Kelvinator

Why r/BuyItForLife recommends Kelvinator

3 mentions from real owners

• #1Dec 2, 2025

  My grandmas drill that she gave me to use to hang curtains

  You are missing my point. High quality fridges and appliances still exist and are made. They are just not mass market slop that is pushed and sold. A Kelvinator fridge from the 1930s was sold for for the modern equivalent of like $6k. Obviously that cost was due to a large variety of factors but that is, like 2-3x the cost of the fridges being commonly sold today. Many older items were also much simpler. A fridge/freezer combo was just that. No fancy scroll compressor, ice maker, or water dispenser, just a big metal box that gets cold. Another big factor is that modern appliances have to meet certain efficiency standards that, simply put, were not a concern before. They could put a beefy, but often inefficient system together without having to worry about an energy start rating. All those fancy features people desire now are extra failure points. Look at commercial equipment - it is often designed the same way stuff for consumers used to be designed. Serviceable, reliable, and simple. Because the companies that make those items know they aren't going to be making their money on volume they charge quite a bit more on the upfront cost. I had a project at work where I tried to find the best water hose sprayers I could because we were spending an arm and a leg buying the $5-10 ones and having to replace them pretty frequently. After trying a bunch of brands at different price points the ones we found that met all of our needs were like $45/each. No sane person is going to spend that much money on a sprayer for their house. When you factor in labor and time costs and savings it gets really cheap really quick for a business though.

  View on Redditopen_in_new
• #2Jul 6, 2025

  It is with grave sorrow that I announce our 52 year old General Electric refrigerator has chilled its last grocery (defrost heater no longer available)

  Last year 2024 Had a 1980s GE and a 1960 ish Kelvinator refrigerator running in an empty house. House fan ran if it got hot, and a dusk to dawn light and the bill was $18-$22 a month in the spring summer. When it got occupied again the bill went back to $60-$120. How do I know? I paid the master bill and had a separate meter to bill the tenant. Since we stored stuff in basement including two refrigerators I deducted $20 a month off the electric. So two refrigerators at $9 a month isn’t a lot

  View on Redditopen_in_new
• #3Mar 6, 2025

  What's the oldest appliance you own?

  1939 Kelvinator refrigerator. Had it for over a dozen years. Works great and will undoubtedly outlast me.

  View on Redditopen_in_new