What if you paid hundreds of dollars to buy an extended warranty on your kitchen appliances only to find out a critical piece wasn't covered? That's exactly what the Hoftiezer family said happened to them.

With their appliances a few years old, David Hoftiezer of Medford, New Jersey, found Stanley Warranty and said he thought he was getting the same kind of protection his original warranties had given him.

Hoftiezer said he paid $1,000 for a warranty for all of his kitchen appliances. Then he started having some "issues," he said.

First, the refrigerator's ice maker broke.

"Weeks go by and the warranty company finally said to me, 'The reason we followed up service is because your ice maker is not covered,'" he said.

Unfortunately, though the warranty specified that the refrigerator and freezer were covered the contract said, about six pages in, that "ice maker controls" were not covered.

Hoftiezer told ABC News he wished he would have read that.

"I'm not going to say I don't take some responsibility," Hoftiezer said. "But when they sell you the product, they ask you what would you like to cover and you say, 'I would like to cover my refrigerator.' They don't say, 'If your ice maker breaks, that isn't covered.'"

Stanley Mankovsky, the CEO of Stanley Safe Club and Stanley Warranty, said the ice maker was excluded from Hoftiezer's policy because "it's a high volume item that gets broken by people abusing it."

"If people want the ice maker covered, we have separate coverage for that in addition to the refrigerator," Mankovsky said.

"The reason you buy an insurance policy is to make sure that when something does happen, you are covered," he said. "The key is to read [and] make sure you go through every line."

Mankovsky also added that since Hoftiezer had bought his warranty, the language had been revised and improved so that it was easier for consumers to understand.

In an email, Timothy Meenan, executive director of the Service Contract Industry Council, said: "Extended warranties can provide responsible consumers with substantial financial savings and offer a means of control when the unpredictable happens."

"Contrary to some recent reports claiming that extended warranties on appliances and cars are not cost effective, the benefits of service contracts can far outweigh the cost of purchasing the coverage, and emergencies arise more often than you might think. Service contracts covered more than 95 percent of claims in 2012 - sometimes resulting from drops or breakdowns but sometimes caused by routine wear and tear. Consider that a typical appliance repair can cost $250 but the extended warranty costs only half that, and may pay for more than one repair during the term of the contract. The manufacturer's warranty may help in some situations, usually only for the first year or less, so an extended warranty is well worth a second look. Extended warranties are designed to provide peace of mind by protecting consumers' investments in their homes, vehicles, electronics and appliances. It is up to individual consumers to decide whether or not they personally value extended warranties. Many consumers who do not have the savings or disposable income to pay for an unexpected and costly repair derive great value and peace of mind by budgeting for this predictable expense."

Anthony Giorgianni, a finance editor at Consumer Reports, said readers should think twice before buying an extended warranty.

"Not saying they will never work out but on a whole, you're much better taking the money that you would put into a service contract [and] put it in the bank," he said.

Some items that might that might be worth getting an extended warranty for, Giorgianni said, are electronics that children usually use and are more likely to be dropped or damaged. He still encourages consumers to read the fine print on those agreements, too.

Other tips from Giorgianni include:

1. Call the original manufacturer if something breaks. Sometimes the companies will want to make you happy.

2. Check with your credit card company, which sometimes can offer extended warranties.

ABC News