Buying New Appliances

[westbounder]

The wife and I are building a new house.

We went shopping over the weekend to get ideas.

We looked at a lot of different appliances.

I need to buy 2 air con units (each unit aprox. 24,000 btu) and also a large refridgerator/freezer (in about the 25,000 baht price range for the refridgerator).

Can anyone tell me the best brand air cond. units to buy and also tell me the best brand refrigerator to buy?

Thank You

[Xonax]

We have Daikin Aircon´s and now regret, that we did not pay a bit extra to get Mitsubishi instead.

[01322521959]

Well, I've had my Daikin A/con for 10 years and with 6 monthly sericing, it's as good as the day I bought it! Fridge?I have an American PHILCO fridge, bet nobody else has one, which is 17 years old and still going strong, touch wood and whistle..

[TongueThaied]

I have been agonizing over this. I have spent hours looking at different models and reviews on the Internet. I have toured all the shops. Mitsubishi Electric seems to have the best air conditioners (as confirmed by my Thai brother-in-law, who is an engineer at an aircon compressor factory). For fridge, Electrolux and Siemens get good reviews, but are quite expensive. There are few reviews out there for the Japanese brands that are sold here -- don't know why. I have seen several sites that had Samsung on the DO NOT BUY list. I have personally had problems with every Samsung product I have ever owned. They sure have nice designs but are shit on the inside. If you buy Samsung, don't say you weren't warned.

The bottom line for Thailand seems to be that prices on appliances are higher than anywhere else and warranties shorter. The same Siemens refrigerator that has a 3 year warranty in Europe gets the standard one year Thai warranty here! I have asked about reliability of the Japanese brands in many shops that offer both sales and service. I am told that they are all about the same (they even look alike and I suspect that most of the brands are produced in the same factory). I have also been told that if you have a problem, it is usually in the first three months. If you get past that, then you have a good one. I find myself tempted by Hitachi and Toshiba.

[lovetotravel]

Well, I've had my Daikin A/con for 10 years and with 6 monthly sericing, it's as good as the day I bought it! Fridge?I have an American PHILCO fridge, bet nobody else has one, which is 17 years old and still going strong, touch wood and whistle..

I've had several for a few years now also. No problems at all. I actually got them from a rep who also sold Mitsu, and these were the units he recommended.

[MEL1]

You want to spend 25,000 on a fridge/freezer? Would this be a double doored walk in module?

Who's recommending that price? You, or your wife?

Have you encountered the cost of a real oven yet, or is that not currently on the agenda?

-mel.

[meand]

"I find myself tempted by Hitachi and Toshiba."

I second this through a lot of shopping and research, haven't bought yet either. I am going to buy a very simple, small energy-efficient fridge, I just want a separate, bottom, freezer and that is my only requirement. If you think about it, any frills you buy will add to the cost, and to the complexity (ie the more expensive units probably would have more problems). Go simple. Ice makers are HUGE energy wasters, and who needs ice made for them? I mean really. Also more places for potential bacteria/fungus/nastiness to collect. Simplicity is the key. The last thing I will say is buy somewhere where it will be easy to take it back fro warranty (eg emporium). For example, where would you take back a product with a 1 year warranty bought at a house and home show at BITEC? Sounds like a nightmare to me. I also strongly agree with the poster who mentioned if you are good for the first 6 or 8 months or so, AND DONT MOVE IT, then you will probably be good to go for many years.

[meand]

Well, I've had my Daikin A/con for 10 years and with 6 monthly sericing, it's as good as the day I bought it! Fridge?I have an American PHILCO fridge, bet nobody else has one, which is 17 years old and still going strong, touch wood and whistle..

You should gander at the sticker/plate and see how many kilowatt hours that thing is costing you. Could be a new one would pay for itself quite rapidly, but if that's of no concern, I like having things that last too

Edited June 9, 2012 by meand

[01322521959]

Well, I've had my Daikin A/con for 10 years and with 6 monthly sericing, it's as good as the day I bought it! Fridge?I have an American PHILCO fridge, bet nobody else has one, which is 17 years old and still going strong, touch wood and whistle..

I've had several for a few years now also. No problems at all. I actually got them from a rep who also sold Mitsu, and these were the units he recommended.

Cor! a fellow owner. Years and years in Bangkok and never seen PHILCO. I will try to reach 20 years with mine..

[01322521959]

Well, I've had my Daikin A/con for 10 years and with 6 monthly sericing, it's as good as the day I bought it! Fridge?I have an American PHILCO fridge, bet nobody else has one, which is 17 years old and still going strong, touch wood and whistle..

You should gander at the sticker/plate and see how many kilowatt hours that thing is costing you. Could be a new one would pay for itself quite rapidly, but if that's of no concern, I like having things that last too

Really can't stand "change for changes sake" had it drumed into me by me old dad.

[bkk_mike]

If it's a built-in rather than a mini-split, I think Mitsubishi is the way to go.

For mini-splits, I've got a couple of Diakin's that have been reliable. (we have a Samsung where the remote, and the power button, have stopped working, but the aircon itself is fine, so we turn it on and off by turning off the power...)

For Samsung, I will admit to also having heard bad things about their fridges, but on the other hand, good things about their washing machines and televisions...

Personally, when buying a fridge, I go for glass shelves rather than plastic, and frost-free. After that, so long as you're buying a brand you've heard of, it's really down to the convenience of how it's set up. (i.e. I prefer freezer below the fridge, etc. and really large shelves in the fridge door)

[asiaexpat]

We found it hard to beat Tesco-Lotus for price and service when we bought our small fridge recently. 25,000 TB will buy a mid range Japanese brand. My family has Toshiba, Panasonic, Samsung and my 40 year old Singer (not working very well anymore.) All seem to do the job without repairs. The Samsung is a very large double door and cost over 50,000 at the BITEC expo several years ago.