Has anyone purchased new appliances lately?

[mamapjama]

I need to, a fridge in particular, and do not relish the idea of comparitive shopping. For anyone who has gone through this recently, any good sites for learning the pros/cons of each model? I find so many of the customer review sites can be hard to weed through and often times it is only the disgruntled customer who writes in.

[Carpe Diem]

We were looking for a fridge because we thought ours was dying but it is still kicking and not making its weird screaming sound. We looked on Lowe's site to see what people said about each model but for everyone who said they liked a product there was someone who disliked it. The salesman was fairly helpful by telling us which company makes several different brands. My dh liked the Samsung but I wasn't sure. Glad we didn't have to make up our mind.

 

Good luck!

[ElizabethB]

Join consumer reports!

[WiseOwlKnits]

We just bought a fridge over Labor Day weekend. We returned it the same day (it doesn't fit in the space in our kitchen, even though it was the same cubic feet as our old one). My FIL (who would know) told us that we should go with GE. Some other friends told us to stay away from Samsung (their customer service is awful). We didn't want a Frigidaire since that's what we had - our old fridge was 6 years old and temperature sensor caught on fire. We ended up buying a Whirlpool because there were no GE's that fit.

 

Whirlpool, Maytag, and Amana are all the same company, btw. That surprised me, but you can see it when you look at fridges - they're the same down to the logo on the front...the only difference is the name stamped on the front.

[Baseball mom]

We are going to be looking for one very soon (not because I want to mind you). I asked a repair man that I trust what brand is a good one. He said Whirlpool

[Dana]

Bought the fridge on Monday; it's being delivered tomorrow!

 

Had a repairman out to look at ours. He said (as we've read) that they aren't lasting as long. He's making service calls at 4-5 years instead of 8-10. :glare:

His recommendation was to buy a very basic model - don't get door dispensers for ice/water - just more to go wrong. He also suggested only getting "a name you recognize from when you were growing up." So he recommended against LG, Samsung, etc.

 

We used Consumer Reports (think the August issue has ratings - most libraries have a subscription). General info here.

 

We bought from Home Depot. Prices were lower than the CR prices, so that was encouraging.

 

Good luck in shopping! (It's miserable, isn't it? This time, I handed the CR to dh, told him what I wanted and didn't want, and told him to go buy it! We're getting a Maytag, I think. I'll know tomorrow :) )

[mamapjama]

Thanks everyone! Our fridge is about 12 years old and we have never had a single problem with it. With the kitchen reno it is going to be moved to the garage. Even though it was a while ago, I still remember how tiring it was trying to compare things that I knew nothing about!

 

Thanks for the recommendations!

[Elfinlady]

Just bought a Whirlpool fridge, and rather unhappy. When it runs, it's pretty loud, and it makes this sort of high pitched noise too. Someone is coming to look at it Friday, but I'd really just like to return it. :glare: