TL;DR: How to Buy Appliances That Last
About 1 in 10 new appliances need service in the first year. Most problems aren't product failures. They're the result of skipped research, bad installations, and no local service plan. Based on 33,190 service calls, here's how to avoid the most common mistakes:
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Research the brand beyond the sales page. Check local reviews and community forums for real ownership experiences.
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Find a certified installer. Poor installation is one of the top causes of early service calls.
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Think about downtime, not just reliability scores. Ask how fast your kitchen gets back to normal if something breaks.
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Confirm local service before you commit. Between two similar appliances, the one with better local support is almost always the safer choice.
There’s no shortage of appliance advice online. But almost none of it shows what really matters: how appliances perform once they’re installed in real homes.
Last year, we logged 33,190 service calls across every brand we carry. About 1 in 10 new appliances needed some kind of service in the first year.
In this article, I'll show you how to buy appliances with fewer problems, fewer service calls, and fewer regrets.
Most appliance stores carry around 75 brands. Some carry more than 100. A few carry up to 140.
The honest truth? You should only be considering about 25 to 30. We carry 19 brands, and that’s on purpose.
Before you buy, slow down and look past the brand name. These four steps will help you avoid the most common mistakes we see after the sale.
How to Buy Appliances That Last: Lessons from 33,190 Service Calls
Step 1: Research the Brand Before You Buy
Quick answer: Look past the sales page. Real-world reviews and local service history tell you more than specs ever will.
Before you buy, Google the brand. Look past the sales page. Check local reviews and community forums to see what happens after people have lived with it.
That's the part most people skip, until it's too late.
🔍 Read more: What Influencers Get Wrong About Appliance Reliability in 2026
Step 2: Find a Good Installer
Quick answer: A certified installer can prevent more problems than a brand upgrade. Installation quality directly affects how often appliances need service.
The second thing most people overlook is finding a good installer.
How your appliance is delivered and installed matters. A lot. Last year, we completed 12,696 installations.
When we install appliances ourselves, we see fewer service calls afterward. Not because the appliance is different, but because the installation is done right by certified installers.
Before you buy, find certified installers in your area. Leveling matters. Water connections matter. Electrical supply and clearances matter.
A lot of early service calls that look like product failures are actually setup problems.
Reliability isn't just about what you buy. It's also about how it's handled before it's ever turned on.
🔍 Read more: What To Do When Your Appliance Purchase Goes Horribly Wrong
Step 3: Think About Reliability Differently
Quick answer: Reliability scores matter, but so does how fast your appliance gets fixed. Downtime is the real cost of a service call.
We publish reliability stats in other articles, but reliability isn't the same as service.
What matters just as much is how fast a problem gets fixed, and how long you're without the appliance.
Most appliance issues are minor. The real cost is downtime: not having a refrigerator, a dishwasher, or a washer when you need it.
If you're buying for a full kitchen, think beyond reliability scores. Ask yourself one question: if this breaks, how fast does my kitchen get back to normal?
That question can change how you buy. And it should.
🔍 Read more: Are Appliance Extended Warranties Worth It?
Step 4: Check Local Service Before You Commit to a Brand
Quick answer: Popular brands aren't always well-supported locally. Between two similar appliances, the one with better local service is almost always the safer choice.
Take brands like LG and Samsung. They're popular, they look great, and on paper the features often match higher-end brands.
But looks and features are only part of the story. What matters just as much is what happens after you buy.
Check service coverage in your area. Read reviews that talk about what it's like when something breaks, not just how it looks on day one.
Service availability can change almost by ZIP code. Nantucket is a perfect example.
Before we opened a store there last year, the wait for service was about four weeks and often even longer if the technician needed parts.
Between two similar appliances, the safer choice is usually the one with better local support, not the one with the longest feature list.
That same shift changed how we sell appliances.
When we opened our service department, we started to see the full picture: what breaks, why it breaks, and how fast it can be fixed.
It changed the brands we carry, what we recommend, and it should change how you buy.
🔍 Read more: Appliance Service 2026: Why Most Stores Skip It & How to Protect Yourself
The Most Common Appliance Problems We See
Quick answer: Most service calls come down to a short list of recurring issues. None are catastrophic, but all become costly when local service isn't available.
Now that you know why local service matters, here are the issues we see most often:
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Ice makers and water dispensers in refrigerators
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Gas igniters on ranges and cooktops
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Washers that won't drain
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Dishwashers leaking or not draining
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Refrigerators not cooling properly
Most of these are small problems. What turns them into big headaches is how long you're without the appliance, and whether someone local can actually fix it.
That's why service matters just as much as the brand name on the front.
Final Thought: Buy for the Long Run, Not Just Day One
The best appliance purchase is not the one with the longest feature list or the biggest brand name.
It is the one that works in your home, fits your needs, and can be serviced quickly when something goes wrong.
Research the brand. Find a certified installer. Confirm local service before you buy.
Most of the problems we see are not major. They become costly when no one nearby can fix them.
Take more time before you buy, and you will spend far less time dealing with problems later.
Additional Resources
Before you spend a dime, learn the facts from over 33,000 service calls, discover which brands are actually reliable, and see how to time your purchase for the best price. More than 1 million people have trusted the Yale Appliance Buying Guide - now it's your turn.
👉 Download your free Appliance Buying Guide today.
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Why Should You Trust Us?
It seems that every appliance review has nothing but glowing comments about almost every product, yet you read customer reviews and they are almost universally bad.
We are here to fill in the disconnect. We'll give you the best features, and the drawbacks as well, including reliability based on over 33,000 calls performed by our service team just last year. Our goal is to give you ALL the information so you know what's right for you.
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