I have, in a drawer in my office, the motor and an absolutely fascinating motor drive board from an Electrolux washing machine that a colleague brought in. It appears to be a three-phase variable frequency drive (VFD) with an elegant architecture - an optically isolated digital interface to the rest of the controls allows it to use simple shunts for current sensing - and stunning attention to cost, with details like a silver through hole CEM-3 PCB. (note this is no longer cheaper than plated-through FR4). It does have a monster TI DSP on it.

It's about 20 years old. Your appliances have been more sophisticated than you think for longer than you think.

It is surprising, of course, that someone would rip up a new washing machine for parts, but not shocking. I imagine it would have to be very specifically for low-volume, high margin industrial equipment, which the article hints at but does not make explicit.