How long appliances last, and when repair stops paying

Two numbers decide whether an appliance is worth repairing: what it costs to replace, and how much of its expected life is left. This page collects both, for every appliance the site covers. Nothing here is estimated by us — each lifespan and each price band is taken from the guide for that fault, where it is tied to a named source and, where the source publishes one, a sample size.

Lifespan and repair cost by appliance

Appliance	Expected life	Repair band	Replacement	Guides
dishwasher	8-10 years	$130-$514	$600-$1,200	5
refrigerator	8-13 years	$150-$650	$700-$3,200	3
dryer	10-13 years	$130-$405	$550-$1,400	3
garbage disposal	10 years	$319-$580	$150-$450	1
microwave	10 years	$265-$527	$130-$1,000	2
washing machine	10-11 years	$140-$427	$700-$1,100	4
home appliance	12 years	$320-$380	$550-$1,400	1
freezer	12 years	$302-$500	$700-$1,100	1
cooktop	13 years	$255-$530	$700-$2,000	1
oven	15 years	$302-$478	$700-$1,500	2
range hood	15 years	$99-$850	$300-$850	1
gas stove	16 years	$295-$455	$600-$3,000	1

The repair band is the span across this site's guides for that appliance, which is why it is wider than any one fault: a dishwasher can sit at the price of a door gasket and at the price of a control board. The expected life is the planning figure the cited sources use for the replacement decision, not a warranty and not a promise; where the sources publish no life for the machine itself, the column says so instead of guessing.

Guide by guide

Each row links to the guide it comes from, where the figure is broken down by cause and by source.

Guide	Expected life	Repair band	Replacement
home appliance: an appliance has started making a noise it never made before	12 years	$320–$380	$550–$1,400
Bosch dishwasher: standing water at the bottom of the tub	8 years	$130–$360	$600–$1,000
cooktop: the glass top of the cooktop is cracked or chipped	13 years	$255–$530	$700–$2,000
dishwasher: water on the floor in front of the dishwasher	10 years	$275–$419	$600–$1,200
dishwasher: the machine runs a full cycle and the dishes still come out dirty	10 years	$300–$480	$600–$1,000
dishwasher: the dishes come out wet at the end of the cycle	10 years	$294–$514	$600–$1,200
dishwasher: the dishwasher will not start, and the panel is either dead or lit with nothing happening	10 years	$280–$500	$600–$1,000
dryer: the clothes come out damp after a full cycle	13 years	$350–$368	$550–$1,400
dryer: the drum turns but the load comes out cold	10 years	$130–$400	$550–$1,400
dryer: the dryer vent has not been cleaned and the run is loading up with lint	13 years	$199–$405	$550–$1,400
freezer: the freezer runs constantly and nothing in it stays frozen	12 years	$302–$500	$700–$1,100
garbage disposal: the disposal hums but the grinding plate does not turn	10 years	$319–$580	$150–$450
gas stove: the gas burner clicks but will not light	16 years	$295–$455	$600–$3,000
refrigerator: the water dispenser still works but there is no ice	8 years	$297–$489	$700–$3,200
microwave: it runs but the food comes out cold	10 years	$265–$527	$130–$1,000
microwave: the microwave smells of burning or old grease	10 years	$265–$527	$130–$1,000
oven: the oven never reaches the temperature you set	15 years	$302–$478	$700–$1,500
oven: the oven cooks unevenly or at the wrong temperature	15 years	$319–$469	$700–$1,500
range hood: the range hood runs but does not clear the air	15 years	$99–$850	$300–$850
refrigerator: a puddle that keeps returning under the refrigerator	13 years	$150–$400	$900–$2,000
refrigerator: a warm fresh-food compartment while the freezer stays cold	12 years	$150–$650	$700–$3,200
washing machine: the drum fills but the agitator does not move the clothes	11 years	$307–$427	$700–$1,100
washing machine: a tub full of standing water at the end of the cycle	10 years	$140–$360	$700–$1,100
washing machine: the cycle ends with the clothes soaking wet	11 years	$296–$427	$700–$1,100
washing machine: the washing machine shakes, walks or bangs during the spin	11 years	$367–$372	$700–$1,100

How the two numbers decide it

The test the guides apply is the half-of-new-price rule: if the quote for the repair passes roughly half the price of a comparable new machine, the money is better spent on the machine. Two corrections matter more than the rule itself. The first is age — the same repair is worth doing on a five-year-old appliance and not on one already past its expected life, because the next failure is already queued. The second is what is being repaired: a lid switch or a door gasket is a part doing its job at the end of its life, while bearings, a sealed system or a control board on an old machine is the machine telling you it is finished.

What the bands do not cover

Prices are US market figures from the sources, converted to nothing and adjusted for nothing: your quote will differ by market, by brand and by how accessible the appliance is. The repair bands are also for the fault, not for your fault — the guide behind each row splits it by cause, which is the number to compare with a quote. Nothing on this site is a quote or a diagnosis, and the safety notes on each guide are the ones that matter before anything is opened.

Where the figures come from

Every row traces back to a fact record: the symptom variants people actually search for, the causes ranked with their likelihood, the cost and the time for each, the safety conditions, and the age-and-quote rule that settles the decision. Each record cites published price guides and, where they exist, repair companies that publish medians from their own completed work orders together with the number of jobs behind them. When a source publishes no duration for a job, or no part-only price, the record says so rather than filling the gap.