Last year my mother finally had to buy a new gas stove because parts could no longer be found for a relatively minor repair on an otherwise functional appliance. It was the original from when the house was constructed in 1955.
I'm sure most of you have been in Prewar apartments which still have century old toilets with flushometers https://www.pmmag.com/articles/9074...06, William E.,Sloan persevered with his idea.
But what do we see today? In 1995 I bought a downdraft range with a gas grill which I was very happy with. But less than 2 decades later even though all the parts which were gas functional were fine, the circuit board brain crapped out and the oven couldn't function without it. And there were none to be had for love or money so the entire appliance needed to be scrapped.
A couple of years ago my Cuisinart toaster oven had a heating element burn out and I was shocked to find there are no replacement parts for Cuisinart small appliances.
We are increasingly seeing "smart" appliances which have shorter and shorter lifecycles. And increasingly bizarre problems, like this instance of an over-the-air firmware update which bricked Electrolux "smart" microwave ovens in Europe:
thenextweb.com
Smart toilets are becoming all the rage, but they require maintenance and homeowners seem increasingly unable or unwilling to perform things like cleaning out the lint trap in their clothes driers. How long will they last even if the proper maintenance is done much less if it isn't? What happens when you can't get the chip for one and need to replace a $4,000 unit every 7 years? (Or whatever).
(Perhaps it's me who is out of touch on this because when the igniter on the Maytag stacked washer/dryer would burn out my wife expected that I diagnose, get parts delivered, and execute the repair within 24 hours by myself).
With values skyrocketing people don't give that much thought to re-renovating properties with perfectly functioning kitchens, baths, etc. But what if values go down and there isn't endless equity to tap or trade up? There are almost no "basic" options anymore. Try buying not smart appliances and see what you find. And there is a trend towards making consumers pay subscription fees to make items they purchased work (BMW heated seats https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/12/23204950/bmw-subscriptions-microtransactions-heated-seats-feature) and also prevent them from making necessary repairs of upgrades (among others see Louis Rossman's YouTube channel https://youtube.com/@rossmanngroup with Right To Repair content).
I still remember seeing my friend's grandfather overhaul the engine to his 1940s Ford pickup truck on his kitchen table. Now even car "mechanics" don't "repair" things as much as they lookup codes from the car's computer and replace the parts it tells them to. I hope people realize that their houses/apartments are headed in this same direction.
I'm sure most of you have been in Prewar apartments which still have century old toilets with flushometers https://www.pmmag.com/articles/9074...06, William E.,Sloan persevered with his idea.
But what do we see today? In 1995 I bought a downdraft range with a gas grill which I was very happy with. But less than 2 decades later even though all the parts which were gas functional were fine, the circuit board brain crapped out and the oven couldn't function without it. And there were none to be had for love or money so the entire appliance needed to be scrapped.
A couple of years ago my Cuisinart toaster oven had a heating element burn out and I was shocked to find there are no replacement parts for Cuisinart small appliances.
We are increasingly seeing "smart" appliances which have shorter and shorter lifecycles. And increasingly bizarre problems, like this instance of an over-the-air firmware update which bricked Electrolux "smart" microwave ovens in Europe:
Faulty update brainwashes AEG microwaves into thinking they’re steam ovens
A software update has caused AEG microwaves to have an identity crisis — all of them think they’re steam ovens.
thenextweb.com
Smart toilets are becoming all the rage, but they require maintenance and homeowners seem increasingly unable or unwilling to perform things like cleaning out the lint trap in their clothes driers. How long will they last even if the proper maintenance is done much less if it isn't? What happens when you can't get the chip for one and need to replace a $4,000 unit every 7 years? (Or whatever).
(Perhaps it's me who is out of touch on this because when the igniter on the Maytag stacked washer/dryer would burn out my wife expected that I diagnose, get parts delivered, and execute the repair within 24 hours by myself).
With values skyrocketing people don't give that much thought to re-renovating properties with perfectly functioning kitchens, baths, etc. But what if values go down and there isn't endless equity to tap or trade up? There are almost no "basic" options anymore. Try buying not smart appliances and see what you find. And there is a trend towards making consumers pay subscription fees to make items they purchased work (BMW heated seats https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/12/23204950/bmw-subscriptions-microtransactions-heated-seats-feature) and also prevent them from making necessary repairs of upgrades (among others see Louis Rossman's YouTube channel https://youtube.com/@rossmanngroup with Right To Repair content).
I still remember seeing my friend's grandfather overhaul the engine to his 1940s Ford pickup truck on his kitchen table. Now even car "mechanics" don't "repair" things as much as they lookup codes from the car's computer and replace the parts it tells them to. I hope people realize that their houses/apartments are headed in this same direction.