White Goods

I think if you've a family that extensively use washers & driers it's probably worth the outlay, they do seem to be a cut above the rest. But not for fridges and freezers.

I was told that Miele make a couple of the John Lewis branded items which are sold at a few hundred less.

I'd never buy a fridge with Smeg written on it. Would put me off the food inside.

 

Our fridge/freezer, washing machine and dishwasher all about 8 years old and still in place from when we had kitchen and dining rooms redone. WM and DW need the monthly descale/declogg tablets added given the hard water in Herts as scaled-up pumps is the most common cause of failure.

 

After moving into meister manor I looked at the state of the kitchen and bathrooms and realised that limescale would kill off anything I spent on replacing them, fairly quickly. First thing I got installed after ripping out a sink so furred up it had stalagmites was a water softener. I went for one which monitors usage so only doses with salt as required and it costs about £50 a year to run. Limescale isn't eliminated but imho well worth the investment to preserve plumbing. Obvs the dishwasher and washing machine still take a direct cold feed, but dishwashers have their own salt delivery and my washigng machine failed mechanically before the limescale gave it an issue.