HOMEOWNER .net

When I was a kid, my parents had a spare freezer in the garage that held cans of soda. (It probably held many other foods, but as a kid, soda was the only important one.) Besides the soda, what I remember most about the refrigerator was that it opened by pulling down on the handle and had rounded corners. It was OLD.
I really doubt that anyone (let’s avoid the energy usage issue here) would be able to keep and use a fridge that long anymore. I found a story on appliance.net that discusses this same problem.

Boy have times, and appliances changed. Today, you might get nine years out of your dishwasher and microwave, ten from your washer, and if you’re lucky thirteen out of your dryer and refrigerator. We’ve detailed the average lifespan in this article if you’d like find out about a specific appliance.

Not only are appliances not made to last anymore, but the manufacturers, being fully aware of this, have geared their warranties accordingly.

Hometownlife.com reports that a reader called to report that her 12-year-old dishwasher ran all night. Her husband turned it on when they went to bed around 10 p.m., and when she walked into the kitchen at 7 a.m., it was still running. She opened the door and the blast of heat was like opening an oven door. She called the manufacturer who sent out a service technician who couldn’t tell her why the dishwasher didn’t shut off. The manufacturer then told her they couldn’t do a thing for her because it was well out of warranty and besides that, they told her the average life span of the dishwasher was six years. They offered her $50 towards the purchase of a new dishwasher provided it was their brand.

Although the dishwasher was not new, one should expect that it would at the least run safely and that the response from the manufacturer would be more helpful.

You can read the whole article here.