Too_Many_Tools said:
In my opinon...no.
I intentionally try to have older appliances, vehicles, machines to
lower repair costs and keep overall ownership cost to a minimum.
You can still buy high quality, repairable appliances, but you have to
buy commercial models, which have a much higher initial cost, and cannot
be purchased at normal retail stores.
I've bought commercial laundry machines for a rental property, and later
for my own house, because they are built much, much better, and are very
repairable if they ever do break (but unlikely to ever break under
household use). They cost about twice as much as a low-end consumer
machine and most people would not know how to acquire them. Since
laundry-mat owners do their own repairs, there is no labor warranty, but
they have a three year parts warranty. Excellent repair manuals are
available from the manufacturer.
You can buy restaurant quality small appliances that will last forever
under household use, but most people don't want to spend $400 on a two
slice toaster, they'd rather buy a new $20 toaster ever few years.
Commercial vacuum cleaners are actually a good deal because the
consumer-grade vacuum cleaners are extremely poorly constructed. But too
many people select a vacuum based on how much current the motor draws,
and how many buttons and attachments it has, instead of how well it
cleans and how long it will last.