I like Bosch for mid priced appliances. Miele's dw is better, but you don't sacrifice much with BOsch- some prefer Bosch.

1. Start with Consumer Reports to select a few product based on ratings and recommendations.

2. Check the manufacturer's websites for features and specs and to make sure the appliance will fit in the space.

2. For the selected products, check owners' anecdotal reviews on sites such as Home Depot and Best Buy.

3. Check sites such as Home Depot, Best Buy, Lowes, appliancesconnection.com and build.com for the lowest price including delivery. You can also do a Google search on the brand and model number; the search results will sometimes show the prices.

4. IMO most houzz appliance reviews are useless, referencing appliances of unknown age, unspecified model numbers, and favoring over-priced, fancy-pants brands.

What I look for (after functionality and previous experience):

1. Made in America, Germany, or Japan

2. Reputation

3. Reviews

Where do you look for reputation/reviews? I think that was the heart of my question as Consumer Reports seems to differ wildly from any other source of reviews. And im not sure sales people are to be trusted in this area.

"CR has a bias against the higher end"

No, CR just exposes the fact that many "higher-end" appliances aren't any better -- and cost a lot more -- than the appliances that we plebes purchase. However, CR obviously cannot evaluate appliances over the long run which is why anecdotal reviews on, for example, Home Depot or Best Buy are useful.

CR also has customer reviews incidentally. Which is why their top rated pro style range (a GE monogram with an overall score of 70 has a review average of 2.3 out of 5 stars. (4 1 star reviews and one in each of the other categories).

Whats interesting about your comment Lawrence, and im not saying its necessarily wrong, is thats what CR at least used to be, was a commentary on long term reliability of the given product. Now it seems its something between a feature comparison and a hands-on review.

While you say that there are no special things in a fridge/mw/dishwasher that you want, I'm betting you're wrong.....you just haven't thought about them yet. Don't just look at whether or not they fulfill the goals (keeping food cold, getting dishes clean), but also think about style, ergonomics, and features you don't want (not just features you do want). Things like door handle size and placement have to be comfortable - no they're not all the same - and you may have a preference for touch screen vs. buttons, etc. There's a real difference in using a fridge or dishwasher that allows you to adjust racks and drawers for your needs vs. trying to fit your dishes/groceries/left overs/stemware into what the manufacturer thinks you should need.

As it happens, I try to avoid US made appliances, but to each ones own.

robertgoulet. Consumer Reports is the last place to look. Almost everything I pretend to know something about, they almost always rate my choice low. I think the problem is that they put a big emphasis on the lowest common denominator, so basically the "school zone" equivalent is rated the highest. Searching on google for reviews works as well as anything else.

"Almost everything I pretend to know something about, they almost always rate my choice low."

Well, that's the problem with pretending.