When one or more of your highly valued kitchen appliances is on the fritz, you’ll be faced with an important decision: Should you repair your broken appliance, or replace it with a brand new machine? Ideally, no one wants to shell out money on either of those options, but if you enjoy baking, cooking, keeping food items fresh, or just surviving in general, then you’ll have to take care of your poor little appliance one way or another.
Deciding between getting your broken appliance fixed or outright replaced is ultimately up to you, and depends on a number of factors. Remember, if you’re looking to simply get your broken appliance fixed (and hopefully saving some money in the process!), then contact your appliance repair specialists over at Profix Appliance to take the matter out of your hands and into ours. Without further ado, let’s look into the nuances of repairing versus replacing your precious kitchen appliances.
Age of Your Appliances
Most appliances – nearly all of them, in fact – have an average useful life, which refers to the typical lifespan after which the machine is running on borrowed time. A good rule of thumb when it comes to replacing versus fixing your broken appliance is this: The closer your appliance is to its hypothetical past due date, the wiser it is to replace the appliance rather than repair it. Depending on the quality and initial price of your appliances, most kitchen appliances like ovens, stove ranges and refrigerators tend to last between 7-15 or so years.
Also, consider the 50 percent rule. If an appliance is more than 50 percent through its lifespan, and if the cost of one repair is more than 50 percent of the cost of buying a brand-spanking-new appliance, then it might be worth replacing it rather than repairing it.
Energy Considerations
Investing in a new water-saving and energy-efficient appliance may be worth it down the road. A modern brand-new refrigerator, for example, uses roughly half of the electricity of a comparable fridge built 20+ years ago. On the other hand, replacing energy-sucking kitchen appliances that still have ‘miles’ left on them may not be the smartest penny-pinching move. You actually might end up spending thousands on an appliance in order to save hundreds of dollars, if you’re lucky, on your energy bill.
A Word From An Expert
If you’re seriously looking into this broken appliance matter, we urge you to consider our entertaining thoughts on the matter. For further authority on broken appliance troubleshooting, check out what Jill A. Notini’s thoughts are.
Jill works with the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, so her thoughts are probably worth taking note. She says that if you’re planning on staying in your home for 10 to 15 years, then upgrading appliances is most likely a worthy investment. However, if you’re planning on moving sometime soon, then you’ll save money by keeping your older appliances and letting the new owners of the home upgrade to more energy-efficient kitchen appliance models.
Extra Replacement Costs
The hidden and extra cost associated with replacing an appliance may actually include more than just the original price of the new machine itself. Under the right (or wrong) conditions, the price tag of the new household appliance could be the least of the money that you’ll end up spending on an upgrade. How can this be?
Well, if you get a new refrigerator that’s a different size than your old one, it may not fit in the spot that your old fridge was in. In this case, you may have to modify the cabinetry in order to properly fit the new appliance, which could require professional carpentry services to ensure that the job is done accurately and properly. Also, upgrading from a simple gas stovetop to one with many bells and whistles may mean that you’ll have to upgrade or add various electrical wiring and circuits, and that’s probably no fun for you or your wallet.
Warranty, Of Course
If your broken kitchen appliance is new enough to where repairs or an outright replacement is still covered under its manufacturer warranty, then you’ll obviously want to take advantage of that. Not sure if you’re still covered under warranty or not? Simply check your owner’s manual or records to see if your broken appliance is still under warranty. Most warranties on major appliances cover labor and parts for a year, and some extend coverage of certain parts for two years. By using your warranty, you won’t have to outright replace your broken kitchen appliance, and the fix will be free. Sounds like a good deal!
Contact Profix
If fixing your broken kitchen appliance is the smarter way to go for your situation, then our helpful appliance service technicians at Profix Appliance Repair are here for you. We cover many parts of the greater Los Angeles area, so you won’t have to suffer long when it comes to dealing with broken kitchen appliances. No one deserves to hold back on baking or cooking simply because their appliances aren’t working. Give us a call today!