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Which refriderator???


mrzoom

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Time for a new one. The one we have came with the house and it works well however it's a side by side and it just doesn't have a good use of space.

:cry:The little woman wants a new one in white, which limits selection, with French doors and a bottom freezer and cold water & ice in the door .

I have read many reviews and now am more confused than ever.

A fridge used to last forever now I read horror stories of short life, many service calls and poor performance on the new designs.

What has been working for you.?? Any USA made ones.??

Oh ya, I am also a cheapskate so no $3000.00 + ones. :grin:

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In general, refrigerators with bottom freezers are considered more efficient and reliable. Consumer Reports is probably your best source of information, especially when it comes to reliability scores.

 

Not a refrigerator, but my mother bought a Whirlpool oven last October; it had a broken control panel, and Whirlpool customer support was abominable. After 6 months, it was finally repaired yesterday. I will never buy another Whirlpool product.

 

Given equal quality, I will generally buy American, but the Koreans are producing some very nice appliances. Do your research, take your wife around to stores, and let her make the final decision.

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Danny caddyshack Noonan

Lately been unhappy with LG and happy with Samsung. Needed to buy a second one, of a specific configuration, and couldn't find anything except stainless.

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szurszewski

Just did a lot of shopping. Wanted what you want, but in stainless and we have a weirdly small space (27"), and WITHOUT any ice or water, so we opted to drop the french door requirement as limited us to like three choices at all.

 

After much shopping, we ended up with a Kenmore which was on sale for under a grand. The model of it you would want is about $1500 or a little less. We've only had it for a month or so, but it's been good. The finish is not as nice as our previous GE of the same specs and about the same price (eight years ago). The GE ate its main control board about three and a half years in (guess how long the warranty on that part was for? yep - three years), which I replaced myself with $125 replacement part. Earlier this year it, I believe, had one of the two main fans die. $325 part - and that was the online/not direct from GE price, so I decided I'd rather just get a new one than mess with it - especially since I wasn't sure this time.

 

I would definitely go through Consumer Reports carefully. I would also be very specific about ratings to model or model-tier as quality seems to vary greatly from tier to tier w/in a given manufacturer.

 

I will suggest you stay away from GE though. We got no love from them regarding the original problem with that fridge, and yet I still bought a hybrid/heatpump water heater of theirs last year. Features-wise, I like it, but there are a couple of things I think it's not quite doing correctly, and talking to them about it has been zero help.

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Guest Kakugo

Twenty years ago I would have suggested GE in a heartbeat. My grandmother had one and, apart from new door gaskets, it needed absolutely nothing in almost forty years of ownership.

But now... they have gone down a very long way.

 

When it comes to home appliances right now, these days it's really down to two in my opinion: Miele and Panasonic.

I know Miele is considered a "boutique" brand in the US so you may want to skip it because of the price tag attached. Still, very, very solid machines, highly durable and spare parts are both cheap (here) and readily available. And did I mention Miele is still family owned?

Panasonic home appliances were originally developed for Third World countries. They are the Toyota Hi-Lux of refrigerators, rice cookers, microwave ovens etc: they will just go on and on and on in the worst possible conditions imaginable. Just like on the Hi-Lux do not expect luxury or needless gadgets: just rugged functionality.

Did I mention they are reasonably priced as well? ;)

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I still bought a hybrid/heatpump water heater of theirs last year. Features-wise, I like it, but there are a couple of things I think it's not quite doing correctly, and talking to them about it has been zero help.

 

Best of luck with that. They are a brilliant idea, but the execution seems to be poorly done. I have a coworker who has had to have his repaired at least once a year for the past 4 years. I was looking into putting one in my basement/laundry room, but between his situation and what horror stories I read online......no thanks. It was just one bad experience after another.

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szurszewski

You're a ray of sunshine Keith - thanks :)

 

The upsides so far are that we use a lot less electricity to heat water, AND we use a lot less electricity to run the separate dehumidifier in the basement (installed in a basement laundry room, so it cools the basement as well - which is fine for us as we don't really heat it anyway and it's nice to have it cool and dry in the summer), and we're more careful with our hot water use. It definitely does not produce the same volume of hot water that the same size conventional water heater produced.

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Stan Walker

The one we have came with the house and it works well

 

Based on the above comments I think I'd keep it!!!!

 

I'm keeping my 24 year old Kenmore side by side. It works well, has only needed minor repairs (ice maker rusted), is paid for, and is large enough for my needs.

 

New electronic units look a lot less reliable. Same for washers and dryers. My Kenmore washer and dryer (gas) are 25 years old.

 

I must like old things. My F150 pickup is 23 years old.

 

Hopefully they all will outlast me...... :)

 

Stan

 

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Bought a bottom freezer Amana nineteen years ago because it had about the highest efficiency available. Bought a second one five years later for the mother-in-law suite in the new house. Both have worked perfectly with no repairs. The newer freezer has a slide-out drawer which is more convenient for seeing the food, but sometimes spills ice on the floor if the ice bin is full. Also requires a visual check to verify the drawer is closed (really needs a spring return for the last inch or two). We could not see an advantage to the french doors. One door gives access to everything, two would just mean the item we want will be behind the door we had not yet opened.

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greiffster

When we built the new house, we went from a side by side to a French door because they are all the rage and my wife just had to have it. This was a few years ago and cost difference was dramatic given they were the same measured capacity. Our next fridge will be a side by side.

 

We both feel that there is less usable capacity for our needs. I guess that mostly depends on what you fill it with. We don't like how you mostly pile stuff in the freezer whereas the SXS seems more compartmentalized. Obviously makes and models differ. Some have multiple drawers on the bottom. Here's a couple of annoying things about ours to consider...

 

1. The crisper drawer at the bottom of the fridge section is full width, so both doors must be open. Minor.

 

2. The ice and water dispenser in the left door will not operate when your 16 y.o. opens the right door to grab a Coke. This infuriates me. As an engineer, I see no logical explanation for this. Naturally, now all three kids do it on purpose.

 

3. The ice maker sucks and is tiny. I've seen some redesigns and they all seem to be bigger now. But, ours is very skinny and you have to pull the drawer out and stick you hand in this little tiny hole (remember, it's in its own little freezer up there because it actually lives in the fridge part.)

 

We're over it and will have our SXS back.

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greiffster

I like GE.

 

The last 500 or so homes we built, probably 495 had full GE appliance packages including refrigerators, dishwasher, microwaves, ranges, cooktops, and wall ovens. We have had very few issues that I know of. And of those few, they were mostly cosmetic as they came out of the box, or a microwave that blew up upon installation. GE has been good with warranty. Sometimes a pain to schedule, but they get it taken care of. I am sure that our buyers have had issues with their appliances past our standard builder warranty and the extended appliance warranty.

 

When I built my house a few year ago, I put in GE. And my vendor carries everything.

 

Just my $.02.

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Yes the older ones are proby better but can't find a new/old stock.

This sxs is a Kitchen Aid Superba. 14 years old.I also removed all 14 yrs. of dust from the coils when we moved in. PO was not much on maintenance.

Drawbacks.. Ice maker in freezer takes up 2 shelves of space. I have it turned off but it still produces enough frost around the drop slot so you can't open the door. I have to chisel frost to make the door close. :(

Shelves in fridge side are 3" from the back with a sloping trim so 4" total. I know this is for air circulation but it wastes a lot of space. Can't fit a 16" pizza flat or platters.

CR reported a GE top of the line a while back as best but 1 year later there were

lots of reviews, all negative. I don't trust CR anymore, remember they said Nash was the car to buy in the 50's. :dopeslap:

Since it will be raining here this weekend we might make the 2 mile trip to the really big appliance store as kick some tires.

I'll take my dog tags and ask for a discount. :thumbsup:

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We bought a Kenmore Elite with bottom freezer about 18 mo ago. So far we like it. It replaced a Kenmore side-by-side and I think it's a much more efficient configuration. My main complaint is that it's big, probably bigger than we need, and stuff can get lost in it. It just barely fit in the space, and I mean barely, so measure carefully. One interesting thing is that the real stainless steel ones aren't magnetic so all those refrigerator magnets won't work any more. Also, I think there are only a couple of manufacturers so the guts of most of them are essentially the same.

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Bill_Walker
Time for a new one. The one we have came with the house and it works well however it's a side by side and it just doesn't have a good use of space.

:cry:The little woman wants a new one in white, which limits selection, with French doors and a bottom freezer and cold water & ice in the door .

I have read many reviews and now am more confused than ever.

A fridge used to last forever now I read horror stories of short life, many service calls and poor performance on the new designs.

What has been working for you.?? Any USA made ones.??

Oh ya, I am also a cheapskate so no $3000.00 + ones. :grin:

 

I think "bottom freezer" and "ice in the door" are mutually exclusive.

 

We needed a counter depth fridge for our new place in '08 and got a french door, bottom freezer Kenmore that I believe is actually made by LG (Kenmore Elite Model 795.78723800). It's been trouble-free. It has a water dispenser in the fridge door, but you have to open the bottom freezer drawer to get ice from the ice maker. No big deal as far as we're concerned. It's been trouble-free. You do lose a lot of space going for a counter-depth fridge, but that's all that would fit in our kitchen.

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...Oh ya, I am also a cheapskate so no $3000.00 + ones....

 

If you're serious about being a cheapskate, the best program for you to be on, is to stop in at your local used-appliance/repair shop. Don't dismiss it - you won't walk out with a harvest gold Westinghouse. They'll have all manner of units, just a couple years old, look brand-spanking-new, come with a warranty, and are (relatively) dirt cheap.

 

Just go look. You'll be surprised.

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We have a side by side due to space constraints, and I absolutely hate it. I tend to make large quantities of food several times a year (ie 40 lbs of pulled pork or 8-10 racks of ribs at once). I also bake quite a bit in the cooler months. Our side by side frustrates the hell out of me because I can barely slide a cookie sheet into it, and when I do it takes up an entire shelf front to back. I really wish I could slide them in sideways like a could with a standard fridge. I'm not sure how crazy I am about having the freezer on the bottom, but it makes sense from an engineering standpoint. My parents have that style and I know my Mom really likes it. One of these days I'll get around to remodeling the kitchen and will get what I want. Then this POS and be my beer fridge in the garage.

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Glenn Reed
2. The ice and water dispenser in the left door will not operate when your 16 y.o. opens the right door to grab a Coke. This infuriates me. As an engineer, I see no logical explanation for this. Naturally, now all three kids do it on purpose.

 

:rofl:

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John Ranalletta

The condo we occupy in FL is a big, fancy 2-door GE w/ ice crusher & water in the door. I'd never get one. The relatively minor convenience it provides does seem to outweigh their bulk, complexity, etc.

 

I'm reminded of the gas-fired Servel we had as kids. Basic frig that had to be re-lit when a draft extinguished the flame.

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greiffster
I still bought a hybrid/heatpump water heater of theirs last year. Features-wise, I like it, but there are a couple of things I think it's not quite doing correctly, and talking to them about it has been zero help.

 

Best of luck with that. They are a brilliant idea, but the execution seems to be poorly done.

 

Get used to it. Thanks to your federal government and the NAECA 2015, as of 4/16/15, all water heaters must meet the new standards. See NAECA 2015. This is AO Smith's website but it has links.

 

A regular water is a basic appliance. Tank, couple valves, thermostat and either 2 electrical elements or a gas burner. Not much to go wrong. Although, at about age 10 they like to start leaking, especially if the t-stats are turned up high. But, alas, cheap to replace. Not no more.

 

Basically, the new standard increases efficiency requirements with size, so anything above 50 gal. or so needs to be a hybrid heatpump or a gas vortex. Super expensive. So, all of you out there with 80 gal HWH, like me, get ready to open you wallets when its time to replace. Say $1800+. Or go with a smaller unit.

 

And of course home builders will be passing that cost on to the new home buyers.

 

Thank you feds, may I have another. :P

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We just went through the same process as you're contemplating but our situation may be somewhat different than yours. We first had a rethink of how we used our fridge/freezer which sent us in a slightly different direction. We decided to replace our typical fridge w/ top freezer with an all-fridge. Like yours, ours was working fine but not meeting our needs.

 

The appliance industry has been channeling the market into stainless for some time and that's where they load their machines with all the bells and whistles, fit and finish along with better profit margins not to mention more maintenance issues for the owner. Comparable painted and stainless units are easily several hundred dollars apart and now they're introducing a new trend - black stainless. Here we go again! You mentioned no $3,000 machine for you. We were surprised to see domestic fridges in the appliance section of a local furniture chain listed at $6,700 and then there's the semi-commercial units like SubZero that start above that.

 

We have a deep drilled well and we love "the taste" of our water, it's cold out of the tap so we have no need for a water dispenser. We also have an upright full size freezer just steps from the kitchen. We fall into usage much like Keith describes - a need for a bulk fridge.

 

We took the route that Elkroeger suggested and shopped used partly because we didn't want to go to the expense of a new machine for our "experiment". It's amazing how many excellent units are available mostly because the PO upgraded their kitchen to get on the stainless bandwagon. The fridge we ended up with is a white all fridge. The old fridge with top freezer had two drawers and three shelves. The all fridge has 3 drawers and and 5 shelves. The contents of the fridge's freezer were simply moved over to the upright freezer.

 

We're only a month or so into this new arrangement but the rethink of what we want according to our lifestyle is working much better for us in the separation of the fridge/freezer department. In the old scheme of things we were finding a lot of spoilage of produce likely because the fridge was crammed contributing to a lack of air circulation. We're not experiencing that in the replacement fridge as we're able to spread things out better and to organize them better as well.

 

As for dependability, after talking to an appliance repair shop (that doesn't retail units and have no vested interest in promoting a particular brand) and listening to a favourite appliance repair trouble shooting phone in radio show, we've come to the conclusion that dependability in new and recent generation machines just isn't what we've been used to. Part of that of course is loading these machines with bells and whistles but also solid state circuit boards that don't seem to deal well with electricity surges / outages which tend to be a bigger issue with our rural situation compared urban supply. Having said that, I was both pleased and surprised that a service person was able to use the self diagnosis feature on our several year old front load washing machine to pinpoint the source of the problem we were having with this machine. I guess you win some and you lose some.

 

Let us know what you end up with and how it's working out for you.

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szurszewski

I think "bottom freezer" and "ice in the door" are mutually exclusive.

 

 

Nope - as noted above, they just put a tiny little freezer right in the door just for the ice maker. Seems a bit ridiculous to me, but then we use ice so infrequently when we do fill up the standard old fashioned ice cube trays, sublimation usually empties them for us :)

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We have had a Samsung for 3 years now. Upper French door fridge and lower freezer. Icemaker and cold water built into the left upper door. Since it was "last year's model" we got it for about $1,000 off and a 3 year warranty thrown in.

 

The good:

1) Food (especially vegetables) lasts much longer than in the previous SxS GE high-end. Actually longer than in any refrigerator we have ever owned. I presume that is due to better temperature control. Probably saved many $$ by throwing out less perishables.

2) Freezer section holds about 2x what the SxS GE held. And larger items too.

3) Seems very quiet & energy efficient.

 

BUT - the bad:

1) Water filters are hit-and-miss as to whether they leak or not (any leaking water collects in the deli/cheese drawer or below that in a tray).

2) If you use the icemaker a lot the cooling coil is in the fridge compartment and condensation collects in the bottom of the fridge compartment. A fairly minor redesign of the drain would solve the problem. If you get the "ice only" model with the icemaker in the lower freezer drawer you avoid this problem.

 

I read some of the appliance forums and I don't think Samsung has corrected those problems entirely. In the end I just turned off the water and make ice in ice cube trays. Not a drop of water now!! I'm ready to try again now that summer is here and I crave cold water.

 

Good luck with your search. I doubt you will find a white model on the floor of any appliance store unless it is an upper freezer, main fridge or SxS. I do see that more are available by special order.

 

Mike Cassidy

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Glenn Reed

One thing we did was use our local Sears Outlet. They have a selection of appliances that have been returned, sometimes for trivial reasons, as well as brand new in box. We got our French Door, Kenmore Elite there a couple of years ago and it has been no problem. (knock wood)

 

And it's white!

 

We don't use the icemaker function since the house isn't plumbed for it. This one also does not have any ice or water in the door.

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greiffster
This one also does not have any ice or water in the door.

 

How are you surviving? :rofl:

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And the winner is Frigidaire :clap:

It had most of the features we wanted and of course it was on sale. the store even had one in white in stock.

We are going to buy the 5 year warranty for $250.00

which covers parts, labor and service calls. It is provided by their own service department so I know where to go if there are

any problems.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

Next purchase will be an over the stove hood. The present one doesn't vent to the outside so it distributes grease all over the kitchen. :dopeslap: Who does that.???

Stay tuned for further developments.

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greiffster

Next purchase will be an over the stove hood. The present one doesn't vent to the outside so it distributes grease all over the kitchen. :dopeslap: Who does that.???

 

 

Most builders. The code allows for hoods to be the recirculating type if designed that way and other natural ventilation is present (i.e. window). It's poorly written.

 

IRC

SECTION M1503

RANGE HOODS

M1503.1 General.

Range hoods shall discharge to the out-doors through a single-wall duct. The duct serving the hood shall have a smooth interior surface, shall be air tight and shall be equipped with a backdraft damper. Ducts serving range hoods shall not terminate in an attic or crawl space or areas inside the building.

 

Exception:

Where installed in accordance with the manu-facturer’s installation instructions, and where mechanical or natural ventilation is otherwise provided, listed and labeled ductless range hoods shall not be required to discharge to the outdoors.

 

 

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Well, that certainly clears the air.

Now to find a model that will fit over the cook top without having to install new cabinets in the whole kitchen. :cry:

The vent sellers will install vent but they want the ductwork

to the outside installed first. My ?? is how do you do that

without knowing where ductwork will end up.? They say "any"

HVA can follow the vent set up instructions but what if the

vent outlet and duct don't line up??

Maybe we should just do all the cooking outside on the grill. :rofl:

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Yes, hood is under the cabinet with a 5" fascia board that hides the present noise maker. We have scheduled for the vent installer to come over first and take a look at the space to see if the Broan hood the wife wants will fit without too much chop and hack. I have some concerns about trim and other boards up under there. If all is well then we will have the vent ordered since white is a non stocking color :dopeslap:

My HVAC guy will install the outside ductwork per the vent

instructions before the vent is installed. if it all lines up it will be a miracle.

 

This appliance has made the refrigermerator selection seem easy.

 

I just want an outside exhausting vent without a complete redo of the cabinets. :thumbsup:

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Glenn Reed
This one also does not have any ice or water in the door.

 

How are you surviving? :rofl:

 

It's a miracle I tell ya!

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greiffster

Normally, it's not an issue. The Broans are pretty flexible as far as attachment of the duct if it is hidden up in the cabinet. Running the duct out the back of the cabinet to daylight seems like the challenge.

 

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