Short answer: Most major appliances last 9–15 years. The rule of thumb: if a repair costs more than half the price of a new unit and the appliance is past its typical life, replace it rather than pour money into it.
Appliance
Typical life
Watch after
Refrigerator
10–15 yrs
year 12
Dishwasher
9–12 yrs
year 9
Washer
10–13 yrs
year 10
Dryer
10–13 yrs
year 10
Range / oven
13–15 yrs
year 13
The 50% rule keeps you honest: when a repair quote is more than half the cost of replacing, and the appliance is already near the end of its life, the repair is throwing good money after bad. Under that threshold on a newer unit, fix it.
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Timing helps here too. Major appliances go on real sale around holiday weekends and at model-year changeovers — so a fridge that's clearly on borrowed time is worth replacing on a sale date rather than the morning it dies.