I need a new refrigerator

[The Dude 1,246]

Only requirements are a good in door water/icemaker system.  

Probably french doors?  

Anyone recommend a decent reliable brand?  What should I stay away from?  Where is the best place to buy from? Lowes?

Edited May 1, 2018 by The Dude

[Artificial Iverson 107]

my appliance repair tech said GE and Whirlpool are the best.  Samsung is flashy but quality is below the other two, lots of repair calls.  Lowes has a 30 day money back return policy, probably HD does too but not sure. 

 

what is your budget? how many people will use it?

Edited April 30, 2018 by Artificial Iverson

[The Dude 1,246]

2 to 3k ish

 

probably 25 to 30 cu ft

[DanRydell 799]

My Samsung French door is a piece of shit. The ice maker freezes up every couple of weeks. 

[The Dude 1,246]

LG’s have good reviews at Home Depot, but I don’t know if I want to buy a refrigerator from some dudes who make TVs. 

 

[NeverMarryAStripper 21,907]

I have an LG and it's been really good

[Celery Man 20,967]

Curious if there have been any changes at all to GE fridges since they’ve been bought by Heuer or whatever.

[HiggyBaby 2,538]

Lowe's clearance aisle is a good place to start. Make them an offer on the mark down price. We have a french door GE branded but Samsung made fridge from 2010. It's still working great with no service calls. So there's that.

[Artificial Iverson 107]

i bought a Side by Side Whirlpool. Be careful about the advertised cubic feet, it's all a big lie by the makers. I did extensive tape measurements before purchase to get a true picture of interior space. Basically, the square metal box is all the same size across brands but the door depth and compartmentalization makes for the true space. 

also, the brands these days dont' allow for shelf adjustments as in the old days when they had holes in teh back and you had infinite choices for shelf heights. That is shit to me now. I try to put taller items but can't. They really need to go back to the hole "cantilever' style. Also, WPs have the filter in the bottom so they have to raise the platform and thus the space in the interior compartment is a lot less. WP though is the best in the 'sealed system' -- the compressor, condensor and evaporator + tubings. The guts , WP is the best. 

 

and they are all made in Mexico since the last ten years i guess, so that kills quality even more. 

Edited May 1, 2018 by Artificial Iverson

[zork 629]

Check the Sears Outlet.  You can find sweet deals on new, refurbished, scratch and dent.  There are a bunch of locations in dfw.  Not sure if there are any where you are.  The inventory is searchable online as well.

[TwiceHorn 31,495]

I'm not a huge fan of the "french drawer/freezer drawer" configuration.  My mother always had side by side and to me it makes more sense.  There's always something buried in the freezer drawer and sometimes you need to open both doors to get to things in the reefer compartment (in my case the cheese/sandwich meat drawer), or to access both sides of the thing.

[BottleRocket 646]

I like our Samsung when it works.  We've spent as much as we originally paid for it over the course of 3 repairs.  I asked the last repair tech if we should just go ahead and buy a new one and he said that everything that could go wrong with it has been replaced so we should be good for a few more years.  Don't get a Samsung.

[baboso 6,056]

Anything but Samsung.

[Gene Parmesan 4,008]

12 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

I'm not a huge fan of the "french drawer/freezer drawer" configuration.  My mother always had side by side and to me it makes more sense.  There's always something buried in the freezer drawer and sometimes you need to open both doors to get to things in the reefer compartment (in my case the cheese/sandwich meat drawer), or to access both sides of the thing.

A lot of it is just style.  It's certainly not the optimal configuration for us, but yet we have one.  We probably have 4 boxes of frozen waffles in there because they are buried and out of site and the wife keeps buying more thinking we are out.

[KYHorn 17,076]

One benefit of the freezer drawer (though I agree with most of you that it's not optimal) is that the freaking water dispenser doesn't freeze over. I have a 2 year old GE side-by-side and the water has worked MAYBE 2 months in total, and that is only after I defrosted it with a blow dryer. It freezes back soon after. I know there are work-arounds but I just (naively) expected the engineers at GE would've had the foresight to put in sufficient insulation around the water dispenser themselves. 

[Robin Masters 122]

15 hours ago, DanRydell said:

My Samsung French door is a piece of shit. The ice maker freezes up every couple of weeks. 

THIS.

You know those circa 1980s pinball machines where you lose, and then it flashes some numbers and if your score matches it pops real loud and you get a free game? Our Samsung makes that sound when it's working well. Something in the ice maker defrost. Can't do a good Andy Capp couch nap because at some point that pop will probably happen. When I stop hearing that sound I know I will soon be putting it through it's defrost cycle, banging on it with a knife to chisel frozen ice chunks and ice stalactites, and then blasting with the hair dryer to get the rest of it loose. It's 2 years old and we have to do this about every 2 months. On the plus side the ice maker is still working, which is also apparently a thing with Samsungs.

Before this we rented a house with a pretty new LG. The freezer on it frosted up to the point some defroster fan motor couldn't spin, so it shut itself off. That was at least fixable. LG has it's own proprietary compressor and if/when it goes out you're proper fucked.

Whirlpool used to have the best ice maker. I'm not sure anyone has a good icemaker in a french door model. Oh one other thing that sucks about french doors. You wind up with a shit ton of stuff in the freezer. Stack it too tall and it may close ok, but then when you open it, items can drag over the top and fall down behind. Now you get to take everything out to get the freezer drawer out to reach that item. I sorta love the french door though when everything is working. Especially with the extra drawer to keep beer/drinks in.

[TwiceHorn 31,495]

We have a Kitchen Aide. It's pretty decent other than being the french door/drawer thing.  The ice maker works pretty well, however, the cubes do get "melty" because the ice is stored in the reefer compartment.

[Gene Parmesan 4,008]

Our Samsung works fine.  Not that I would recommend because I know they've been horrible for lots.  The only thing that sucks is you have to have both doors closed to use the water/ice dispenser.  Just throwing it out there it is possible to get a Samsung that isn't a total POS.

[BillyBadAss 189]

Last I researched them, they all have spotty reliability. 

For that reason, I recommend buying through Costco because they extend the factory warranty by a year. 

They also have some deal if you use the Costco credit card they add another 2 years to the warranty:

https://www.costco.com/concierge-two-plus-two-warranty.html

 

[GlenFromTheMailRoom 1,612]

Quit being cheap and get a thermador.

[Felix 607]

I just replaced an 18 year old Whirlpool side by side with the current model equivalent 25 cu ft.  On my old one the ice maker worked until the day it died.  I did  a lot of research and Whirlpool is the way to go.  I love the new icemaker system.  The water/ice dispenser on the new one takes a little getting used to but I actually think it's more efficient and you can fit a bigger glass in there.  All LED lighting and it comes on automatically when dispensing ice or water from the door.  

I haven't tried to adjust any shelves as I like the configuration it came with, but I think it can be done within reason.  I absolutely hate the french door/freezer drawer set up so I never considered that.  Home Depot has a sale going on right now and I got an additional 10% off by financing through them.  I'll pay it off before paying interest so that's free money.

Delivered and set up with old fridge hauled off for $15 plus the $10 they charge you for the water line.  I could have hooked it up myself and saved the $10 but why?

I got mine in black because the stainless wasn't available and I didn't feel like waiting two weeks.

[Artificial Iverson 107]

Sears has a Kenmore (made by whirlpool) for $1599, 27.6cf. Granted Sears may be out of business soon but still a good value. I like this model's holes for the shelf configuration, total flexibility (called the Cantilever system iirc).  One other positive is the filter is in the top corner instead of the bottom which gives you more space as the platform is closer to the ground.  

Noticed a downside with Sears thugh is their store warranty is way more than other places but their prices are less. If you have a homeowners warranty though you don't need to buy a store warranty which goes beyond the 1 year mfr warranty. Do the pricing, it's a good deal IMO. 

 

Edited May 1, 2018 by Artificial Iverson

[gaspar 102]

We have a Jenn-Air and it’s been solid for the past 9 years. It’s a side by side with bottom pull out section for the freezer.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[tokamak 6,431]

Just stopped by to pile on Samsung with everyone else. Both our fridge and dryer have had problems and they're only 3.5 years old.

[Bernard 879]

On 4/30/2018 at 5:59 PM, The Dude said:

Only requirements are a good in door water/icemaker system.  

Interestingly, that’s exactly what I didn’t want in a new refrigerator. Looks ugly on my opinion. Also, hard to fill the large glasses I prefer. I went with a Bosch that has a water dispenser inside the fridge. French door version has ice bucket in bottom. I can scoop my own ice. My other house has an Electrolux side-by-side that’s still looks new and going strong at 14 years old. Also, both are counter depth. Normal size refrigerators now look out of place to me. 

Bernard

[phdhorn 6,224]

I know they might not in general be as good as the brand name leads you to believe, but my Amana is working incredibly well going on 27 years. I'm damn well going to check them when it's time to swap out.

Edited May 18, 2018 by phdhorn

[Dahobbs 17,625]

Anyone know of a good "just refrigerator" option? I dont need a freezer (have a separate one) and quite frankly dont need a very large refrigerator. I just want a nice smallish refrigerator (not a mini). It seems i am not a market catered to, at least not in the United States. 

[ChickenSandwich 9,843]

Maytag French Door has been nails. 

Best feature is the ice machine and water dispenser are in the fridge and not the freezer. You can even use it while having one door open. What it does is give you more freezer space which is the most limiting factor for French doors IMO (many have the top drawer for the ice maker/holder in the freezer)

[Brewin’1up 34]

We just remodeled our kitchen last year. The wife wanted the appliances to match, so ALL our appliances are Samsung from HD... No problems so far, but all this hate for Samsung has me worried... fingers crossed.

[3adays 454]

Anyone bought a refrigerator lately and have a recommendation on where to get one? Seems COVID or something has everything out of stock at the usual places like Lowes and Home Depot. Some of the ones I’m looking at have estimated delivery dates of 12/28. 

[Hornbeliever 712]

Fwiw, our compressor in our 4 year old LG went out so hired repair man to fix.  He said he thinks most refrigerators are much lower quality now than 20years ago (blamed china).  He said he would buy LG (the irony) if he had to buy now but that average refrigerator life has decreased by a couple years siding expect much.

[midtown 3,346]

On 5/1/2018 at 8:58 AM, BottleRocket said:

We've spent as much as we originally paid for it over the course of 3 repairs.  I asked the last repair tech if we should just go ahead and buy a new one and he said that everything that could go wrong with it has been replaced so we should be good for a few more years.  Don't get a Samsung.

This 10x.   When I was closing on my house the fridge was still here the day before.   Owner lived in the valley so I offered him $500 for a $2500 fridge.  Worked fine for 6 years.   Then it started leaking water and freezing up.  I pulled it apart and defrosted it and melted the iceberg.   A month later frozen again.   Paid $450 to fix it.  Two weeks later. Same problem.  Repair guy came out and said first repair forgot to put a doohickey in.   Worked for a month then same problem again.  Another $150 repair.  Worked for two weeks and same problem again.   I'm done with the repairs and Im just going to limp along for a few months and buy a new one.    So I'm subscribed.   DO NOT BUY A SAMSUNG!!

[Gil Bang 25,975]

On 5/18/2018 at 5:13 AM, Dahobbs said:

Anyone know of a good "just refrigerator" option? I dont need a freezer (have a separate one) and quite frankly dont need a very large refrigerator. I just want a nice smallish refrigerator (not a mini). It seems i am not a market catered to, at least not in the United States. 

this one is a fridge OR freezer, just flip a switch. 

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Midea-13-8-cu-ft-Frost-free-Convertible-Upright-Freezer/1001272606

[Gil Bang 25,975]

3 hours ago, 3adays said:

Anyone bought a refrigerator lately and have a recommendation on where to get one? Seems COVID or something has everything out of stock at the usual places like Lowes and Home Depot. Some of the ones I’m looking at have estimated delivery dates of 12/28. 

I just sold a home to a woman, and it took 3 weeks for hers to get delivered.  I had to take my garage beer fridge to her as an emergency loaner.

[Updawg 2,268]

Ice maker just crapped out on my Samsung. Ordered a new one for $130. Looks like it’s easy to replace. Hopefully it works

[TwiceHorn 31,495]

Well, it's been a couple more years with the Kitchen Aide, and still going strong.

I'm not a huge fan of the french doors, in part because there is a full-width sandwich/meat tray that you have to open both doors to access.  Also, sometimes you just open the wrong door and have to open the other to get at whatever.  Finally, there is a "flap" on the left door that is used to seal the two doors when they are closed.  It works fine, but the flap impedes or slows the closing of the left door so if you aren't pretty deliberate about closing it, you're gonna get a ding.

Most of that is inherent to french door rather than Kitchen Aide, although there may be different "flap" arrangements that don't impede door closing.

On the very positive note, however, the icemaker and door dispenser are still going strong.  This has an icemaker in the top of the reefer box that pukes cubes out into an insulated box in the left door.  The cubes are dispensed from that box out the door either whole or crushed and the whole system just works.  This is 9.5 years in.  Two minor gripes about it.  There is not a huge volume of ice in the box in the reefer such as for filling coolers.  It is plenty enough for cold drinks.  Also the ice box is in the left door, adding weight that also contributes to the left door failing to close from just a casual shove.

But 10 years without failure from an icemaker?  Fucking impressive if you ask me.

[Horn_Spanker 524]

Two years in with a Whirlpool side by side.  Fridge is functioning fine, but I hate the narrowness of the doors.  I'm not a large guy, but seem to have to scrunch in my shoulders just to put something in the fridge.

[Your Mom 4,806]

On 9/26/2020 at 11:29 AM, Gil Bang said:

I just sold a home to a woman, and it took 3 weeks for hers to get delivered.  I had to take my garage beer fridge to her as an emergency loaner.

That's quite an angle you got going there.  Solid move.  

[BearSchlong 8,098]

Fwiw, our compressor in our 4 year old LG went out so hired repair man to fix.  He said he thinks most refrigerators are much lower quality now than 20years ago (blamed china).  He said he would buy LG (the irony) if he had to buy now but that average refrigerator life has decreased by a couple years siding expect much.

Just bought a LG dishwasher and my new fridge will be an LG.

Had separate discussions with managers of several big box stores (HD, Lowes, Conns) and they all confirmed that GE and the old American brands have awful reliability and that LG is the consensus choice.

[Gil Bang 25,975]

they lied to you.  LG is hammered dogshit.   Buy the extended warranty if you're gonna buy that Korean trash.  

 

[LebongJames 1,812]

16 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

they lied to you.  LG is hammered dogshit.   Buy the extended warranty if you're gonna buy that Korean trash.  

 

This. LG is complete garbage. I think the main thing is most appliances aren’t as reliable as they used to be.

 

[skeeter 454]

Last GE we bought didn’t last too long.  Bought it in 2008 and had nothing but problems ... door water dispenser would freeze up; freezer coils would ice up because defrosting elements burned out; condenser fan burned out.

Going on 8 years with a Kitchen Aide we purchased from Oliver Dyers in Ft Worth.  Salesman sold it to us at 5% above cost because the lady that ordered it didn’t like the style of the diamond-cut door handles.  Best fridge we’ve owned since the top freezer Kenmore we bought new in 1976.  Moved it into the garage as a beer fridge in 2000.  Finally died in summer of 2005 after my youngest graduated high school.

[Gil Bang 25,975]

1 minute ago, skeeter said:

Last GE we bought didn’t last too long.  Bought it in 2008 and had nothing but problems ... door water dispenser would freeze up; freezer coils would ice up because defrosting elements burned out; condenser fan burned out.

Going on 8 years with a Kitchen Aide we purchased from Oliver Dyers in Ft Worth.  Salesman sold it to us at 5% above cost because the lady that ordered it didn’t like the style of the diamond-cut door handles.  Best fridge we’ve owned since the top freezer Kenmore we bought new in 1976.  Moved it into the garage as a beer fridge in 2000.  Finally died in summer of 2005 after my youngest graduated high school.

I'm curious about the relationship between your kid and high school, and the fridge.

[skeeter 454]

13 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

I'm curious about the relationship between your kid and high school, and the fridge.

well, he wasn’t stealing the cervesa ... he’s 33 now and a wine drinker, NTTAWWT. 

[ohchaucer 1,443]

Sorry for a big bump. But wondering any thoughts on this.

Three years ago, bought a Samsung French door for the kitchen and a smaller Frigidaire for the garage.

The Samsung works fine except, of course, the piece of shit ice maker doesn’t work at all. So we have just been rolling with it. $600 repair not worth it.

Then the garage fridge is crapping out and apparently has a Freon leak. $1200 repair definitely not worth it (fridge cost $700 or so)

So two options:
1) new kitchen fridge, put Samsung in garage, chuck the Frigidaire

Or

2) keep Samsung in kitchen and repair ice maker and just replace garage fridge

Obviously 1 is more expensive but then it’s an all around upgrade.

I think we would be getting a GE cafe to match rest of kitchen.

[Gene Parmesan 4,008]

32 minutes ago, ohchaucer said:

Sorry for a big bump. But wondering any thoughts on this.

Three years ago, bought a Samsung French door for the kitchen and a smaller Frigidaire for the garage.

The Samsung works fine except, of course, the piece of shit ice maker doesn’t work at all. So we have just been rolling with it. $600 repair not worth it.

Then the garage fridge is crapping out and apparently has a Freon leak. $1200 repair definitely not worth it (fridge cost $700 or so)

So two options:
1) new kitchen fridge, put Samsung in garage, chuck the Frigidaire

Or

2) keep Samsung in kitchen and repair ice maker and just replace garage fridge

Obviously 1 is more expensive but then it’s an all around upgrade.

I think we would be getting a GE cafe to match rest of kitchen.

1 is the no brainer if you can swing it.  Another cutting cost option is to use a countertop ice maker for the kitchen.  That is what we did.  I wouldn't spend money on reparing anything on that Samsung.  From what I've read it's still an issue after repairs.  My brother was lucky enough for his to continue to crap out under warranty and they eventually just bought it back after numerous tries to fix.  Mine crapped out after the warranty, and I'm not spending a dime on that POS.  

[horn4life 3,762]

55 minutes ago, ohchaucer said:

Sorry for a big bump. But wondering any thoughts on this.

Three years ago, bought a Samsung French door for the kitchen and a smaller Frigidaire for the garage.

The Samsung works fine except, of course, the piece of shit ice maker doesn’t work at all. So we have just been rolling with it. $600 repair not worth it.

Then the garage fridge is crapping out and apparently has a Freon leak. $1200 repair definitely not worth it (fridge cost $700 or so)

So two options:
1) new kitchen fridge, put Samsung in garage, chuck the Frigidaire

Or

2) keep Samsung in kitchen and repair ice maker and just replace garage fridge

Obviously 1 is more expensive but then it’s an all around upgrade.

I think we would be getting a GE cafe to match rest of kitchen.

I have replaced quite a few ice makers and usually the part is pretty cheap, and the access is tight, but that $600 seems high? Part is usually $75 - $150.

7 minutes ago, Gene Parmesan said:

1 is the no brainer if you can swing it.  Another cutting cost option is to use a countertop ice maker for the kitchen.  That is what we did.  I wouldn't spend money on reparing anything on that Samsung.  From what I've read it's still an issue after repairs.  My brother was lucky enough for his to continue to crap out under warranty and they eventually just bought it back after numerous tries to fix.  Mine crapped out after the warranty, and I'm not spending a dime on that POS.  

Did you guys have the icemaker in the bottom as on French door?  Or the Door mount?

The reason I ask I I got a great deal on a bottom freezer French Door refrigerator from Costco, but they put a small dent on it.  Five minutes ago I agreed to a replacement. But if the fucking icemaker is going to take a shi, I may have to rethink.

For me having the garage fridge is about as much about ice as it is refrigeration.  I took out the ice tray of the last fridge and put in big plastic file cabinet bottom.  it would hold a little over 10 lbs of ice.  Saved a lot of annoying trips to convenience store.

SHIT TONS OF FRIDGES ARE ON SALE UNTIL JUNE 6th!!!!

Costco has some very steep discounts as does home depot and lowes.

 

 

[tokamak 6,431]

We used to have a French door, bottom freezer Samsung. Ice maker would periodically stop working and I figured out it was because the water line was freezing up. Shitty design. About once a year I’d have to pull the tube out from the back (pretty easy aside from getting behind the fridge) and run hot water through it to clear it. Might be worth a check first before you spend a bunch of money. 

[Gene Parmesan 4,008]

2 minutes ago, horn4life said:

I have replaced quite a few ice makers and usually the part is pretty cheap, and the access is tight, but that $600 seems high? Part is usually $75 - $150.

Did you guys have the icemaker in the bottom as on French door?  Or the Door mount?

The reason I ask I I got a great deal on a bottom freezer French Door refrigerator from Costco, but they put a small dent on it.  Five minutes ago I agreed to a replacement. But if the fucking icemaker is going to take a shi, I may have to rethink.

For me having the garage fridge is about as much about ice as it is refrigeration.  I took out the ice tray of the last fridge and put in big plastic file cabinet bottom.  it would hold a little over 10 lbs of ice.  Saved a lot of annoying trips to convenience store.

SHIT TONS OF FRIDGES ARE ON SALE UNTIL JUNE 6th!!!!

Costco has some very steep discounts as does home depot and lowes.

 

 

Mine is French door but it's door mount ice maker.  I don't have any need for a garage fridge, so I don't really have anywhere to put this to pasture while still getting some use out of it.

[CooterBrown 18,014]

Any room for a separate under the counter ice maker or in a pantry? That’s the direction I would go if I could. Fridge ice makers leave a lot to be desired.