What brand?
The model of the washing machine was on the lease, was one of the expensive ones, I felt bad that they were buying #3 my last year there. They’re maybe only slightly above landfill in terms of entropic stability.
Edit: to be fair I bet they were warrantied, but still
They just forgot to add the actual functionality though.
We've got all AEG stuff and zero issues so far. 7-segment displays and physical buttons. Nothing to break.
https://www.youtube.com/@bensappliancesandjunk
I learned a lot from him and when he reports a recommendation, it'll be specific and well-sourced which is important. Still, none of this current garbage will ever compare to a pre-2000 appliance of any kind.
We have been buying Miele appliances, and have nothing but excellent experiences. They aren't cheap, but the general opinion I've seen online is that they are one of the few brands that build quality modern appliances. My experiences would tend to back that up.
Specific to the Miele washer and dryer, we hang dry most things and live in a very dry area, so having a heat pump dryer that doesn't get things crisp and dry is perfectly fine with us. We hardly use the dryer at all actually; clothes last longer if you don't use the dryer and we do spend the money on quality clothes (also hard to find and expensive).
I'm willing to pay. The money is not the only problem though.
1) These brands are hard to find. I've never heard of Miele until I rented an apartment that had one. The owner built the place for himself but then had to put it for rent.
2) Most of the brands that pretend to be high-quality are the same crap but shiny and expensive. You don't know that until you buy them. Makes the point about "hard to find" even worse.
3) Some of the reliable brands sometimes experience the change in strategy (probably caused by change in ownership) and start to produce crap while maintaining the same outlook. The most disturbing betrayal.
As a result out of hundreds of appliances I use I was only able to find quality staff in a handful of categories. The rest is either cheap crap or expensive crap. Maybe I lack some generational knowledge on the topic.
My toaster is a Dualit - pricey, but very reliable, and very repairable.
My coffee grinder is a manually-cranked burr grinder made of aluminium. There's nothing to fail (and I don't mind cranking for a minute in the morning).
My flat-screen is a Panasonic that used to belong to my father; it must be 15 years old. It's never failed.
I don't own a food processor; that would be me with a chef's knife, a grater, and a pestle-and-mortar.
The presence of an LCD display on a product is a big warning sign.
So many useless anecdotes in this thread.
Front loading is a fundamental engineering mistake if you are seeking trouble free, no maintenance operation for years on end.
My wife and I use a washer and drier set from the late 90's that are nothing to look at but work really well. They appear to be designed with service in mind and changing components is usually extremely easy - something I have done infrequently. These machines are used almost every day. Honestly, for a while I was kind of embarrassed by our beat up old machines. We discussed getting something new but dropped it after sticker shock set in. We also found it nearly impossible to get an honest review of any of the newer appliances. I also just hate "smart home" stuff that requires a wi-fi connection to work correctly.
The workman we hired to re-model our rear entry mud-room was looking at our old washer/drier set and unprompted said if we ever want to get rid of them - please let him know. I wondered why and he explained that he and his wife purchased new a couple years ago and have had nothing but complaints. They miss their old setup that cleaned superbly with minimal fuss.