I'm going to be furnishing almost a complete house.

I will need a refrigerator, freezer, washing machine, dryer, vacuum cleaner plus just about everything else.

Is joining Consumer Reports worthwhile? Are their reviews pretty accurate and can they be relied on?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Also, if you have a brand which you are completely happy with or one that has given you a lot of problems I would love to hear about it.

TIA

I like my consumer reports subscription - my dad gets it in paper form but I've got the online version because its easier for me to use. I think their reviews are pretty accurate. Over the years we've bought lots of things based on the reviews and I can't think of anything offhand that I was unhappy with. As for appliances, I've been pretty happy with all of my Kenmore stuff generally speaking.

When it comes to fridges - some things to keep in mind. All of the appliance companies pretty much lie about how much actual usable space is in the thing. So just remember - you want to look inside and picture where will I fit everything. Sometimes CR has reviews where it shows the actual usable space vs claimed. Another thing to keep in mind - different finishes cost sometimes several hundred dollars more. You can't stick magnets on a stainless steel fridge (you can on the stainless steel "look" ones). So if you've got a magnet collection or like to post your kids pictures on the fridge etc, save a few hundred dollars and pick a black or white fridge. Ice and water dispensors in the door also add to cost, and increase likelyhood of break downs and repair costs. We're in the market for a new fridge and I'm purposely going to just go for the ice maker in the freezer option and skip the dispensor for that reason.

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Thank you Skye. You've given me some food for thought there. I do have a magnet collection on fridge. But I never cared for the stainless steel anyway.