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You probably remember (or still have) an old refrigerator in your garage that was made during the Eisenhower administration. Most appliances don’t last that long anymore.
“The short, unnuanced answer is that appliances will generally last around 12 years,” says Matthew Schmitz, managing editor at HomeServe, a company that sells home repair plans. “Studies have shown that higher-end models will, indeed, last longer and perform better, but this is what buyers can use as a rule of thumb.”
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Why are appliance lifespans shorter now than they were in years past? “If you compare them to the appliances of 10, 20, 30 years ago, [appliances have] a lot more features now, a lot more electronics, and they're all more efficient too,” says Chris Doscher, director of communications for the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM).
All those cool little programs and dials on new appliances are very handy, but the electronics don’t mix well with the moisture typically present in the average dishwasher, refrigerator or washing machine. In addition, many more parts of your new household machines are plastic, a material that's less durable than, say, steel or copper.
Because new appliances have more bells and whistles, take the time to read the manual, Doscher says. “It'll have specific recommendations to that model and the features that it has,” he says. Even if you’ve owned the same type of appliance before, the manual might show you helpful features you weren’t aware of.
Eventually, all appliances — even garage-bound beer fridges — will stop working, so it’s good to build in replacement costs for your appliances into your household budget. True, it’s not easy to predict exactly when the dishwasher will slop its soapy water onto the kitchen floor or when the fridge will freeze no more. But if you’re taking a mental inventory of what could be the next kitchen casualty, here’s how long you can expect most major appliances to live, according to the experts we consulted, and what you can do to prolong their lives.
Refrigerators: 11 (side-by-side) to 14 years (top freezer)
To make your fridge last longer, vacuum the condenser coils. Dust makes the fridge less efficient. Check your manual for the location of the coils – typically in the back or at the bottom – and safety tips. Vacuum at least twice a year. If you have a water dispenser, replace the filters twice a year, too. And don’t forget this rule of thumb: your refrigerator’s coils should be at least the length of your thumb from the wall to allow the machine to disperse heat correctly, HomeServe's Schmitz says.
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