Smeg, Bosch, F&P or Euromaid which brand is better?

Forums › Off topic › Smeg, Bosch, F&P or Euromaid which brand is better?

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Reply # 458218 13-Apr-2011 13:13

According to Consumer Bosch, Miele, and Asko are very reliable. Whirlpool, Westinghouse, LG, and Simpson are average. F&P Dish drawers are unreliable.

My Dad has some and they work fine now but he had trouble with them initially.

Join consumer for a month, the online membership, you'll get lots of reviews and recommendations. Totally worth it for what they charge, which isn't very much.

http://www.consumer.org.nz

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kiwi_64

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Reply # 458238 13-Apr-2011 13:44

Just finishing rennovating a kitchen with all Bosch ... have used it before and it's good stuff.
I'm told that Smeg parts quickly become hard to obtain.
Have had reliability issues with F&P (but good to try and support local manufacturers)

As has been stated previously, Miele is niiiiice if your budget is up to it.

timmmay

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Reply # 458239 13-Apr-2011 13:46

Have had reliability issues with F&P (but good to try and support local manufacturers)

I don't think F&P manufacture locally anymore do they?

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Reply # 458247 13-Apr-2011 13:58

timmmay:
Have had reliability issues with F&P (but good to try and support local manufacturers)

I don't think F&P manufacture locally anymore do they?

F&P website says:
The company has manufacturing sites located in Auckland, New Zealand; Borso del Grappa (TV), Italy; Rayong, Thailand and Reynosa, Mexico.

martyyn

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Reply # 458318 13-Apr-2011 16:54

We spent over $5k on top of the range fridge, dishdrawers and washing machine from F&P when we came back from the UK six years ago and we may as well have thrown the money away.

We spent the cost of the washing machine again in repairs over three years until the repairer said enough was enough and refused to spend any more time on it. We complained to F&P and to their credit they offered us a replacement but they wanted another $300 and then would only give us the most budget model in their line up.

All the plastic drawers, shelfs and vege 'buckets' in the fridge are smashed, broken or cracked as were the shelves and plastics in the dishdrawers before it exploded.

Yes you read that right. A year after the washing machine was replaced the dishdrawers blew up with blue sparks, flames and smoke one night and that was the final straw. We'd already replaced a couple of the sensors and one 'computer' module.

As if by magic that weekend Harvey Norman had an interest free period for four years so we removed the lot, sold what we could and replaced them all with Bosch which is what we had in the UK.

Whilst the dishdrawers sounded like a jumbo taking off you can stand next to the dishwasher now and have a perfectly nice conversation. The added bonus is we can get our dinner plates and oven trays in it with no problem. We couldnt in the dishdrawers.

Our repairer (who we got to know vrey well over the years!) said 90% of his time was spent repairing F&P products and thanks them for producing such rubbish which keeps him in a job.

timmmay

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Reply # 458361 13-Apr-2011 18:46

martyyn, you could've gotten a refund under the consumer guarantees act, and it'd be especially if you documented all the problems.

My Dads dish drawers are so quiet you can't hear them running.

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richms

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Reply # 458389 13-Apr-2011 19:21

Dishdraws have been thru many itterations, but they only suit people that have small plates. I like to put everything on one plate rather than have a salad bowl so I can carry it to my room or workspace easier. The dishdraw cannot deal with 14" plates, and even a 12" can be a stretch.

Richard rich.ms

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Reply # 458395 13-Apr-2011 19:26

pageweon: theres a brand called smeg????? thats horrific

Isn't that a house brand from one of the retailers? I have a smeg microwave, and have found it to be good and reliable. Bosch and Meile are supposed to be the most reliable brands, but they also are higher priced. But I guess you get what you pay for. I have had two Asko dishwashers, and they each lasted about 8-10 years, which is OK, but they were very expensive to repair and get the parts for.

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Reply # 458399 13-Apr-2011 19:34

The reliability of FP has dropped since they moved most of their manufacturing overseas. Endless issues with our first dual drawer dishwasher, got rid of that after spending approx $300 on it each year. Decided upon a top end Elba model, already been repaired once under warranty and same fault has happened again.

I said to the last repair guy, that i'd never buy FP again. He agreed..

Handle9

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Reply # 458409 13-Apr-2011 19:53

Smeg is an Italian brand who manufacture fairly high end appliances. Their ovens in particular are pretty nice (to look at and functionaly anyway).

To be honest they all have their faults IMO.

F&P manufacture locally and overseas. To be honest I don't think that where it is manufactured has any bearing on the quality. Bosch is just as likely to be manufactured in Asia as Germany. It's about quality control and maturity of the design.

The key if you are buying F&P don't ever buy a first generation. Their design philosophy is to be quick to market and iterate quickly (or was when I worked there). It's a valid philosophy but don't expect to have faultless generation 1 products.

Disclaimer: I work for a company associated with Bosch Home Appliances but don't have anything to do with them or know anything about them technically.

Dunnersfella

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Reply # 458440 13-Apr-2011 21:17

F&P still manufacture fridge/freezers in Auckland, the rest of their products are made overseas now. I had a chance to talk to one of their designers a while ago, he said his team were still paying the price of cost cutting a few years back - leaving them with nowhere to go design wise.
Pity - could be great stuff. Hopefully something good comes from their Haier relationship, but looking at their gear in-store, I'm not so sure...

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Reply # 458468 13-Apr-2011 22:11

We have 8 F&P appliances here, including dishdrawer, only ever had problems with the deep freeze when it was first bought -- died within the first week, required a small fix. They'll all be pre-China though.

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Reply # 458736 14-Apr-2011 13:57

Went in and had a closer look today. Definitely like the Bosch range for cooking and dishwasher. We are looking at an F&P fridge.

Thanks for the comments it has helped heaps.

timmmay

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Reply # 458739 14-Apr-2011 13:59

My F&P fridge works perfectly. It has a clear lightweight plastic tray over the fruit and vege bins which I think might be slightly cracked on the supports, and I can't work out how to get it back in, so it's been on top of the fridge for a few months.

Buy the biggest fridge you can fit in the space you have available.

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Dunnersfella

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Reply # 458995 14-Apr-2011 23:48

For fridge / freezers, my personal favourite (and we've been looking recently) is the Mitsubishi range. Certain F&P's fridge freezers are made in Auckland still, but I don't like the look of the humidity baskets... have a look for yourself though.

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