Avoid This Kitchen Appliance Brand As It's Known To Break Down

What appliances you buy might just be the most critical decision you make when putting your kitchen together. When you are perusing the variety of options to make your kitchen cabinets stand out, your choice doesn't necessarily impact the basic functioning of your cooking space. On the other hand, your stove, fridge, and dishwasher are daily workhorses in your kitchen that can really complicate your life if they let you down. Knowing how long shrimp lasts in the fridge doesn't matter if the compressor dies a month after the warranty runs out, and the eternal debate on how to load a dishwasher correctly doesn't matter if said dishwasher floods your kitchen and ruins your floors. All major appliance brands can produce a lemon from time to time, but some enjoy a better reputation than others for making goods you can count on for the long haul.

According to expert Jesse Andews, owner of New England Home Pros, who sat down for an exclusive chat with Foodie's sister site Tasting Table, Haier is the appliance brand that you should always take a pass on. "One brand that consistently underperforms is Haier. Their refrigerators and dishwashers are poorly constructed and break down frequently within a few years," he divulges, sharing a story about a remodeling client whose brand-new Haier fridge and dishwasher both needed major work in less than a year. You need not just take Andews' word on it, either, as the internet is lousy with complaints about Haier's reliability.

On Trustpilot, Haier enjoys the dubious distinction of a 1.2 / 5 star rating after 2,000 reviews, with dozens of eerily similar complaints stating that appliances not only broke down, but that trying to get warranty repairs was an exercise in futility, with the company refusing to send out technicians as promised. A Reddit thread entitled "Are Haier as bad as the TrustPilot reviews?" showed spurned customers doubling down on the vitriol. "Any day beyond the warranty expiration date of a Haier appliance is a bonus day," one commenter snarked. Over on Consumer Affairs, one-star reviews made up 92% of over 1,500 registered for the company. "BUYER BEWARE," one representative review screamed. "Priced affordably but only two years and it's not working well. What a waste of money and energy to have to buy a new unit so soon."

A user on AVForums crowdsourced opinions on whether they should buy a Haier machine, and one response seemed to sum up several vehement "no" replies; "Haier is [...] made to a price point and advertised as quality and solidly built machines – which they are most definitely not." Lastly, on Quora, a user warned, "They have the worst service team amongst consumer durable brands." Over and over, internet denizens complained of shoddy quality in their Haier appliances, and cautioned prospective customers that, when the appliances did break, the company would be near-useless in fulfilling the warranty.

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