looking for something to wash and dry your clothes, I'll throw out a vote for Roper. Cheap, no frills appliances that do a fine job. Very little to break. I own a couple of Frigidare appliances. Washer, dishwasher, and I believe our range top is. I'm unimpressed with their performance. Lots of features for a great price, but they just don't perform that well. I'd dump some good money on a fridge, though. I just don't have a brand to recommend.
 
Roper, Kenmore, Whirlpool, Maytag, Kitchenaid, Jenn-Air, Amana... and about a half dozen other "brands" are all the same company. Most all of it is crap, too. Unless you're willing to spend "real" money, do like Kevin said -- get something with the features you want for as cheap as you can find and take it home. After that, it's just a crap shoot as to how long it lasts. Standard for durable goods is only 3 yrs, anyway.

Oh, but Bosch makes some damn nice dishwashers.

FYI -- Amazon has pretty good pricing on appliances, and better customer service than Lowes/HD/Best Buy/HH Gregg, etc. Customer reviews, too.
 
We have an LG washer and dryer...... it took convincing on the part of the folks I spoke to, but has worked well, is damn silent, has bright polished stainless tubs...
 
unless it is an unusual new model of something (and I'm rarely an "early-adopter" so this is uncommon for me), I spend my time reading what other people say on sites like Epnions or the user reviews on amazon, etc. Key is to be sure to read many reviews form many different people on diferent sites... and of course you have to learn to look past people's idiot BS like "The washer is really loud and knocks around when I load it full of jeans all on one side of the basket"...

I lost my faith in CR back in the late 90s when they kept saying that Saturn cars held their value fabulously and were a Best Buy... so we did...
It held it's value like a rock all right - more like sank like a stone...
 
catfishblues said:
If you're just looking for something to wash and dry your clothes, I'll throw out a vote for Roper. Cheap, no frills appliances that do a fine job. Very little to break. I own a couple of Frigidare appliances. Washer, dishwasher, and I believe our range top is. I'm unimpressed with their performance. Lots of features for a great price, but they just don't perform that well. I'd dump some good money on a fridge, though. I just don't have a brand to recommend.
Click to expand...

Oddly enough, we currently have a Roper W/D and a Frigidaire side-by-side fridge. Satisfied with all 3 for the last 6 years, and the water filter is cake to change on the fridge, if a bit pricey.

However, they're all staying with the house, and for the new place, she's getting her blingy bright red w/d, french door fridge, etc., so "no frills" is not really in the picture this time.. (Thought I told her I was going to buy a no-frills W/D and just rattle can it gloss red - she said that's fine, my shop just won't have any heating, cooling, doors, or a lift.. "no-frills", after all) :lol:

RatLabGuy - check out that site that I linked to.. They do exactly what you said.. go to a bunch of consumer-review sites (some outside the US, too) and consolidate the reviews into one..

And I've found that spending "real" money doesn't always buy quality.. Those $7,000 subzero fridges are POS's, and a $6,000 Viking cooktop won't cook much (if any) better than a $1,500 GE one.
 
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