In late 2020, we had a run of bad luck at our house. In a three-month period, we replaced our water heater, our stove, and our washing machine. That recent experience made me wonder if anything is built to last in our disposable world.

I often hear people say, “nothing is built to last these days” or “everything you buy is cheap junk” or “they don’t make ‘em like that any more”. But is this really true? Is everything made to wear out more quickly than things that were made in the past? And, if that is true, why?

This post was originally published in November 2020 and updated in September 2023.

My family’s history with appliances

The stove we replaced was 27 years old. The washing machine was 10 years old. The water heater was only 5 years old. Three appliances. Three very different experiences.

When we moved into our house 27 years ago, we bought 4 shiny new appliances—a fridge, the stove we just replaced, a washer and a dryer. About a year after we moved in, we bought a chest freezer. Let’s look at how long each of these appliances lasted.

• The first appliance to go was the fridge. We replaced it after 11 years. The replacement is now 16 years old. I’m willing to bet we’ll be buying a new fridge before long.
• Next, we replaced the washer and dryer after 17 years. The washer we just replaced was 10 years old. The dryer is still going strong, but we only use it about half as much because we line dry our laundry as much as possible.
• The chest freezer lasted 23 years until we finally had to get a new one a couple of years ago. Interestingly, the freezer we bought replaced a small apartment-sized freezer that I had before I got married. My mum still has that little freezer in her apartment. It’s almost 35 years old! My family has had our $200 worth out of that freezer.
• Of all the appliances we bought, the stove lasted the longest. After 27 years, the oven still worked well. But the burners on the stovetop were behaving unpredictably which made me nervous. Not wanting to risk a fire, we decided it was time to retire it and get a new one.

To be honest, our worst luck has been with dishwashers! When we moved in, there was a dishwasher in the house. We replaced it a year or two later. We are now on our sixth dishwasher in 27 years. The absolute worst was a Kenmore that lasted barely two years. We finally had to get rid of it because it was so loud we could hear it outside in the driveway—with all the doors and windows closed.

Why don’t things last as long as they used to?

Dishwashers aside, I’m seeing a trend toward getting fewer years out of new appliances than the ones we bought in the 90s. Talking to friends and family members reveals similar experiences. This article from The Spruce states most major appliances will last 10 to 15 years. That’s consistent with what the sales rep at the appliance store told us when we told him our washing machine was 10 years old.

When I think about why things don’t last, it comes down to four things.

Appliances cost less than they used to

First, all things considered, today’s appliances cost less than they used to.

The stove we bought 27 years ago cost just under $900. At that time, the average family income in Canada was $54,000. With the average household income in Canada these days at just under $100,000, an equivalent stove should have cost around $1,600.

The stove we bought has a lot more features and we paid $1,200 for it. Interestingly, there was a stove in the store almost identical to the one we got rid of. We could have bought it for $749. That’s less than what we paid almost 30 years ago!

While we might not like it, if wages have almost doubled, the only way to sell an equivalent product at a lower price is to keep manufacturing costs low. How do companies do that? Cheaper labour and cheaper materials. That’s why things don’t last.

Technology is changing everything

Next, consider the impact of technology. Advances in technology mean manufacturers add new features all the time.

When we bought our old stove 27 years ago, there weren’t a lot of features to consider. Gas or electric? Self clean or not? That was pretty much it. When we bought our new stove, we had so many choices to make. Gas? Electric? Induction? Convection? True convection? Self clean? Steam clean? Ceramic top? Warming drawers? Dual ovens? It’s enough to make your head spin!

More features and high-tech bells and whistles mean more things to go wrong. It also means things are more costly to fix.

Repairs are expensive and impractical

My parents’ generation had a “make do and mend” mentality. They repaired things when they broke and kept them until they were worn out.

When an appliance stops working, you might consider getting it repaired. Then, you weigh the cost of the repair against the price of a new appliance. In most cases, it just isn’t practical to repair an appliance that is more than a few years old.

As an example, we replaced the pump on one of our dishwashers, only to have the motor blow up a few months later. In hindsight, we would have been further ahead to just put the repair money into a new dishwasher.

My husband is handy so when our washing machine quit on us, he did some research on what the problem could be. He looked at a couple of things himself and came to the conclusion that fixing it would be a huge job. So, back to the appliance store we went.

Our consumer culture makes us want the latest features

Finally, let’s consider the impact of increased consumerism—the smartphone mentality. Like the smartphone that we replace every couple of years, we are conditioned to think we need the latest and greatest of everything.

I admit I inherited a frugal mentality from my parents. I don’t buy new things just because I can or want to. When we renovated our kitchen six years ago, we decided to keep our old fridge and stove. They were both still working so it felt wasteful to get rid of them and spend money on new ones. So, we put our old appliances in our new kitchen. It didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the new kitchen one bit!

Our obsession with having the latest and greatest means manufacturers don’t need to make things that last. They know people like having shiny new things, so they crank out products with more features at the lowest possible cost. And we buy them!

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There is some good news

Although I hate to think of the environmental impact of all those discarded appliances, it’s not all bad news.

Modern appliances are much more energy efficient and use far less water than old ones. Look for the ENERGY STAR certification when buying appliances. The savings add up!

And there are eco-friendly options to dispose of your old appliances. Ask your retailer what they will do with the appliances they haul away.

It’s a disposable world

Sadly, we live in a throwaway world. Our obsession with disposable goes beyond appliances. In Why it’s time to ditch fast fashion, I wrote about the high cost of cheap clothing. The high divorce rate suggests we also treat people and relationships as disposable, but that’s a topic for another post.

We can’t change the world overnight. But we can all look for little wins and opportunities to make a difference in areas that we can control. Every small change makes a difference.

What experiences have you had with appliances? Tell us about them below.