The "50% rule" is a blunt instrument. This runs the number that actually matters: what you pay per year of service you'll actually get, repaired versus replaced.
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How this works: we take a published average service life for your appliance type, adjust it for brand tier, subtract its age, and discount for repeat failures to estimate the years a repair actually buys you. That's divided into the quote to get a real cost per year, and compared against a new unit's price divided across its full expected life. The classic 50%-of-replacement rule is folded in as one input, not the whole answer. Averages are averages — your machine is a sample size of one.
Compressor replacement runs $700–$1,400 once you account for welding, evacuation and recharge. On a standard freestanding fridge under $2,000 new, that is almost never worth doing. On a Sub-Zero column that costs $9,000+ and is built into cabinetry, it very much is. The calculator knows this if you set the brand tier correctly.
These are labor-heavy teardowns. Even when the part is cheap, you're paying for hours. If a machine is past year eight and needs bearings, replacement usually wins regardless of what the ratio says.
A built-in dishwasher, wall oven, cooktop or column refrigerator carries install labor and, often, cabinetry work. The true replacement cost is well above the sticker, which shifts the whole calculation toward repair.
Machines that fail repeatedly keep failing. A third repair on a machine that's had two is rarely the last one. The calculator discounts remaining life for this, but trust your own experience here — you've been living with it.
Costs you a $99 diagnostic to find out whether somebody's about to sell you a repair you don't need.