Hello folks: I plan to buy a Sub-zero fridge and two Wolf cooktops (one induction and one gas for wok cooking). These come with a 2-year warranty. The retail shop asked if I wanted to purchase extended warranty for another year. Is this worth it? Service in my area is available for SZ. Pls let me know your thoughts. Thanks.
the Subzero products do not have a stellar reputation - a five year extended warranty would be worth it.
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If you are looking for opinions, Iād say buy a five year extended warranty on any refrigerator!!
I went through āREFRIGERATOR H-LLā about 2.5 years ago. What a complete mess!! Any who, I figure when the 5 year extended warranty is up, Iāll have to purchase a new fridge ā Iāve already started a āsinking fundā for the next one.
As a side note, please CAREFULLY read the purchase agreement. In some cases, you only have 48 hours to return a defective refrigerator to the store, after that you have to go through the manufacturers warranty process ā which can really be a pain.
I purchased an LG fridge from Home Depot. The first ābrand newā fridge they delivered couldnāt keep a cold temperature. Luckily, I had a fridge thermometer and took pictures of the issue. I went back to the store 24 hours after it was delivered, so I was still within the 48 hour window. The second one is still working, but I know 5 years and 1 day after it was delivered ā it will crap out.
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Thank you. I also had an LG fridge. It was a real piece of junk.
No
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My last KitchenAid fridge didnāt even last 3 yrs. I hen got a Bosch because it was the only thing immediately available during the pandemic- and I got an extended warranty. Have used it 2x - once to replace the icemaker. Iām sure I will replace the fridge when itās 5 yrs old. And I will get another extended warranty. All new refrigerators imo are junk.
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If I were putting together a high end kitchen, I would look at Traulsen, too.
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In my area, Yale Appliance is known for compiling service call statistics for the brands they sell. While I have not purchased from them to date, I have found their educational content to be useful. Offering a link here in case you are a deep dive person like me: Best Luxury Appliance Brands for 2026. They have other guides and videos on their site if you are looking to dig in further.
FWIW, my independent appliance repair guy told me that refrigerator ice makers are the most failure prone item he services. Thatās another data point if the fridge you are planning on includes an icemaker.
Wishing you success with your purchases!
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90% of the time a person is better off self-insuring.
If you simply put 50 dollars in an interest bearing account every month from the moment you buy the appliance, you will most likely be covered for any repairs down the line.
And chances are better than not that you will never have to repair your appliance, and if thatās the case youāve just come out ahead, with interest to boot.
Win win. Win!
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Agreed. Product insurance is a bet by the consumer that theyāre smarter than the insurer. Occasionally you can insure something your business or livelihood canāt do without, like a salamander, but youāre still betting against people that are really good at maths. The only advantage with insurance and business is that it can get you faster service for business continuity, and may be a tax advantage, but youāll likely still lose that bet on average.
Just remember that, just like Vegas, insurers are in the business of not paying out claims. Even if you win, you may have to fight for your winnings.
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I say no to most extended warrantiesā¦but thereā s a few exceptions. If itās an expensive to replace item, an expensive speciality or luxury item, or the known repairs cost are crazyā¦.or all threeā¦YES, Iād get the extended warranty. Usually this applies to expensive automobiles which I donāt own but the logic is sound.
The gas range should be reliable but not sure about the induction range or Sub-Zero. If itās a full feature frig with ice maker, lots of tech and custom cabinet inserts, or similar, Iād get the extended warranty or replacement insurance, especially hearing about how some high end frigs are junk. But everyone has a different pain threshold. If you can afford or donāt care about replacement cost, down time, might not be an issue.
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Welp, it hasnāt even been a year and tonight the icemaker is dead again. At around $200 just for a service call, my extended warranty will now have more than paid for itself. (3rd call tomorrow morning). The first out of warranty call was for a freezer sensor problem. The second for the icemaker replacement. The third will be for the icemaker again. Of all the issues Iāve had with fridges, Iāve never had problems with ice makers until now.
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Weāre just starting in on a kitchen remodel. I did about 3 full months of research on brands, reliability, various models and features, etc. etc. For dishwashers, Miele has (generally) the best reliability of almost any manufacturer. They are also the priciest by a large margin. Other excellent choices are KitchenAid and Bosch. Bosch is a little pricier and has some extra features; smart capabilities (yuck) and a proprietary drying system. We elected for a mid-range KitchenAid.
For a cooktop, my partner loves her gas and would not entertain swapping to induction for even a moment. Since she owns the house, gas it is. Thankfully, gas valves are, mostly, gas valves. So long as you stick to options with nothing fancier than an electric igniter, just find the arrangement of burners/grates/features you like.
Fridges were the biggest challenge, and absolutely the one that people have the most complaints about. Without question, the best, most reliable options you can get are super-basic top-freezer models. We ended up w/ a 20.1 cu in GE that is apparently one of the few models still assembled in the USA. All the fancy āthrough the doorā icemakers and smart screens and french door closing mechanisms were all cited as common points of failure. We did get the internal icemaker (because I am a huge ice user) but those style icemakers have a better maintenance record than the through-the-door models. We also got an extended warranty on the fridge, simply because (as is usual) our start date got pushed back, so our appliances will be sitting, boxed up, in our garage for about 60 days. The extra $150 or whatever was worth the peace of mind.
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I specifically bought a fridge model that does not have a water dispenser as I also heard that it fails sooner than the compressor. All Sub-zeroās come with an internal ice maker and therefore I couldnāt get away from it. I am hoping that everything goes well.
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It depends on which part of the fridge that breaks that you care about. One of the way manufacturer determines warranty period is how long before they expect the specific parts to start wearing out. Disposable parts mean shorter warranty.
You can see from the way Subzero structures its warranty that the core parts of the fridge- compressor, condensor, evaporator, drier- they have 12 years parts warranty on it. That really mean these parts is going to last for them to take on the financial burden of servicing or replacing the parts.
On the other hand, everything else is covered for two years, and I believe they used to be five years about 10 years ago. Which tells me they are getting more failures from those parts failing that they shortened the warranty to avoid the financial burden of dealing with that.
I have a teenage Subzero at home. Even though of course, its a sample of 1, but my observations of its reliability largely matches how they structure the warranty- ice maker. some tube under the fridge leaked. So I disconnected it and didnāt bother. The light sometimes turn on, sometimes donāt. I just ignore that. The glue that hold the basket in the freezer in place failed, so that means the basket shifts. And when it does, it has the annoyance of falling to the ground, or preventing the freezer from closing fully. Thatās the biggest annoyance. I have been putting off dealing with it because I donāt know what glue works well in āsubzeroā temperature. But I think that if I have more motivations, I would be able to get that fixed in less amount of time it takes me to type this post.
But the core refrigeration? Rock solid.
So the question for you is, what problems are you willing to deal with and not? Do you want someone to come deal with it for you, or do you deal with it yourself?
This gentleman explains the concept of product warranty and product failures a lot better than I do, even though heās talking about a different kind of product.
When we moved into our house 4 years ago, we needed to get a lot of new appliances, including the stovetop. And I researched a lot about stovetop, why they fail. We considered Wolf as well for the stovetop, but didnāt. Not because Wolf stuff was bad. Not at all. Most stovetop fails because the circuit board fails. Circuit board that controls the LED display, etc. donāt like heat. And stovetop, ovens are hot. I really didnāt need a clock or an alarm or fancy electronic gadgets on my appliances. In fact, I wanted none. Wolf models had LED clocks. So I went out and bought the consumer model from a brand that did a ton of commercial stoves, that had zero electronics, that looked quite decent compared to Wolfs. So I bought a Bluestar.
Three years later. I did a thorough cleaning of the stove top firing elements. I donāt mean wiping it down and etc. I disassembled the entire stove top to clean each part on its own. And after I have done it once, I come to recognize that stoves just donāt fail. They donāt really have parts to fail within our lifetimes. Its just metal tubes, and metal chunks put together to light a controlled fire, basically a giant bunson burner. So long the owners clean them up from time to time, there is nothing much to fail. those metals will be around long after I am dead.
And thatās the exact same reason why my previous stove, an ancient, by modern definition, post-war era vintage Wedgewood. It was working very well when we had to say goodbye to the stove. I didnāt want to but the size didnāt fit the new house. We sold it to an appliance repairer in Berkeley who serviced these vintage stoves. It was small amount of money and we would have given away for free if someone was willing to take it, because we wanted the stove to live on. He bought it to use as a relatively speaking, lightweight miniature temporary stove for his clients while he works on the clientās stoves. Same reason why those vintage stoves are still working today. If cleaned and maintained properly, there isnāt much to fail.
FULL TWO YEAR WARRANTY*
For two years from the date of original installation, this Sub-Zero product warranty covers all parts and labor to repair or replace, under normal residential use, any part of the product that proves to be defective in materials or workmanship. All service provided by Sub-Zero under the above warranty must be performed by Sub-Zero Factory Certified Service, unless otherwise specified by Sub-Zero, Inc. Service will be provided during normal business hours.
FULL FIVE YEAR SEALED SYSTEM WARRANTY
For five years from the date of original installation, this Sub-Zero product warranty covers all parts and labor to repair or replace, under normal residential use, these parts that prove to be defective in materials or workmanship: compressor, condenser, evapora-tor, drier and all connecting tubing. All service provided by Sub-Zero under the above warranty must be performed by Sub-Zero Factory Certified Service, unless otherwise specified by Sub-Zero, Inc. Service will be provided during normal business hours.
LIMITED TWELVE YEAR SEALED SYSTEM WARRANTY
For twelve years from the date of original installation, Sub-Zero will repair or replace the following parts that prove to be defective in materials or workmanship: compressor, condenser, evaporator, drier and all connecting tubing. If the owner uses Sub-Zero Factory Certified Service, the service provider will repair or replace these parts with the owner paying for all other costs, including labor. If the owner uses non-certified service, the owner must contact Sub-Zero, Inc. (using the information below) to receive repaired or replacement parts. Sub-Zero will not reimburse the owner for parts purchased from non-certified service or other sources
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As to refrigerators, we have two 15 YO+ GE, one in the kitchen and its older sibling in the garage. The indoors one is French doors above and pull out freezer below. It has an interior ice maker which has been reliable and an interior water dispenser, which we never use. It seems the big attraction of having a water dispenser is cold water. I have never seen one give more than a pint before the water begins to warm. A filter pitcher in the fridge is a better option IMO. The outdoors fridge does not have ice or water connected. In this mode, it, too, has been reliable. It is actually much older than the indoors one. The outdoors one is side by side, not nearly as convenient as the French door IMO.
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My next fridge will have an interior ice maker. I agree about the water dispenser; the water from my tap in the winter is colder. I donāt use it.
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Iāve never really understood the appeal of an in-fridge water dispenser.
Unless you absolutely must have chilled water on demand, most stand-alone or under-sink water filtration systems are infinitely better.
And, honestly, if you really care about the quality of your water (either for imbibing or not), youād just install a whole house water filtration system.
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Itās one more thing to break. I guess, since the fridge has a water filter, itās a way of getting filtered water for your water bottle, but Iām too old for it to make a difference now.
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