KA fridges and DWs are fine - I've had those for 5 years now with no problems. It seems to be their ranges that have problems. On the other hand LG fridges have gotten horrible reviews on this forum.

My advise would be to stick with the KA fridge and DW and get a different brand range. If you're not comfortable with the price of a pro-style range, take a look at GE Profile or Cafe, and Bosch.

My s-in-law has all kitchenaid in her new house. Less than three years and the built in microwave is broken the door falls down (spring broke) and the fridge is broken. The ice maker doesn't work anymore and the meat drawer broke. These people are not hard on appliances and when she complained they told her that if they were built like they used to be how would they sell any more appliances? It seems to me, that if they lasted, word of mouth about reliability would be alot better way to up your sales. I had a new kitchenaid fridge a few years ago and had only had it a few days and the problems were many-- the door would not seal and the light stayed on all the time. They came to fix it three times and I finally told them I was done with the stupid thing and they let me exchange it for a ge. No problems. I now have an lg and no problems. I think kitchenaid is built to break. just my experience

I had an old KA refrigerator when I moved into our old house. It lasted 12 years, and then the ice-maker died. I could have had that fixed, but opted to buy the new version on the same frig. I loved it. Then when we moved out of state and into a new house, we ordered the KA frig. and dw and WP range and microwave. I love them. We did have a problem with the KA dw in that the door would not close. But we bought from a private appliance store, rather than a Sears. So their repairman came, and found the clasp was bent. So the store just swapped us with another new one since it was still under warranty. I think where you buy your appliances is just as important. Will they do everything to keep you happy so you will come back. I would continue with KA in the future.

We've been quite lucky with our KA appliances. Our old DW was 15 years old and still going when we replaced it with another KA earlier this year due to a kitchen remodel. Our KA frig of 15 years is still going strong in the basement now while our new KA frig found its home in the new kitchen.

We did go with a Bosch electric range however, because the ratings and looks were positive, IMO. Our microwave is GE and has received excellent reviews from people here and personal owners of the same unit.

So, with that, most appliances will have their pros/cons, even the upscale brands. It's just pure luck to have an appliance that never breaks down. You'll be fine with KA. I've been skeptical of LG because they are relatively new to the marketplace in the appliance realm here in the US. I'll need a few more years of consumer buying and reporting before I buy LG, but that's just me.

We always buy the extended warranty for PIECE OF MIND while other people here think it's a waste. With all the breakable electronics in appliances these days, it's worth it to us. To each their own opinion though. We purchase through Sears b/c they are superior with replacement or repairs from our experiences with other appliances. I'm another one who will continue to buy KA.

I also heard the horror stories about the KA ovens. I was scared to death to clean ours (new home) but glad to say that it has worked great after many cleanings. All of the other appliances have had no problems.

I did purchase a KA refrigerator and the relay recently went out. The fridge was six years old and with little forewarning, the fridge died and some food went into the garbage. In talking to the guy that did the repairs, he had good remarks on KA appliances. I was a little negligent at cleaning the coils under the fridge so I do not hold that problem against KA. I would buy again.

As with many posts on the internet, you will hear many more negatives than positives on any particular brand of product. That is the nature of things. But then again, it may be as suggested earlier, that it is the luck of the draw?

I just ran my first load of dishes on a brand new KA dishwasher and the results are horrifying. Nothing is clean!!! I am now running a second laod with different soap, to see if the results are different. My sisiter has a BOSCH DW and she says she can run ANYTHING, ANYTHING through it and it will come out clean. I'm sick to my stomach at the thought of paying almost 1200.00 and having a losuy dishwasher.

plinker - something is wrong - are you sure your DW is hooked up to the plumbing :-). Seriously, check to make sure the arms swing freely and aren't held in place with packing material. Was it installed properly with a high loop in the drain line or an air gap - if there isn't, that can cause backflow of dirty water. Did you use an enzyme detergent like Cascade Complete? Unless you have a lemon, there's no reason that a brand new KA DW won't clean your dishes properly.

I bought a KA fridge for my new kitchen - now getting close to three years ago. I haven't had any problems with it so far. I bought a slide in KA range for my lake cabin last year - very happy with it so far. I think it's a crapshoot with appliances now days - no matter what brand you buy. So far mine have been okay except for the Miele dishwasher which etches my glassware and also doesn't get things clean due to the special "precautions" I have to take to try to prevent the etching.

Hi Weissman - thanks for your comments. I did find out that if the kitchen-aid is interupted during it's first cycle, it senses that and runs the second cycle the same way. Thought the problem was resolved after unplugging it and running a sucessful cycle. HOWEVER, ran another load last night and the cycle didn't finish. It stopped mid-cycle and the light remained flashing all night and I felt my heart sink this morning, as the light was still flashing and the cycle not completed. Opening up the DW, one sees 2 inches of water in the bottom. Then you have to press the cancel button and it drains. I am back to square one. So discouraging. I have read about other KA's stopping mid cycle. If anyone has the solution, please let me know. Meanwhile I better get looking for my paperwork to get this thing sent back, (box was destroyed when opened). I can't handle the stress. Help, if you have suggestions. Thanks guys.

We bought a kitchenaid dw and a kitchenaid compactor for our remodel (mostly done since Thanksgiving)...forget the model numbers but both were panel ready. So far, the dw is ok but the compactor broke on the second day of use. The replacement compactor came doa. We're hoping to get our money back and put in a trash pullout instead.

Bought a Kitchenaid fridge and built-in oven 18 months ago. Oven broke after the second self-cleaning. No help from Kitchenaid. So far, nothing wrong with fridge, but am worried about Kitchenaid quality and service. Would NOT buy Kitchenaid again.

No complaints on KA brand here.

Our new KA counter-depth fridge and the near top of line KA dishwasher are working GREAT for 6 months.

Fridge is super quiet and maintains "0" freezer and "38" fridge without waiver.

Dishwasher is so quiet we can't hear it run and does fantastic job of cleaning.

(However, our cooking appliances are GE Profile.)

Just purchased a hosue which is 5 years old and has KA appliances.
The handle on the microwave door is broken. It was that way during the home inspection. I am looking into purchasing another microwave since it was almost $200 when I called KA to get the parts to repair the door.

The KA cooktop broke after we were in the house for about 2 months. I had to replace the whole cooktop.

The oven is a KA Superba double oven and seems to be working, but it does not seem to be cooking evenly as the top racks get very hot and the bottom racks seem to undercook. I guess I am still learning how the oven cooks.

The dishwasher cleans the dishes great, but every once in a while the seal pulls off when I open the dishwasher door. It is easy to push it back in, but it should not be coming off like that.

This is just my experience of how the appliances are working. They were in the house when I bought it and they are no more than 5 years old.

I would say that in my little world the Kitchen Aid is the dishwasher to avoid. Our immediate family has both an ASCO and a Bosch which are more pleasant to use and clean better. I've never had a dishwasher that you had to wash the dishes first before the K/A. The selling point on the K/A was the little grinder that they have in the bottom to get rid of the extra food particles. The other people in my family don't. We've compared cycles , temps etc.. A month or so ago I had to spend an entire morning cleaning this dishwasher. We keep a clean kitchen too. The below link will give you more insight on that. The person that has the ASCO actually bought her second one for her new house. Neither has had mold issues.

Here is a link that might be useful: moldy dishwasher

We have a KA dishwasher and SxS fridge. Both have been in for 18-24 mo.s. The DW has been great- no problems. Every once in a while, something (usually plastic storage containers) comes out a little dirty. Likely due to my intensive stuffing of items into the DW before running. When I think about it, I run the longer cycle if I'm worried at all. With the serious drought in GA, we don't rinse for the most part.

I almost exclusively use the hot rinse and no heat dry. We're still using our free supply of Electrosol tablets that we got w/ the washer. It has a pretty high phosphorus level (good for cleaning, bad for the water), so I don't know what we'll switch to when we use them up.

The fridge has been good, but the icemaker has now broken for the 2nd time. At the first of '07, it broke and I ended up replacing the control module. Now it looks like the water valve is leaking, which causes the fill tube to freeze up. Total cost in parts has been ~$100, plus a few hours online figuring out what to do. So far, mechanical aptitude has been cheaper than an extended warranty.

We bought all new kitchen aid appliances, spending over 6 grand. It's been less than a year and the dishwasher has had 1 repair visit and the refrigerator about 6 visits. The meat drawer broke, the thermostat and coil had to be replaced. I've pulled all of the food out 3 times! The oven had to be replaced right after delivery when it arrived looking like it had been dropped. Kitchenaid is overpriced junk.

I've been having horrible customer service with Kitchenaid over a broken stand mixer. The metal cracked and I'm sure it's a manufacturing defect but I can't even get a hold of anyone to deal with the issue. I will not be purchasing Kitchenaid again.

I'm the unfortunate recipient of a KitchenAid horror story. It goes back years now but the suite of kitchen appliances we purchased were a disaster. The steam assist wall oven died on the first useage. After four visits the tech threw in the towel on our built in side by side fridge/freezer and it too was replaced. I've managed to keep the dishwasher running but to do so has required dozens (yes dozens) of parts. The promised call from the KitchenAid field rep. never came. Our next appliances will NOT be KitchenAid