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> If you pay $3K to $5K for a fridge today (for a fridge 2-3x as big as the 1950 fridge), do you get a better longer-lasting one? I'm not sure. One of the diff

> If you pay $3K to $5K for a fridge today (for a fridge 2-3x as big as the 1950 fridge), do you get a better longer-lasting one? I'm not sure. One of the difficulties is it's become very hard to know if an item is more expensive because: - it's better quality - it's full of bullshit - it's marketing However 3-5k for a fridge is well into "professional kitchen commercial refrigerator / refrigerated cabinet" range. At that price you can get a triple glass-door adjustable shelves wheeled model e.g. https://www.saro-kitchenequipment.com/refrigerators-commercial-refrigerators/refrigerator-with-glass-doors-model-gtk-1530-s-pro/62/3716 https://www.saro-kitchenequipment.com/refrigerators-commerci...

maccard 3y ago
You don't need to go to anywhere near that price to get before you hit a sweet spot. For like $600 including tax one of the biggest retailers in the UK will sell you the most energy efficient fridge on the market with a 5 year guarantee. Like most products, you're reaching diminishing returns at a certain point and that seems to be it as far as I can tell.
- ska 3y ago
  Isn’t the point of the OP that this “top of the line” fridge has poor ergonomics and features relative to the 70 year old one? If true, that is at least interesting.
- klyrs 3y ago
  Frankly, a 5 year guarantee is pathetic. Appliances lasting 25 years was once unremarkable.
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    Without proof of 25 year warranties, I call bullshit. If a seller had a product good enough to offer a 25 year warranty, and they could sell it for 5x cheaper than a product with a 5 year warranty, they would not have stopped selling it, because people would not have stopped buying it.
    - potta_coffee 3y ago
      It's not bullshit, my parents had the same fridge from when I was born until I graduated from college.
      - lotsofpulp 3y ago
        The claim was not that your parents’ fridge lasted 25 years, it was that appliances in general lasted 25 years. If that was true, manufacturers would have been advertising 25, or least 10, 15, 20 year warranties to win customers. Nobody putting their money where their mouth is is a better signal than anecdotal data.
        potta_coffee 3y ago
        I understand the claim. I know my experience is anecdotal but I think it's common enough that many people can relate. I don't really need empirical evidence for this one. I also think it's common sense that companies go out of business when there's no repeat buyers because their products last a lifetime.
        lotsofpulp 3y ago
        >I also think it's common sense that companies go out of business when there's no repeat buyers because their products last a lifetime. I had not considered this, but I guess it would be a deterrent to offering long warranties.
        ticviking 3y ago
        But the claim you called BS wasn't that they had 25 year warranties, just that they last 25 years. As rule my Grandparents had stuff that was out of warranty, but having repairs done was cheaper than replacement. By my parents time things got replaced every 5-10 years.
        sokoloff 3y ago
        My kitchen was remodeled (by the previous owners) in 1993. All of the appliances, except for the dishwasher, have not been replaced by us in 16 years of ownership and I believe they all date back to the 1993 remodel (based on serial numbers and general condition when we bought the place). In that time, I've replaced the dishwasher in 2014, a spring on the door of the dishwasher in 2022, and a heating element in the defrost circuit of the 1993 fridge. That's an oven, a cooktop, a fridge, a trash compactor, and a garbage disposal that all have 30 years of service, with only the dishwasher having failed and two repairs. Their older fridge in the basement is still chugging along as well. That's 5/7 perfect, 1/7 with one minor repair, and 1/7 failed inside of 30 years. My parents built their place in 1999; of the kitchen appliances, only the microwave has been repaired. Their place before that, built in 1974, only the dishwasher replaced between 1974 and 1998 when they moved. My conclusion is that dishwashers sucked and still suck, but that old appliances generally chug along for decades.
mrob 3y ago
Professional appliances aren't strictly better, because they're rarely designed to be quiet. Your example: >Sound pressure level: approximately 65 dB [presumably dBA] That's much louder than domestic fridges. I would find it unacceptably annoying.
Qwertious 3y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons

maccard 3y ago

You don't need to go to anywhere near that price to get before you hit a sweet spot. For like $600 including tax one of the biggest retailers in the UK will sell you the most energy efficient fridge on the market with a 5 year guarantee. Like most products, you're reaching diminishing returns at a certain point and that seems to be it as far as I can tell.

ska 3y ago
Isn’t the point of the OP that this “top of the line” fridge has poor ergonomics and features relative to the 70 year old one? If true, that is at least interesting.
klyrs 3y ago
Frankly, a 5 year guarantee is pathetic. Appliances lasting 25 years was once unremarkable.
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  Without proof of 25 year warranties, I call bullshit. If a seller had a product good enough to offer a 25 year warranty, and they could sell it for 5x cheaper than a product with a 5 year warranty, they would not have stopped selling it, because people would not have stopped buying it.
  - potta_coffee 3y ago
    It's not bullshit, my parents had the same fridge from when I was born until I graduated from college.
    - lotsofpulp 3y ago
      The claim was not that your parents’ fridge lasted 25 years, it was that appliances in general lasted 25 years. If that was true, manufacturers would have been advertising 25, or least 10, 15, 20 year warranties to win customers. Nobody putting their money where their mouth is is a better signal than anecdotal data.
      - potta_coffee 3y ago
        I understand the claim. I know my experience is anecdotal but I think it's common enough that many people can relate. I don't really need empirical evidence for this one. I also think it's common sense that companies go out of business when there's no repeat buyers because their products last a lifetime.
        lotsofpulp 3y ago
        >I also think it's common sense that companies go out of business when there's no repeat buyers because their products last a lifetime. I had not considered this, but I guess it would be a deterrent to offering long warranties.
      - ticviking 3y ago
        But the claim you called BS wasn't that they had 25 year warranties, just that they last 25 years. As rule my Grandparents had stuff that was out of warranty, but having repairs done was cheaper than replacement. By my parents time things got replaced every 5-10 years.
      - sokoloff 3y ago
        My kitchen was remodeled (by the previous owners) in 1993. All of the appliances, except for the dishwasher, have not been replaced by us in 16 years of ownership and I believe they all date back to the 1993 remodel (based on serial numbers and general condition when we bought the place). In that time, I've replaced the dishwasher in 2014, a spring on the door of the dishwasher in 2022, and a heating element in the defrost circuit of the 1993 fridge. That's an oven, a cooktop, a fridge, a trash compactor, and a garbage disposal that all have 30 years of service, with only the dishwasher having failed and two repairs. Their older fridge in the basement is still chugging along as well. That's 5/7 perfect, 1/7 with one minor repair, and 1/7 failed inside of 30 years. My parents built their place in 1999; of the kitchen appliances, only the microwave has been repaired. Their place before that, built in 1974, only the dishwasher replaced between 1974 and 1998 when they moved. My conclusion is that dishwashers sucked and still suck, but that old appliances generally chug along for decades.

mrob 3y ago

Professional appliances aren't strictly better, because they're rarely designed to be quiet. Your example: >Sound pressure level: approximately 65 dB [presumably dBA] That's much louder than domestic fridges. I would find it unacceptably annoying.

Qwertious 3y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons