Would the term be "planned obsolescence"? We have had our refrigerator for 25 years - pretty good I think - the first one lasted for 22 before the compressor went out. There is a part available for this one, but at $80 plus labor and all the other things that need to be fixed at this age, it just seems like time to "pull the plug" on this faithful beast. And we are carefully replacing each appliance with Energy Star rated ones - our utility bills keep going down, and we are consuming less gas & electricity. Whenever we replace something, the technicians are usually amazed at how long my husband's TLC has kept it going - we were the last in our 1972-3 neighborhood to replace furnace & AC in 2018.
On a happier note, we just learned that our original, 48 year old deep freeze is still purring along with its third owner and her kids. She was thrilled to get it when our daughters were finished with it 2 years ago.
Sue