There's a particularly unsettling feeling that comes with the realisation that your fridge's soothing hum sounds more like a truck idling, or your cutlery and glasses looked cleaner before they went into the dishwasher than when they came out.
Perhaps it's because our appliances are such an integral part of everyday life that, when they do malfunction or die, it comes with an outsized shock. It's an inconvenience and cost that almost all of us will have to bear at some point.
Given that the price of many new appliances will easily enter the four-figure range, if an appliance stops working, one of the first questions worth asking is whether it can be repaired. Matthew Steen, director of reviews and testing at consumer advocacy