When should you upgrade your appliances?

There comes a time in every homeowners life when they stop, look, or listen to their appliances and see that they’re not quite what they want anymore. It happened to me right before I moved out of my previous home, and although I had been using my fridge for almost 10 years, I finally saw that it was old, outdated, and was so small inside I had to stuff four lunch kits in the fruit crispers every night because there was no where else to put them.

With my stove, it was the opposite. The two back burners had stopped working and although I was still plodding along and using it, there came a day when it burnt half of my apple pie. That was the final straw for me, and I knew it was time to upgrade my appliances.

If you’re wondering when is the right time to upgrade your appliances, here are 4 scenarios you can use to help figure it out.

Your appliances aren’t working like they used to

This is one of the most common reasons why people upgrade appliances. Maybe your fridge keeps things so icy cold in the back area that you’ve got a layer of ice on your sour cream, but the milk you store in the side compartments is coolish on the best of days. Or your stove, like mine did, has the audacity to burn half of your apple pie or turn a few of your cookies into hockey pucks.

The average life expectancy of a fridge, stove, and dishwasher is about 10 years, but I knew my dishwasher was dead at 7 years when, despite rinsing food off my plates and cleaning out the dishwasher, it left tiny bits of food on my glasses.

Yes, your refrigerator, range, dishwasher might still cook, cool, and wash your dishes, but if it’s just not doing it as well as it used to, it’s time to upgrade.

You want to upgrade the style of your kitchen or laundry room

Do you remember when avocado appliances were all the rage? It was during the 60’s, and they also had a lovely shade of gold they called ‘Coppertone’ that was popular. By the time the 80’s rolled around, white became a popular colour for refrigerators, stoves, and dishwashers, and it’s still popular today, but stainless steel has all but replaced it for must-have in the kitchen.

If you’ve got older appliances that don’t go with the style of your home, upgrading is a way to bring a new, fresh look into your kitchen or laundry room. Stainless steel is a great choice for modernizing a kitchen, but before you buy make sure you take a look at LG’s Black Stainless. I’m positive this is going to be showing up in homes everywhere in the next year.

You want all the features you can find in the latest appliances

If you followed CES 2016, you’ll know that major appliance manufacturers previewed some amazing new smart appliances. The Whirlpool Smart French Door refrigerator connects to your home’s Wi-Fi, has unlimited options for organizing, and has cool features like Party Mode to keep an even temperature when you’re opening and closing the door a lot.

Besides the beautiful black stainless lineup, LG also came out with a new smart fridge: the LG Signature Fridge has a door that opens itself if you knock on it or if it detects your foot nearby. Any techie would want to race right out and buy the latest models to go with an existing smart home.

Even if you’re more of a foodie than a techie, you may want to update your current appliances because you’ve outgrown them. Like my range that would burn my baking, I found it really limiting having an appliance that couldn’t keep up with my new and improved cooking skills.

Even now I know that within a year I’ll upgrade my range and get a new model because this one won’t be able to do what I want it to. When I do, I’ll be drawing hearts around the Miele 30” Electric Easy Control Range. I’ve seen a Miele in action and I know we could bake together for a long, long time.

If you want to sell your house

I know what you’re thinking: why would I upgrade my appliances if I’m about to put my house on the market? Long story short, it will help your home sell faster.

I looked at quite a few homes when I was in the market to move, and out of all of those houses a few stand out in my mind. The kitchens didn’t have granite counter tops or fancy cabinets, but they did have brand new stainless steel appliances that included a French door refrigerator exactly like the one I ended up buying for myself, an induction range, and a brand new dishwasher. I might not have been sold on the rest of the house, but I was definitely sold on that kitchen.

I upgraded my refrigerator, range, and dishwasher right before I put my house on the market, and although I was definitely sad to leave them behind, I also enjoyed using them before the house sold. And as far as selling the house was concerned, it sold in three days to someone who said to my realtor, “I don’t have to do a thing to this kitchen.”

Upgrading major appliances, whether it’s your kitchen or laundry, is a big decision. But once you set everything up and experience what it’s like to have new? You’ll wonder why you waited so long. New appliances have warranties so you’ll be worry free as far as repairs and maintenance go, they perform exactly like they are supposed to (and they won’t burn your pie!), and when compared to older models, they make every room you add them to look great.

Check out all of the major appliances available on Best Buy right now, and take a peek at my own appliance wish list below.

I love LG’s Black Stainless everything

The Miele Electric Range is the oven of my dreams

I actually have this Samsung dishwasher and I absolutely love it.