Appliance Features to Skip in Rental Units

The appliance features to avoid in a rental are the ones that add parts without adding much for the tenant: in-door ice and water dispensers, Wi-Fi and app controls, glass cooktops in units where pans get dropped, high-heat self-clean cycles, and stacked laundry squeezed into closets with no service room. Each one is a common source of callbacks with a simpler alternative.

None of these features is a defect. In an owner-occupied home, where one careful person uses the appliance for fifteen years, most of them are fine. A rental is different. The unit gets a new user every few years, nobody reads the manual, and every fault becomes a work order.

In-door ice and water dispensers

Skip the in-door dispenser. For a rental, it's the single feature most likely to turn a reliable refrigerator into a frequent caller.

A dispenser adds a water valve, a water line routed through the door hinge, an ice chute with a flap, an auger motor, a dispenser switch and often a heater to keep the chute from freezing. Each of those can fail. The common calls are ice that jams in the bin, a door chute that frosts over, a dispenser that drips, and a slow leak from the water line or valve.

That last one matters most in an apartment building. A refrigerator water line that weeps behind the unit can go unnoticed for weeks, and the damage shows up in the ceiling below. Our note on preventing appliance water leaks in apartments covers the supply lines and shut-off valves.

The simpler alternative is a refrigerator with no ice maker, or an ice maker inside the freezer only. If the unit has a water connection, make sure there's an accessible shut-off valve behind it.

Wi-Fi and smart controls

Skip app-connected appliances unless you have a specific reason to want them. In a rental, the features rarely get used, and the hardware that supports them adds cost to repairs.

Smart appliances usually run on more complex control boards, which tend to be pricier and more model-specific than the controls on a basic unit. They also create an awkward question at every turnover: whose account is the appliance connected to, and did the last tenant ever disconnect it? Firmware and app support also depend on the manufacturer continuing to support that model, which is out of your hands.

If what you want is information from the building, such as early warning of a leak, you can get that from standalone leak sensors that don't depend on any one appliance. For the appliance itself, buy the version with basic controls.

Glass and ceramic cooktops

In units with heavy cooking, or where tenants turn over often, a coil-element or gas cooktop holds up better than a smooth glass-ceramic top. Glass tops look clean, but they have one failure mode that a coil range doesn't: the glass cracks.

A dropped cast-iron pan, a heavy pot set down hard, or something left on a hot burner can crack or pit the top. Once it's cracked, the cooktop shouldn't be used, and replacing the glass is a large repair relative to the cost of a basic range. Sugar spills and the wrong cleaners can also leave marks that tenants report as damage at move-out, which turns into a dispute over normal wear.

The simpler alternatives are a coil-element electric range, where the elements and drip bowls are cheap and swappable, or a sealed-burner gas range where the building has gas. If you want glass for the look in a higher-end unit, budget for the occasional top and make sure the lease covers damage clearly. Gas versus electric has its own trade-offs, covered in gas vs. electric ranges.

High-heat self-clean ovens

Think twice about relying on a high-heat self-clean cycle. Steam clean, on most ranges, is a low-temperature cycle with a bit of water and adds little risk. High-heat self-clean is different: it runs the oven at very high temperature for hours with the door locked.

From the repair side, that cycle is a known stress test. The door lock motor, the thermal fuse, the oven sensor and the control board all sit near that heat, and an oven that dies right after a self-clean is a familiar call for repair technicians. The timing isn't a coincidence. A tenant who runs it the day before a holiday dinner and gets a locked, dead oven is going to call you.

The range itself can still have the feature. What helps is how you handle it: tell tenants in the move-in packet to clean spills by hand and use self-clean sparingly, and clean ovens by hand at turnover instead of running the cycle in an empty apartment.

Stacked laundry in a tight closet

Avoid stacked washer-dryer pairs in closets that don't leave room to service them. The machines themselves are fine. The closet is the problem.

To work on a stacked dryer, a technician often needs to pull the pair forward, and sometimes unstack it. In a closet built to the exact width of the machines, with a door frame in the way and a vent connection hidden at the back, that can take more time than the repair. A short dryer vent crushed against the wall also restricts airflow, which leads to long dry times and complaints about clothes not drying.

The alternative is to size the closet for the appliances plus working room, with the dryer vent, water valves and drain accessible from the front, or to put side-by-side machines where the space allows.

Smaller extras worth a second look

A few other features don't cause many calls on their own but add up across a building. Warming drawers, extra convection fans, door alarms, and refrigerators with several separately controlled drawers all add parts that a basic model doesn't have.

Ask one question about each: would the tenant notice if it wasn't there? If the answer is no, it's a part you're paying to maintain for nothing. If it helps you lease the unit, keep it and accept the extra calls.

Appliance features to avoid in rentals, at a glance

Most of these come down to the same principle we use for choosing rental appliances in general: fewer parts and easier access mean fewer calls. Our note on what makes an appliance good for a rental covers the broader criteria, and standardizing models across your portfolio covers what to do once you've picked them.

If you already have these features

You don't need to rip anything out. When a feature-heavy unit fails, get the repair quoted and compare it with a basic replacement. When a dispenser keeps failing on an otherwise healthy fridge, it's often reasonable to shut off its water supply and have the tenant use the freezer's ice tray.

For repairs on refrigerators, ranges and ovens, see our refrigerator repair and stove and oven repair pages, or open a work order with the building and unit. The service call is $145 and up, and we quote the repair before any work starts.