Great, thanks!

Just wondering, am I just unlucky or is there an issue with the quality of whirlpool parts?

Can anyone recommend a quality brand?

Thanks

Whirlpool is ok. It wouldn't be my top choice. I know others on here are a little down on them, but ge still makes a solid range.

Thanks a lot for your advice.

My wife and I were looking at a GE electric convection range. It's a good price at $650, but I really don't want to be replacing parts in five years. That goes for any stove. I'd rather spend more and get quality if that what it takes. Though $1800 for a Bosch is too much.

When you were looking at your range, try to have the electric components as far as possible from the heat source. When the electronics heat up it seems to kill the control board. Since I hardly ever use the oven I may would prefer to have the controls right at the front of the machine even if the oven were to vent out the front, but if I use the oven all of the time I would probably want the controls as far up and to the back of the range as possible.

Interesting comment about the control board/controls positioning. The vent is very close to the control board and I did have to replace the control board at one point.

Mice are damaging your applicances and you are bad mouthing the manufacturer.

Come on Man?!

My GE Profile vents the oven beneath the backsplash control panel, although offset to the right from the large center touchpad array. I've run self-clean several times and haven't had any failures.

Jim, I didn't blame the manufacturer for the mice. I blame them for the $400 control board I had replaced on the $1300 (at the time) five year old stove. And I blame them for 2 dishwashers and at least one control board for one of the dishwashers over a 10 year period. All whirlpool innards.

Is that being unreasonable?

I had to pay for the $600 replacement of control board. All of my appliance purchases since then have been as inexpensive as possible. I dont have a need to spend a lot of money on an appliance with a 5-7 year life span.

how much do you plan to spend on your failed appliance replacement, having experienced expensive repairs and an unacceptable life span?

I'm not sure how much I'm going to spend. I know I don't want to be replacing appliances every five years. I'd rather pay more now for peace of mind later. I definitely don't want to give my money to a company that produces a crummy product.

The issue with money is that quality isn't improved until you spend THOUSANDS more. A $499 GE range and a $1999 GE range share many functional parts. The differences between GE and GE Profile/Café are features, not build. This isn't a knock on GE...its just the fact of life today. Its true for all manufacturers of main line products (whirlpool, Elux, LG, Samsung, GE ETC).

My Kenmore range that was manufactured in 1997 had GE parts. It lasted 15 yrs with no repairs, replaced the control panel for a couple hundred bucks and that lasted another few years and went out again. We decided it was 18 yrs old and we would replace instead of putting more money into it. We bought a GE this past fall so I can't say how reliable this one will be, but I can only hope.

I think control board failure is an expected downside with all the electronics involved these days. Have you thought about a whole-house surge protector at your circuit box? I don't think you should be blaming a certain brand. I've seen the issue with every brand discussed on these boards. Things aren't made to last any longer, pretty pathetic, but true.