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I get asked about what appliances to get all the time because I’m a handyman. I wrote up this short guide to copy and paste:
Tips for buying a fridge or any major appliance:
- Don’t until you absolutely need to, because…
- Most modern ones are crap and won’t last more than 5 years, but…
- The EU just made it so that any new major appliance must be repaired by the maker for 10 years because they are sick of all the waste created by cheaply made crap
- When you do buy one make sure it is one that could be legally sold in the EU so you can get one that lasts.
- Do not get any fancy features.
- The more features an appliance has the more it costs, obs, but…
- The more features an appliance has the more things there are to break which means more long term cost of ownership.
Ice cube trays still work when the ice maker says to change the $40 filter. Any smart appliances (IoT device) is a network liability and the next thing you know your dishwasher is part of a botnet hoggin up your bandwidth and there will never be a firmware update to fix it.
When you do buy one make sure it is one that could be legally sold in the EU so you can get one that lasts.
I was going to call BS, but I set my VPN to Dublin, Ireland and started shopping there using google maps.
Some places I looked:
https://www.appliancesdelivered.ie/
https://www.miele.ie/e/refrigeration-appliances-1022129-c
Lot of interesting brands I ran across:
BEKO BOSCH CANDY HOOVER HOTPOINT INDESIT LIEBHERR MIELE NORDMENDE NORKO POWERPOINT SIEMENS TCL WHIRLPOOLReally surprising to my that a Bosch / Miele can be had for less than $1000. In the US, it’s hard to find anything less than $3k in those brands. I have seen some places around here sell Beko, but only in white.
Avoid Beko, I had a bad experience with them. I have very good experiences with Bosch (series 6) and Miele.
I dodged that bullet then. I do have a Bosch dishwasher. It’s fairly new and I like it so far.
I was astounded at how many refrigerators were described as junk when reading about the different new options available. Repairmen on YouTube were like “Avoid Samsung, Whirlpool, Frigidaire, LG, Midea, …” Listing almost every brand.
I like auto-defrost, which is something that all refrigerators for decades, aside from minifridges, that I’ve used have.
And I suppose that having a separate freezer and refrigerator is simpler, but having a single unit that includes both is pretty much the norm.
Having a light that comes on when one opens the door adds complexity, but it’s a feature that I like.
The strange thing is: its not like these simple appliances have been out of production. Go to any shop in a developing country and you can get cheap and easy to repair models from well known brands completely new.
Try the same in Europe, no luck. Almost impossible to get an AC without completely unnecessary Wifi for example.
I am not quite sure what the reason for this is. Part might be that the legally required energy efficiency scores are only produced for the higher end models that come with all the stupid unnecessary gadgets that break all the time. But it is clearly a total market failure as I don’t think anyone enjoys having a half broken fridge all the time…
