I hear you. I looked at fixing the machine myself and we considered just replacing it when we thought the warranty was too far gone, but it seriously irks me to throw out an entire machine. It feels incredibly wasteful.

We must shop the same brands. I scratched a rear removable interior panel of a Pajero (fridge rubbing against it for 3,000km of corrugated road) and asked for a replacement price out of interest when I was in for a dealer service. $350 or so for what is a single piece of moulded plastic. Unique to the vehicle, but not otherwise complicated.

I like your idea of trying to standardise at least some components across various brands of a product (like is done with USB standards). It shits me that everything is optimised for cost and profit rather than for consumers and the broader environment.