How to find reliable appliances?

Recently our almost brand new, high tech LG refrigerator began misbehaving, quitting making ice cubes and warming up too much in its freezer compartment. We called the company that services that particular brand and model, and the next day a technician showed up; after looking at the problem, he said that we needed to change the electronic board, which would cost us a small fortune, plus would take a week before LG could get them the replacement part.

He also said that this Korean brand was one of the worst in refrigeration and that as a rule of thumb, one should never buy a refrigerator with a “G” in its name like GE or LG, Maytag being the exception and Whirlpool the best buy in the category. He also said that LG dishwashers – like the one we own – are equally as bad and that we should go with Bosh with all dish and laundry washers.

This is not quite in keeping with what we'd read on Consumer Reports. Of course, this magazine polls his readers who probably can't remember the brands of their appliances. That same technician said that next time we're in the market for some new appliances (which may come sooner than what we'd like to think) we ought to call his company to get the full run down on what's decent and what's awful. Makes good sense to me!