New Equipment

[deltadoc]

Hi my Cheftalk friends,
I thought about whether to search for old posts, and then the thought crossed my mind that new stuff is always being released to the retail market, so maybe a new post asking for advice was warranted.

Over the last weekend, my Dacor Electric Conventional/Convection oven went dead, my Thermador professional stainless steel lined dishwasher broke down, and my Sears washing machine and natural gas dryer all broke down.

So, I'm thinking BIG PACKAGE DEAL coming up. I've discounted using Wolf for the wall oven, because I'm convinced I'm paying for a "name" and there must be better stuff out there. I just haven't kept up with it. I won't buy Dacor again, as this oven is now 14 years old, and has never worked well, and been repaired 5 times over the years, the most recently just about 1 year ago.

I'm thinking about Blue Star or maybe LG. Someone told me LG is a pretty good name, made in Australia? Is that correct?

Is the idea of an LG Dishwasher, LG wall oven, LG washer and gas dryer a good thought or what?

Please shower me with your opinions! I don't like to eat off dirty dishes, wearing dirty wet clothes, and eating no pizza!

Thanks!

doc

[shel]

Originally Posted by deltadoc

I'm thinking about Blue Star or maybe LG. Someone told me LG is a pretty good name, made in Australia? Is that correct?

Is the idea of an LG Dishwasher, LG wall oven, LG washer and gas dryer a good thought or what?doc

Hi, LG is a Korean comapny, and it has outsourced about 35% of it's production to China.

When looking for appliances last, my local appliance dealer, who carries LG as well as other brands, strongly suggested I look to other brands, even if it was one the dealer didn't carry. In fact, now that I think of it, two dealers suggested the same thing.

FYI: Korea's LG

Kind regards,

Shel

[DMT]

Not knowing if you are looking for a combo range/oven, I'll hazard a guess...
We purchased this unit:

Kenmore 96593 30 in. Freestanding Electric Range at Sears.com
Kenmore Elite Model 96593 / Item Number 02296593000

almost 2 years ago, and have been very happy with it.

The convection feature works very well, and the only problem with the flat top is that it caused us to buy new cookware that was actually flat bottomed (not warped from sub-par electric coils).

If you're looking for an oven alone, I'm not going to have an opinion to offer...

[deltadoc]

[quote=DMT;180229]Not knowing if you are looking for a combo range/oven, I'll hazard a guess...
QUOTE]

Nope, just looking (along with the other things mentioned in my original post) for an electric wall oven. Got a Thermador Professional Gas Cooktop that was the first series released. Rumor has it was made by DCS for Thermador. Other than one small repair on the igniter for the grill, it has worked marvelously.

But the Thermdor dishwasher has broken plastic pieces that we can't even find where they came from that broke off. It makes a LOT of noise when it used to be quiet, and the dishes are usually still dirty.

The associate Thermador 3/4 HP disposal has also stopped working. But the other Thermado 3/4 HP disposal in my little Island sink has worked like a champ and much more often used that the one that stopped working. Couldn't even turn it with a broom handle.

And the Kenmore washer or drier have been tearing holes in our clothes for the past few months, and I've had it!

Thanks, though. I'm still at a loss as to what brands to buy. Especially for the kitchen I want very very good equipment to match the rest of the stuff I've got there (Subzero 48" tuck under Refrig/freezer, Corian light granite countertops with light grey seamless Corian sinks, imported Italian ceramic tile floor, Grohe faucets all around, etc.).

doc

[henry]

I purchased a stainless steel lined LG Dishwasher about 4 months ago from Home Depot when we installed granite in the kitchen. It's awesome, has a larger capacity than the old GE. One of the best things about it is, other than getting the dishes clean, it is SO QUIET that you can barely hear a trickle of water occasionally from it. With my former dishwasher we had to turn the TV up to hear over it. We recently also purchased an LG 32" HD TV. It's amazing.

H.

[henry]

Speaking of new appliances, I recently (last week) had the misfortune of my water heater going out. I replaced it with a tankless model. Very expen$ive up front cost, I hope it will pay for itself within a few years. Also there's a federal tax rebate being offered this year.

h.

[deltadoc]

Originally Posted by henry

I purchased a stainless steel lined LG Dishwasher about 4 months ago from Home Depot when we installed granite in the kitchen. It's awesome, has a larger capacity than the old GE. One of the best things about it is, other than getting the dishes clean, it is SO QUIET that you can barely hear a trickle of water occasionally from it. With my former dishwasher we had to turn the TV up to hear over it. We recently also purchased an LG 32" HD TV. It's amazing.

H.

A guy here at work told me he got an LG from Best Buy over Xmas, and said the same things you're saying. He told me the installer said "These are difficult to install, but they're built so well that we never have to repair them". He said he did have to pay quite an installation fee, something like $100-150.

I might just go ahead and try them. After reading the article link from Shel, the 35% outsourced to China was their lower priced brands, but the high end equipment was still being made in Korea. So I'll just stick with the high end stuff.

Still open to other suggestions though!

Thanks,
doc

[deltadoc]

Another guy here at work pointed out Fisher-Pakel. They have a two-drawer dishwasher that operates 1 or 2 or either one at a time. He loves his. Sounds economical for a 2-person household. Wife usually washes dishes in the sink since it takes awhile to create enough dirty dishes to fill up a single dishwasher.

Anybody know anything about their wall ovens, washing machines, driers?

thanks again!

doc

[MikeLM]

We got a Bosch D/W three years ago, partly because it is so quiet. It washes dishes like crazy, as well.

We were standing with a salesman, looking at a catalog on a counter under which were several Bosch D/W's lined up. After about three minutes, he said "notice anything?" We said no, what?

He pointed at the washer directly in front of us and said "this one's running."

He opened the door and, sure enough, it was. We hadn't noticed. The one in the house is just as quiet.

You should take a look at Abt - Consumer Electronics & Appliance Store for Home, Portable & Mobile Electronic Products when you're ready to buy. They have the best prices on all kinds of appliances as well as TV's, etc. etc.
We got almost all our kitchen equipment there. You will have to pay shipping, but will save your local sales tax. The Bosches run about a grand, give or take for the features you choose.

You might look at Homeclick Home Page | World's Largest Collection of Luxury Home Brands, too. They have excellent prices on appliances and housewares.

This is based on our exparience doing an out-to-the-studs rebuilding of our kitchen and bathrooms about 3-1/2 years ago.

Good luck,

Mike

[henri]

Can offer our expereinces: Our Sears [read made by Whirlpool] washer and dryer were purchased in 1973 and both worked until last year when washer developed leak in the recirc water filter ($35 for replacement part and easy). No other problems other than the expected rust after that long. Replaced both with Whirlpool. Repairman (who replaced dryer wheels for me for more quiet) cautioned against the fancy dryer from New Zealand (don't remember name) that they were very, very expensive to repair. He had no dog in the fight and suggested Whirlpool (already did) and Kitchenaid for dishwasher...best bangs for the bucks. Next stove will be JennAire gas (will need to install BIG propane tank) cause before I die I want to cook on gas (I'm seriously envious of you who do). Oh yeah...repairman said manufacturers make less money on the top loaders but serious return on investment with top loaders.

[bsikesb]

LG is the old company that used to make Zenith. Take it for what it is worth but I have talked to many company's that will NOT carry the products due to the fact of their unreliability. In fact many of the locally owned companies here in TX started by carrying LG and have now removed all their products from their stores.