My father bought a Meile washer when I was a lad - couldnt even speak properly.. that machine still works till date, German made, super silent front loader - and stands perfectly still while the drum goes to high rpm for extracting water. Looks ugly though just as all german appliances from that era do.
The siemens refrigerator bought at the same time also is working top notch to date. nothing beats it. We have had a General one fail after 13 years, yet the siemens worked sweet - There was an LG assisting the siemens when the whole lot of us lived there, but we are back to the old siemens as we (home in Pak) dont need big refr anymore.
moral - you get what you pay for.