Caveat Emptor when Buying Appliances

Appliances come in a dizzying array of color, sizes, and features. These days whenever you set out to buy something simple, let's hypothetically say a refrigerator, you are faced with an onslaught of marketing material. All of the literature out there is from the manufacturer trying to convince you that his product is the best because it has a tons of bells and whistles.

Now, hypothetically, say that you just want a refrigerator that keeps food cold and lasts a long time -- not too much to ask right? This isn't as easy of a hypothetical task as it sounds. The biggest problem lies in that all of the refrigerators are actually all made by the SAME company. O.o Yes, Whirlpool is the "mother ship" and owns all of the other little brands (excluding the European and Korean brands.) How is one to decide which refrigerator is the best one when they're all made in the same factory and seemingly the only difference is the brand-name badge?

I don't have an answer to this hypothetical buying situation. The only thing I know is that Sears brands Kenmore as their own and it used to be a brand of quality. In this hypothetical situation I was trying to avoid buying any Korean made stuff because they have a bad reputation for breaking down, etc. -- think Japanese products 20 years ago. Korean appliances aren't there quite yet and were one of the types of products that I was trying to steer clear of.

Uh oh ... I mean steer clear of in my hypothetical situation. ^_^

So the hypothetical situation ends up in me purchasing a new refrigerator made my Kenmore (I even bought the Elite brand since I got suckered into a few of the bells alnd whistles like tilting drawers). When I got home I, being the curious person I am, wondered who made Kenmore appliances. Does Sears actually have a little factory of elves who make them or do they contract it out? It turns out that Sears contracts their work out. Uh oh. Not good. I quickly did more research and found out my beloved new refrigerator is made by none other than LG. Ahh!! The very refrigerator maker I was trying to avoid is the one who made my fridge. grrr!!

Caveat emptor. The next time I buy any major appliance I'll have to take along this handy website about appliances to help me make my buying decision.