Actually, the warranty doesn't carry over specifically to be a disincentive to have you country hopping for your purchases. Aliris's example is the unfortunate consequence of when people move across borders and lose their warranty coverage, but a warranty isn't a right, either. It's an incentive for the shopper to buy. The company says, look, you're not taking such a big risk with us. We'll warrant the product for a year (or however much) so that you'll be sure that we'll take care of any faults. A warranty is just a little piece of paper. Much easier than manufacturing and testing in a way that people have that much confidence to buy your product that they know there won't be a problem. Warranties are also used as pricing tools. When Gaggenau had the big sucky price increase they also increased their warranty to five years. Gaggenau products aren't without fault, but pert near. People have never had a lack of confidence in the brand. Still, when you raise the prices 38% (part for the rise in price of steel, part for the stress of the difference between the dollar and euro at the time, part to cement their position as a luxury brand), you have to do something to keep the people coming. Saying, "Remember us? The uberreliability people?" is pointless. Quintupling the warranty says, you're giving us more money, but we have your back. Similarly, on the low end, companies use warranties to salve their reputations. When new Korean makers of low price little cars entered the U.S. market, they slapped really long warranties on them as an incentive to buy. You don't know us and you think we're junk but we'll keep that junk going for a long time. When foreign cars were beating American cars for reliability, the American companies slapped bigger, better, longer warranties on them to say, the press may have you believe you'll be spending more on repairs, but we'll cover it, so really we have a better price. So. What's the deal with portability? Pricing is set by how many units they think they can sell to optimize their profits. If selling more units means that the cost per unit rises and eats into the total profits, they won't expand their production. If selling fewer units means they're under utilizing their resources and undercutting their profits, they'll make more. They use these optimal production ideas, and pricing information from the various places they sell their goods, to figure out how many to sell in each place at each price. Again, to optimize profits. Canada has about a tenth of the population as the U.S.A. Most of the population is fairly near the border, however, as opposed to up in the arctic region. We're not talking about the pricing in Yellowknife. It seems logical that Vancouver or Toronto should be the same as Seattle or Detroit. But much as it sometimes seems like there isn't a difference, Canada does have different laws and regulations, different distribution systems, tax structures, etc. The manufacturers set up their systems for each country. They might even have the same rep serving the entire NW, including both Seattle and Vancouver, but they have different structures and goals for each. Neither Canada nor the U.S.A. object to you taking appliances across the border, so the manufacturers have to do whatever they can to support their optimal pricing structure in the two different places. They do this to support the dealers, who don't want you flocking across the borders instead of buying from the local guys like them. One disincentive that costs the makers absolutely nothing, and, in fact, actually gains them a bit in missed warranty calls, is denying coverage if you go outside of your local market to buy their stuff. But really...how many of you have warranty work done? I did have a service call on my gas cooktop in the first few months, but it was an installation issue. Wolf wanted to have it checked out anyway, but they could have told me the likely culprit over the phone, and I would have had the electrician fix it without having the service call, if there was no warranty. I know we hear a lot about warranty work about this and that appliance here, but that's because of the nature of a forum. When things don't work, people talk about them. The very least regard I put into whether to import my induction cooktop from Europe was the lack of warranty. I talked to Gaggenau service, here, to make sure they could fix it, since I didn't want an orphan, like some of the folks who bought Fagor or DeDietrich from out of the country had before induction was plentiful here. As long as there was someone who could fix what might go wrong, I wasn't hung up on who would pay for it, figuring it would be out of the warranty period by then anyway.

In our area there are several Best Buy stores with Pacific Sales inside. All have adequate high end appliance selections. We spoke with sales persons in different locations; it seems every one is quite knowledgeable and experienced. The price on the closed out models are incredible. An individual Pacific Sales Store 30 miles from us carrying tons of high end appliances, Viking, Wolf, Thermador, Subzero, gaggenau..etc. When we are ready for kitchen appliances, we would definitely look at their selections. The store is our go to place for plumbing fixtures. The prices on high end fixtures, toilets, and sinks are so much better than FergusonâÂÂs. Some are priced lower than internet prices. The woman we dealt with is extremely knowledgeable and responsive. They do special order too.

I feel a certain moral obligation to buy from local salespeople if they are particularly helpful, even if I can save a little money elsewhere. And I generally believe in the "shop local" ethic...I like to support the Mom and Pops when I can. For my last kitchen, I bought most everything from one dealer who took time to really educate me about my choices. However, he really did not believe in the Vent-A-Hood technology and did not want to sell me one. Kind of amazing! So, I ordered one through US Appliance and it was a completely satisfactory experience. I would have bought from them again for the kitchen in my new house, but surprisingly, the local dealer gave me better prices. And they will be my local service provider, so I am happy to start a relationship with them.

From another poster on here - I purchased a dishwasher from Plessers.com - I spoke with a rep (Michael) they were great to do business with. Very friendly and quick delivery. I would not hesitate to buy from them again. I don't know what all brands they carry, but check them out