Buying a new washing machine / dishwasher requires delicate skills - there are basically two things that drive the price down: simplicity, and low quality. You have to look for simple and well-build machines, and this usually means days of comparing prices and reviews. It also requires instinct. To make matters worse, over-engineered "smart" machines often have very good reviews because they offer a reasonable experience for the first few years, and most people are blinded by "cool" smart features.
A general rule of thumb: avoid machines with a large display.
I bought a new washing machine from Sharp that was supposed to be eco-friendly, with microplastic filters, low energy usage, quick drying... whatnot. Most of my clothes are damaged from too wide holes in the tub. During spinning stage wet fabric get pulled into the tiny holes it breaks. Took us months to understand how our clothes get damaged. https://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/images/articles/holes%20in%20...
How do you hope to solve this problem in general? It applies to every product with an opaque supply chain, which is pretty much every product.
The only reviews that matter are the long-term ones, which are rare, and by the time a long time has passed, the original model is no longer made (or worse, a cheaper process is used to make something under the same name).
The only approach I can see is to trust in a brand. But companies making commodified products like household appliances seem happy to have burned all their brand good will in exchange for short term profits, meaning I no longer trust any of them.
Well, you can buy industrial appliances. They are more expensive, because they are sturdier and not subsidized by ads and data harvesting. But they are not "smart", and will last for a long long time.
>You have to look for simple and well-build machines
I ended up buying an entry level 8 kg Miele - just washes with no smart features & extremely well built. FYI: the 7 kg entry level models now come with a plastic wash tub, you need to buy the 8 kg model for the traditional metal wash tub.
A general rule of thumb: avoid machines with a large display.