Yah, pretty much my experience with consumer reports too. They need more objective analysis, but that is hard too given that all it takes to win a 3 year "long term" study is not to have anything major break.
Having been in this boat myself, a few years ago, I decided to simply start fixing my old appliances. Many of which aren't actually old enough to not be efficient (front loading washer from the late 1990's). Its hard when you move houses, but the older appliances (mostly from the 1990's) in my rental are still chugging along. OTOH, the dishwasher, and microwave that got replaced when I lived in it are now on #3 in under 15 years...
Basically, it seems for a lot of things the "quality" seems to have peaked and then due to penny pinching, offshoring, whatever has declined. Of course my mother might say the same thing about her stove from the 1970's, but the current house has a gas stove with electronic igniters built in the 1990's and its also on #3... It seems electronics aren't really a good way to make something last. They might be better at saving some energy here or there, or providing a cool looking interface, but the old mechanical buttons/igniters/etc are often even better.
Having been in this boat myself, a few years ago, I decided to simply start fixing my old appliances. Many of which aren't actually old enough to not be efficient (front loading washer from the late 1990's). Its hard when you move houses, but the older appliances (mostly from the 1990's) in my rental are still chugging along. OTOH, the dishwasher, and microwave that got replaced when I lived in it are now on #3 in under 15 years...
Basically, it seems for a lot of things the "quality" seems to have peaked and then due to penny pinching, offshoring, whatever has declined. Of course my mother might say the same thing about her stove from the 1970's, but the current house has a gas stove with electronic igniters built in the 1990's and its also on #3... It seems electronics aren't really a good way to make something last. They might be better at saving some energy here or there, or providing a cool looking interface, but the old mechanical buttons/igniters/etc are often even better.