Wow, sorry you are going through all that. A friend has had Cafe appliances for 4 years and has had several service call for the fridge and a major one for the wall oven.

I have Miele DW, 24" Miele CSO XXL , Miele coffee machine, 24" Sharp MW drawer, 42" Sub-zero FD fridge and 36" Wolf Induction range. Not a single issue with delivery and installation and they are all running with no issues for the last 3 years. The shop that sold them to me, also did the installations and have their own service trained techs for any future issues.

You do know that GE is not the GE of old, and was purchased by the Chinese company, Haier, in 2016?

Also…it’s never a good idea to purchase all appliances from one brand. No one manufacturer makes great products across the appliance spectrum. The bottom model of a Bosch or Miele dishwasher performs way better, is more reliable than the top GE model.

Buy better quality than a mid level brand if you want better quality.

@darbuka - I did not know that GE got sold to Haier. If I would've known, I would not have bought them. Regardless, our shop is really good - I'm looking to buy a Bosch dishwasher instead.

How unfortunate - kind of you to post this public service announcement. I just bought a fridge and spent a year shopping and analyzing. So many appliances are junk these days.

Its definitely frustrating to buy new appliances and have these types of issues. As noted - buynig an entire suite from one manufacturer is generally not recommended. Unfortunately GE Cafe tends to encourae that with their signature hardware. My daughter bought a GE Cafe dual fuel doble oven and OTR microwave almost 3 years ago. So far so good and she is happy with them but she was not in the market for a high end appliance. The Double Oven is what steered her to GE Cafe as she has a very small kitchen and wanted to ditch her toaster oven. She bought a Bosch DW and Bosch dual compressor fridge.She has been happy with those as well.

My BFF bought all cafe and has not been happy with the DW mainly due to its ability to clean and the very long cycle time. She finally did try some different detergents (after alot of encouragement - she was concerned about using a POD with powder in her septic) and that has helped tremendously. Her range similar to yours arrived with the warming drawer not aligining correctly. She was never able to get that resolved as the GE ”certified” appliance repair folks were pretty worthless (I was there when they came).

I recently bought a GE Profile Induction cooktop for a second home (built in 1962). So far so good but its only been installed for a few weeks so fingers crossed. This house also still has a 1962 GE Stainless Double Oven that still works and will not be replaced until it dies and can’t get parts. It also has a 16 year old GE profile fridge with Ice/water in the door that has had no issues. I recently replaced the 24 year old GE DW with a Miele when Miele had their $400 rebate going last year.The DW worked but was horrible to load and was anything but quiet.

I have had Miele/Wolf/Subzero in my primary house for 10 years and agree they are higher quality but also a high price tag. My 15 1/2 year old Samsung Washer/Dryer front loads are still going and had only minimal repair. A new detergent cup and siphon cap ($15) and a new heating element in the dryer $160. I’m prepared to pull the trigger at any minute on a new pair (likely LG) when one dies.

Appliances these days do seem to be a ”crap shoot”. You seem to either get something that is trouble free or a trouble laden. It is definitely frustrating when it is the later.

You just never know with appliances. I have a Whirlpool fridge bought as a garage fridge 15 years ago. Cheapest, most basic model they had. Only had one service call when we first bought it (bad thermostat) and has been running well in hot/humid garages. It even did a cross country trip when we moved a few years ago.

Looks like a blend of failures in ALL phases of manufacture, shipping, and repair services! Geeeeze!

I also have had recent disappointments in damaged materials in my renovation so this is a broad problem in manufacturing and handling. Special order doors advertised as solid wood had LOTS of paperboard components (I especially don't want this junk in my bathroom!) AND were damaged in shipping, two LOWES shower pans were terribly built and a Kohler cast iron pan from a private dealer was damaged, drywall panels commonly have voids in them, plywood for roof decking had LOTS of poorly glued layers even after I culled a bunch of obviously poor sheets at the lumberyard, TWO separate rolls of carpet had partly cut backing, and a new LED light fixture is already loosing its cover.

@chispa - yeah, that fridge is probably 20 years old. Appliances of that vintage were much better than what you buy today. I just replaced a 20 year old Kitchenaid and aside from the in-the-door icemaker, it still worked.

The only ”premium” that you buy with GE is a pretty design. They are not even close to being a high end choice. But of course, you bought a whole suite for the cost of the SZ pro style fridge.

3katz4me, I replaced the defrost components on my mother's 29yo KA topfreezer in 9/2024, the first operating failure of it. The three parts totaled a whopping $91.

@dadoes - pretty sad that they don't make 'em like that any more

" Buy better quality than a mid level brand if you want better quality "

Even a mid-level brand should offer better quality than what she describes.....People who don't expect a mid-level dishwasher to be sealed properly and not to leak are part of the reason that mid-level dishwashers leak.

"The range was damaged on arrival. The replacement? Even worse. It was so banged up in transit that the front panels and doors were visibly crooked. A technician confirmed it was unrepairable due to bent hinges. As for the refrigerator, it also arrived damaged."

You cannot blame the manufacturer for damage in transit.

3katz4me: "that fridge is probably 20 years old. Appliances of that vintage were much better than what you buy today"

People always claim this. That's because they look at the 20-year-old appliance in their home and say, "Look, it's still running!" while forgetting about all the appliances that were purchased at the same time or earlier and have since been hauled to the dump. Or think that the one still-operational appliance is representative of all the appliances of its vintage.

Remember the lousy Chevy Citation? I suspect there are a few of those still on the road whose drivers would claim, "Built like a tank. Haven't had a lick of trouble."

One of my sisters moved in with mom a week ago, to get out of the DFW area and look after mom since dad died in 2022. Some moderate remodeling was done on the house in preparation, and the kitchen appliances replaced in Nov 2024 with WP. The existing units were all working perfectly ... 2005 WP double wall oven* and coil cooktop (which replaced 1972 Roper units), 2002 GE dishwasher (which replaced a 1975 KitchenAid), 1975 Kenmore exhaust hood (changed to an OTR/vented microwave). Sister wanted them changed to better match the updated kitchen aesthetics. The 1995 KA fridge was moved to spare duty, taking the place of a 1998 RCA/GE. It'll be interesting to see how reliability of the new compares to the previous.

*The 2005 wall oven was a 1995 model that had been produced for 10+ years. It had a control board failure in Mar 2011. I sent the board to an independent service that repairs appliance boards. I don't recall now if a replacement board was NLA or repair was less cost than a new board.

Zero excuse for this sloppy manufacturing.

I hope you get some reasonable resolution. It’s hard enough for me, anyway, to come to terms with spending the money, but then to be so disappointed, call, schedule, and wait for “repairs” to brand new appliances - it’s more than anyone should have to deal with. Thanks for taking the time to post, and possible saving others from the same fate.

@wdccruise - it seems there are quite a few reports of 20+ year old appliances still going strong and many reports of newer, modern-day appliances with problems. My opinion is not based only on my experience with 20+ year old appliances. From what I have observed it seems to be widely held by many based on their experience as well.

My only experience with Cafe, is the counter depth refrigerator. Mine has been running great for 10 years. I buy appliances from a local chain who service what they sell.

3katz4me: "@wdccruise - it seems there are quite a few reports of 20+ year old appliances still going strong and many reports of newer, modern-day appliances with problems."

These "reports" are anecdotal and tell you nothing about 20-year-old appliances; the broken ones aren't reported on so there's no data on the reliability across all 20-year-old appliances. Further, you have no idea how long today's appliances will last to compare with the old ones.

“You do know that GE is not the GE of old, and was purchased by the Chinese company, Haier, in 2016?”

It really is the same GE or maybe better. Haier purchased the GE appliance division but they didn’t change the people. I have several friends who work at GE Appliance Park in Louisville and they will all tell you it is the same company, being ran by the same people with more focus on quality.

GE appliances stopped being a profit center a long time ago. They practically invented planned obsolescence because the appliance division largely existed to make their financial division (Synchrony bank) profit on deferred interest financing. GE Financial (Synchrony bank) was the first big deferred interest financing company. They offer no interest if paid off in X months, only if you don’t pay it off in X months the interest accrues from the beginning.

When they spun off Synchrony in 2015 they had no interest in keeping the appliance division. Haier purchased it and is purpotedly trying to restore quality.

Chinese companies are not bad. In 2022 China had 552,000 ISO 9001 factories, the U.S. had under 30,000. China makes great stuff, it just rarely comes here. No one in the U.S. is interested in quality Chinese products, they want the cheap crap. Which is cool, but we shouldn’t pretend the reason GE quality is going down is because Haier bought them, it went down because GE spent 20 years sacrificing long-term quality to short-term profit. Haier may end up being no better, but they are not the cause of the problem.

I joined this forum about 20 years ago. Back then ”they” were saying appliances weren’t made like they were made 20 years prior. Not sure what they were saying 20 years before that. But it seems the so-called good appliances must be over 40 years old now.

Well, first our brand new oven came without the heating element attached. It took GE 2 months to fix it. And now my brand new dishwasher is leaking a LOT of water, damaging the floor and the basement ceiling. Customer service is awful. Never again. No GE products. Not ever.

eileensiple: "my brand new dishwasher is leaking a LOT of water, damaging the floor and the basement ceiling....No GE products. Not ever."

According to CR's surveys, Bosch/Thermador and Miele manufacture the most reliable dishwashers. But Frigidaire has the most reliable induction ranges while GE Profile has the most reliable gas ranges. It's been repeated here numerous times: don't buy all appliances from one brand, buy the best appliance from each brand.