Kitchen Aid Crap

[michaelman2]

If you are contemplating a purchase of a KitchenAid appliance, contact me.

I have have had the worst experience with KitchenAid that I have ever had with a large company. For a cooperation that for years had a fine reputation in engineering and customer support, they have fallen to the bottom rung.

Purchased an insanely expensive In-Sink Dishwasher from them and now the item has been discontinued from production and I am stuck with a crap machine that takes up my whole sink and does not operate. With what I paid for this thing it should have lasted. Very poor quality and even worse "support". If I hear the phrase " we apologize for the inconvenience", ever again, I will ...well never mind.

Vent over..sorry.

 

[petek]

How old is it now,, a Briva  I'm guessing.  

 

The KA tall tub in this house only lasted 7 years but in that time it required a new circuit board and heating element, costly repairs that I managed to get covered, then the rinse-aid dispenser went kaput or was leaking in the door, didn't bother fixing that, then it just up and quit earlier this year...  

 

And I bought another KA.. but from the looks of this one it's really just a WP with KA name on the front..time will tell. So far it's working quite well

 

[tecnopolis]

...Is this similar to what you have?

 

[arbilab]

I don't think Kitchen Aids are little Hobarts any more.

 

[washmeup]

Kitchen Aid

I am a high end designer in Scottsdale, Arizona and we NEVER recommend Kitchen Aid products when we do appliance specifications for homes. The quality is terrible. We only recommend Miele and clients love their dishwashers.

 

[tomturbomatic]

As I remember, that dishwasher could be converted to a sink relatively easily, not that I am excusing KA's lack of quality or product support. So if you take out all of the racks and wash squirter stuff, you will be left with a sink bowl with a cover where you can hide dirty dishes. Sorry this happened to you. I looks like a very conservative company broke bad and went crazy with gimmicks only to fall victim to the financial reversals that hit most of the nation, although maybe not the Uptons, the Whirlpool heirs. I do not know who made the guts for your machine, but if someone here knows, maybe you could go to the foreign manufacturer directly for parts.

 

[tecnopolis]

Fisher-Paykel?

 

[combo52]

DW Parts of the KA In A Sink DW

It has nothing to do with F&P.

 

[mfduffy]

It's funny how unique each person's experience is with different brands. I've had nothing but great experience with KtichenAid and will continue to highly recommend them to friends and relatives.

 

[stevet]

The Old Grey Mare, She ain't what she used to be!

Sometimes we forget that Whilrpool has already had 25 years to screw up what was once the premier name in home appliances, albeit a small line of appliances at that.

To this day, the mention of the Hobart name conjures up the name "Kitchenaid" in many consumers' minds.

I always remind them that while the Kitchenaids of today are nothing more than rebadged Whirlpool machines I do remind them that they will never see the lifespans of the new machines equal or even come close to what Hobart used to market.

I freely admit that our current daily driver is a tall tub Kitchenaid. The only thing it beats our old Hobart Kitchenaid is in the near silence of the machine when running.And occasionally, it does a better job on burned on food stuff when used on the high heat, heavy duty cycles. But then it washes for well over an hour and sometimes nearly or more than 2 hours. By then our KDS18 or 21 would have finished 2 dirty loads of dishes and they hold more as well!

 

[michaelman2]

petek- correct it is a Briva and I really liked it, when it worked and before the cord that opens the lid broke. They now claim that they "no longer support" Briva. This thing was insanely expensive and really I have maybe used it less than 50 times since I purchased it in 2006. Even the damn hot water heater that I purchased to go along with it, now is no longer working....

teconopolis- Correct, that is the exact machine, Briva-KitchenAid

arbilab- No kidding.

<span style="text-decoration: underline;">washmeup-</span> Believe me, I fully understand why you would not recommend any product that KitchenAid manufactures. I have a Miele regular DW and it is fine. My problem is that I seldom use the machines and the Briva was perfect for me. (or so I thought).  I had looked at the dish drawers but thought that the Briva would be a better option..so much for my "thinking".

Tomturbomatic- You are correct, the unit can become a sink, a VERY deep sink. I most likely will have to remove this shitty thing and have a custom sink installed. My counters are stainless as is the back splash. Basically one entire unit that is custom. The installation for this damn thing was very expensive as we had to cut the sink opening to accommodate this unit, now I doubt a regular sink will be found to fill the space fully. I think you are correct about the conservative company falling prey to shoddy engineering and execution.

<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Combo 52-</span> Correct, F&P not involved at all.

mfduffy - Great, and when you do "highly recommend to friends and relatives" the KA products.....then when someone experiences what I have, you may have fewer friends,  with such an endorsement.

Believe me, I am not the only person that has experienced a "great experience" with KA. Take a look at their Facebook page. It takes but one time to become a believer...believe me. I am not a disgruntled former customer, I am livid.

stevet- Well said.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Now I will admit to not knowing your machine, but if it is a cable, couldn't you find a substitute? The reason I ponder the possibility is that a friend of ours had an immediate post WWII GE electric sink that the service man kept running into the late 60s or early 70s with odd things. He used a rubberband and dental floss where there used to be springs that were NLA. I will allow that you will not find that ingenuity among most factory service people, but maybe if you could arrange a visit from a club member, you might come up with a substitute. Hardware stores and auto parts stores are full of neat things with multiple uses.

 

[DADoES]

 
Someone else on this board had the same problem (broken lid cable) and came up with a self-engineered fix.  Sorry, I don't recall who was it.  Try doing a search accordingly for Briva, lid cable, etc.

 

[logixx]

Maybe "dishwashercrazy". He has two Brivas, I think.

 

[michaelman2]

Tomturbomatic- Yes, that was my argument...this cord is apparently used on front loading dishwashers too.  I suggested that they send me one of those and let me see if I could "rig" or have someone "rig" the cord to work with my machine.  " I am sorry, there is nothing we can do for you" was the reply....simply stupid. 

 

DADoEs-thankfully I had remembered that post as well.  I wish I were handy and could do this myself.  These units are of course a permanent installation due to the fact they are the entire sink unit.  One reason it is so difficult to repair is that the space it takes up under the sink is huge...it takes a small guy to maneuver up under that thing and get to the troubled areas....ugh...thanks for the heads up however!

 

They have now blocked me from posting on their Facebook page.  I was not being crazy or nasty but would comment on the other customer's complaints (and there are many).  I still cannot believe KitchenAid will allow things to escalate as they have done in this case.  Just stupid.

 

 

[volvoguy87]

I remember!

It was Dishwashercrazy who had the Briva lid cable issues. He did make a fix and it's well documented. I'll try to find a link.

Dave

 

[volvoguy87]

Found it!

Here's the link to Mike's post on how to repair broken Briva door links.
Dave

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?31878

 

[hunter]

This is awful!

God this is terrible, I'm so sorry you're dealing with it.

(I have a kitchenaid range, and while it is okay and does what I want,I don't pretend it is the kitchenaid of old days)

 

[pulltostart]

A co-worker of mine purchased a Kitchenaid built-in microwave during her kitchen renovation and had an absolutely horrible experience with KA. I couldn't count the times I would overhear her talking with Customer Service about problems. I can't imagine what it would take to get her to agree to a Kitchenaid anything after that experience.

lawrence

 

[michaelman2]

Volvoguy87..thank you for the link. I had taken a look at this, I am just not that technically inclined..I will try and see if one of the many service techs that have been out will consider this repair....thank you again!

Hunter, thanks for the kind words....I guess it would not be so bad if the thing were not the entire sink and an odd size. I will have to have a custom sink fabricated to fit the footprint left by this silly machine.

pulltostart- I feel your freind's pain. I would not purchase anything that the KitchenAid badge on it...

Someone sent me a note on another forum and advised that KitchenAid had marketed this Briva In-Sink Dishwasher right up until they discontinuted it. They never planned to support the damn thing. They wanted someone else stuck with the crap...not them.

 

[iheartmaytag]

This is a tactic that is happening across the Whirl-crap line.
Last Christmas I had a wire, yes it was a wire burn through on my Maytag range. I was told by the Maytag dealer that Whirl-crap no longer supported this modes because it was over 10 years old.

It was a wire. No, they say a Wire harness. The repair man made me a replacement, but advised that if anything else went wrong with the range I would have to replace it as they could not longer get parts.

If I have to replace it, anyone want to bet me money it won't be with a Whirlpool family appliance.

I saw a GE I like very well, it had possibilities. That is if I do end up having to deplete my checking account, max my credit card and selling my child. Hopefully I won't have to do so for awhile.

 

[stevet]

If at first you don't succeed, send it over there!

Still looking for spare parts? Maybe you can contact KA in the UK.. That's where they shipped the Brivas to about a year or two ago! This one looks to have a smaller sink but the dishwasher should be pretty much the same!
Seriously, check for a parts manual and see if you cannot get the cable from them.

Hope this helps!

http://www.kitchenaid.co.uk/app.cnt/ka/en_GB/pageid/pgkaproddetail001/catid/8/subcatid/32

 

[hunter]

It's insane.

I keep wondering if the best thing for me is to find a 1950s electric range and buy that.

Whoever heard of a range dying after only 10 years? But nothing, nothing is built to last. If they were $100 you wouldn't care so much, but $2000? It seems like most of us here don't have that kind of money to throw away.

Custom sinks...you know, the hardest thing, Michaelman2, is you save up a bunch of money for a kitchen refit. You have it done, with a lot of effort and anguish expecting that it will serve you for ages. Then before you recover from the financial hit, you are hit again. It's adding insult to injury.

(I'm always astounded on Garden Web how much people will PAY for kitchen refits, like to the tune of >100,000 dollars, but hey, maybe I'm just poor).

 

[volvoguy87]

Longevity.

I work in an appliance parts store. We tell people that most appliances have a lifespan of 5-7, except for LG and Samsung appliances, which are closer to 3 years. The failues which tend to kill more appliances than any other are electronic control failures. Electronic controls tend to be expensive, frequently propriatary, and quickly NLA. An otherwise functional appliance is rendered scrap by the failure of a relatively small electronic control.
GE refrigerators eat WR55X10942 boards like candy to the tune of $150.00 a pop, for example.

No matter what you buy, PUT IT ON A SURGE PROTECTOR!!!!!
Dave

 

[michaelman2]

stevet, thanks for the link...I will try it....Amazing that the domestic dummies did not even think to look there....

 

Bottom line ...the KitchenAid - Whirlpool lines are planned obsolescence, period.  Crap.  But the human being element is even worse.  They are so trained to live in the land of "no"....can you do this.."no"..can you do that "no"....like robots.  This comes from the top.

 

 

 

[whirlcool]

After that crappy Whirlpool refrigerator we had for 10 years (failures year after year and also sold under the Kitchenaid brand name too) we decided to go with a GE refrigerator. So far so good. The difference in quality between the Whirlpool and GE is amazing.

The only thing we've owned by Whirlpool that hasn't had a problem has been our dryer. Even the original drum light bulb is still in the machine. The washer has had a few minor problems, nothing too much to complain about and quite cheap to fix.

 

[magicmarc]

BRIVA lid cable broken plastic - PART

hi, as everyone else, my briva lid cable plastic broke years ago. Ive created a simple replacement part with a 3D printer. if anyone would like to try the part out, let me know. i havent installed it as yet, because its a job to take out the unit, have space to work on it, etc.. in a tiny studio apartment without a garage or work room to really get the machine apart properly, but im going to...