APPLIANCE RATINGS

Pay for Consumer Reports, it has paid for itself over the last year for my kitchen reno this summer

PV

Consumer Reports (print version) is probably available at your local public library. You'll likely find some other cool books there too ;-)

As the others suggested, Consumer Reports is a good source. I will add a warning however. Don't just look at the ratings. They can be misleading. Read the entire article and understand why they were rated the way they were. For example if a washer has been downrated because it is noisy and you are planing to put it somewhere that the noise will not be a problem, that may be a great choice for you an on the ratings it may have been rated poor because of that.

I called my regular independent appliance dealer. He put me into the Estate Model by Whirlpool for washerdryer and refrigerator. He has done me well.

I spoke with him over the phone (I must trust him). I took his recommendations, surfed the web, called back to confirm the models, saw the rebate $400, I was providing him with credit card info in just a few minutes. I don't really like the process. I want the product. He told me I could come by and look at the items if I wanted. Since I bought my car without a test drive, and bought my house without going through (it had a dog yard, what can I say?), this should be fairly minor.

He has remodeled my entire kitchen in Maytag for $1,500 (after rebate). I'd say NOT TOO SHABBY for a beautiful oven, dishwasher, and cooktop.

I am going to miss my 30 year old dishwasher with the hole in the door. I am a little sad. He told me I didn't need anything else (advised to stay with refrig washdryer and micro).

MRS. CLEAN wrote:

Go to the library, if you can't justify $20 to research a $500-$1500-a-piece set of appliances...

-Tim

Good advice. Also check the reliability ratings. CR has surveyed, in some cases, several hundred thousand users and that is a pretty good base to judge reliability of a product. John

You can find CU publications at your local library. Copy the pages you want. Take a close look at repair histories too. Companies have bought others so you need to pay attention to model numbers as well.

MRS. CLEAN wrote::

You can subscribe to Consumer Reports online for one month for a few bucks.

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