Does anyone have solid recommendations of reliable household appliance brands? If all the consumer brands are shit, would it be worth going commercial?
Look for commercial brands that have a small residential market.
If it's large, it can become shit on its own, so beware.
Commercial things are great but BE AWARE there may be things unexpected about them. Like noise is usually not an issue for a commercial item in an industrial kitchen.
Check used prices on commercial gear. Anything that maintains a used price after 5-10 years indicates a valuable brand. If you can't find any used ones being sold, it probably becomes crap. Auction sites (not eBay, but like physical "business is shutting down" auctions) can be good for this, if you can see the price they went for.
The only brand I'm really "all in" on is Speed Queen. Everything else so far I have been in the "I'll buy it scratch and dent cheap enough that I won't be sad if it explodes" - Best Buy clearance has been good to me here.
