Renter or owner: who's responsible?
Before anything else: if you're renting, check your lease. Most residential leases make the landlord responsible for appliance repair when the appliance came with the unit, though maintenance neglect (never cleaning a filter, for example) can sometimes shift responsibility depending on your specific lease terms. When in doubt, contact your landlord or property manager first for anything beyond basic cleaning.
The basics that prevent most early problems
A handful of simple habits prevent a large share of the appliance issues we see on service calls, and they take almost no time: clean the washer's drain pump filter every few months, clean the dishwasher's bottom filter monthly, clean the dryer's lint trap before every single load (not just occasionally), and don't overload any appliance beyond its rated capacity.
For a first apartment specifically, take a few minutes when you move in to locate your circuit breaker panel and identify which breakers control your kitchen and laundry appliances — this alone resolves a surprising number of "appliance won't turn on" situations that are actually just a tripped breaker.
What's normal vs. what's worth flagging
Some noise and behavior is completely normal: a refrigerator's compressor hum, occasional clicking from a defrost cycle, a washer's spin cycle sound. Learning your specific appliances' normal operating sounds in the first few weeks makes it much easier to notice when something changes later.
Worth flagging to a landlord or, if you own the appliances, worth a repair call: standing water anywhere, any burning smell, a gas smell near a range or dryer, or a noise that's clearly new and different from normal operation.
If you own your appliances
If you're in a first apartment with appliances you own rather than ones that came with the unit, the same basic maintenance habits apply, and it's worth knowing that most major appliances have an expected lifespan in the 10-15 year range with reasonable care — not something you need to worry about replacing anytime soon with normal use.
If something does need a repair and you own the appliance, the $89 diagnostic visit gets you an honest, exact answer rather than a guess — useful when you're new to managing a home and don't yet have a feel for what's a big deal and what isn't.