Every service call ends with the same question: fix it or dump it? We don’t answer it with a sales pitch. We answer it with three rules we’ve built from years of pulling appliances apart in Bay Area kitchens and laundry rooms.
Rule 1: the 50% rule
If the repair costs more than half of what a comparable new unit runs, lean toward replacing. A $250 drain pump in a four-year-old Whirlpool washer is a clear fix. A $700 compressor in a twelve-year-old side-by-side is a clear replace. The gray zone is the middle, and that’s where the other two rules earn their keep.
Rule 2: the age rule
Line the repair cost up against the appliance’s age and expected life:
- Mainstream refrigerators: 10 to 14 years
- Dishwashers: 8 to 12 years
- Front-load washers: 8 to 12 years; a Speed Queen top-load, 10 to 15
- Dryers: 12 to 18 years, and dryers are usually worth fixing because the failures are cheap (heating element, thermal fuse, belt)
- Gas ranges: 15 to 20 years
Under half the expected life, repair almost always wins. Past it, a big-ticket part rarely pencils out.
Rule 3: the second-failure rule
This is the one people don’t think about. If your machine had a major component replaced in the last year and now a different major component quits, replace the whole thing. Two large repairs inside twelve months is the appliance telling you the rest is next. Honest math beats hopeful math.
Where repair almost always wins
- Simple mechanical faults: door gasket, drain pump, igniter, thermal fuse, belt. Cheap parts, years of life left.
- Anything under five years old. A quality appliance shouldn’t fail that early, and it may still be under warranty.
- Built-in and premium units. A Sub-Zero or Wolf costs several thousand new, so repair usually wins there even past ten years. That’s our sister site adrium’s deep specialty; we handle it too, but the everyday math above is what most Bay Area kitchens are asking about.
Where replacement makes more sense
- Several parts failing in a short window
- A dead compressor on a fridge past twelve years
- Parts discontinued on an old budget brand
- A pre-2010 unit whose energy use makes a new one pay back in a few years
You don’t have to guess at any of this. We come out, find the fault on the $75 diagnostic, credit that $75 to the repair, and give you a written repair-or-replace call and price before you spend real money. Tell us what’s broken and we’ll schedule a visit.