The short answer is no - they're not worth it. Save the money for any repairs you might need down the road. Not only are extended warranties a bad bet, but they lock you into using a particular repair company and you sometimes find the extended warranty companies going out of business, leaving you high and dry.. Better to research your appliances and buy ones with good reliability records. Of course you'll get responses from some people who did well with their extended warranties, but overall they're just extra profit for the seller.

In general, we do not go with extended warranties. We "self insure" the appliances.
That being said - we did go with an extended warranty on our Miele dishwasher.
At 4.5 years, it quit working - but based on its repair record, we received a check in the mail for the full purchase price!
I started from scratch and actually did go with Miele again and did get the extended warranty again...I don't expect I will need it.
My parents did get the warranty on their TV and it conked out just before the warranty. And a beautiful new Sony arrived in its place.
So sometimes it works....
We did not go with the warranty on the fridge or the washer/dryer. (Both are newer with electronic bells and whistles)
I think you need to weigh the cost of repairs to the cost of the contract.
With the newer electronic appliances, repairs can be costly.
One washer, only available in Europe comes with a 10 year warranty. The company says they believe in their product...
I asked Miele, if they believe in their products, why only a one or 2 year warranty - I just noticed that their new washer has a 5 year - so maybe they are listening.
Have fun deciding!

Some credit cards extend the standard warranty for purchases made using their card. Details about what's covered vary, but this may be something to look into before making these purchases.

Apart from that "free" possibility for perhaps some appliances, I agree with weissman.

For 80% of appliances it is a horrible bet to get an extended warranty.

Don't buy one from the other 20%.

Thanks for the reply. I will give this some thought now. Appreciate the replies.
ilene

i buy if the price is reasonable and the item is one I will have trouble just replacing and would rather fix. I got them on a washer I bought in 2004 but not the dryer, the washer died in 2011 out of the 5 year warranty with no repairs before that. on the Samsung that replaced it I had a service call but it was just not set up proper by best buy but still covered.
I got the 5 year one on my new kitchen-aid french door. they only wanted $179 AND I figured one ice maker repair would blow that investment.

I do not buy it on computers because I am a computer tech and can fix it myself. same with tv's and stuff. instead of spending money on a warranty for that stuff get good quality power surge protection. that is what kills electronics most of the time other than hard drives which are electro mechanical and will fail eventually. since I mentioned hard drives back up your data like photos and music so when they fail you can recover.

We got one on our Asko washer and it paid off for us big time three years later when the thing started leaking due to failed internal seals. It took three service calls to finally get it fixed. But that was several years ago now and no problems since.

We also got one on the new induction range we bought last week, but that was mainly because the price of the five year warranty was very reasonable, only $199 on a $3000 purchase.

Normally no I don't get extended warranties. However, when I bought my induction range last year I did because they we so new on the market and the early models of the one I got were prone to circuit board issues. However, the extended warranty (5 years) was only $200 and considering the cost of the appliance, it wasn't a bad price for the reassurance.

I buy them on certain appliances but not all.

1) DW: The Miele was twice the quality of the Kitchenaid, but my dishes wouldn't fit (the newer model Mieles have redesigned tines, I believe). The KA is of only average quality despite its $1K MSRP: plastic hinges, flimsy racks. It works well, however, especially now that I switched DW detergents.

We had issues with our soap/rinseaid dispenser unit. Part of it was the DW and part of it was the poor quality of service, an issue with many brands nowadays. We are on our fourth dispenser unit since 2009, and the extended warranty pays for everything, thank gawd.

The original installer told me that the washer pumps have a tendency to go out around the third year in these DWs, and told me what to look for. He felt I was smart to have purchased the extended warranty on the KA.

2) Standard gas range with circuit board digital controls: I would NEVER be without an extended warranty on this type of range again. The circuit boards are poorly protected from heat and fail within 5-7 years. They are extremely expensive, costing from $285-435 each depending upon your range.

No electronics is one of the biggest attractions of pro-style ranges (not all of them, but most have few or no electronics).

I have had circuit boards fail on two different gas ranges, both models that cost $1K (and in 1989 that was a lot of money, LOL). The current range is on its THIRD board: between labor and new boards, we've put in almost as much in repairs as the range cost us to begin with.

These replacements have been needed despite the fact I hardly ever use the self-cleaning function, BTW.

I just bought one for my fridge. When we called in the repair person for our old fridge, the circuit board needed to be replaced - it was going to be almost $400 including labor and possibly more if any other pars were broken. He couldn't tell until the circuit board was fixed.

This was the first call I had made to repair the fridge - we've lived in the house 6 years, and the unit was purchased in 2002 when the kitchen was renovated. However, the repair person told me that this was not a factory installed circuit board, so clearly it had failed once before since it' initial purchase.

He and I had a nice chat about new fridges, including their general declining reliability and rising cost of repairs when needed. When a person, who is not affiliated with an appliance store, but rather makes his living repairing appliances, recommends buying an extended warranty, I listen. We factored the cost of the warranty in our budget, just like tax, installation, etc.

Well most people say no. And if you put the money you would pay for the wattanty into an interest bearing account (assuming you can even find one of those today) I guess that would be your rainy day fund. But you should do what gives you the most peace of mind. Applicances today usually have a one year warranty. A circuit board can cost $200. A DW motor or an ice maker even more. And of course the warranty is transferrable if you sell the house, making it an attractive appliance to the buyer.

Personally I am self employed and have peaks and valleys in income. I bought the applicances when I was at a peak so I also bought a three year extended warranty from the manufacturer, giving me four years total. Now I am in a valley but at least I know that if I have an issue I will be covered, and will be for two more years. This is from someone who did have some issues with applicances in the past and knows how much repairs can be. So for me it was worth it. You have to decide what is right for you.

Think of it as term life insurance. Do you invest the money and hope you don't die? Or do you buy the insurance in case you do and then when you don't die you feel like its money flushed down the drain. Its a gamble either way.