What do I need to know when purchasing a refrigerator?

[vonfirmath]

Ours started leaking. We are going to see if we can turn off the water, etc. But it has pushed higher getting a new refrigerator

What do I need to consider in the different types? particularly French Door versus bottom freezer

 

[prairiewindmomma]

We have bought two in seven years. Expect that whatever you buy, it will only last 5-7 years.

[Forget-Me-Not]

The French doors all have bottom freezers.  Do you mean side-by-sides? I love the French door type because you can only open one side at a time and you have the whole width of the fridge if you want to put something big like a pizza or a cake in it.  I also love the extra pull-out refrigerator drawer below the French doors.  The last place we stayed had one but our new one does not and I miss it. 

[Miss Tick]

We avoided water and ice in the door as unnecessary and added complications. My mom's broke (water won't stop), but it doesn't make sense cost-wise to fix it, so she has had a sign on it for the last 8-10 years. I didn't even want an auto-ice maker, but couldn't find that. Sure enough, 6 months ago we were all home and dh walked through the kitchen and discovered water pouring stains out of the freezer. 😲 We replaced the I've maker ourselves, thanks to some guy on YouTube. So don't forget about YouTube!

@Forget-Me-Not   What do you keep in the pullout drawer?

[athena1277]

I have the one with French doors and bottom freezer and I hate it. My next fridge will be a side by side.  The bottom freezer is not easy to organize or see everything that’s in there.  It’s just a big pit of frozen stuff.  I want the shelves that you get in a side by side so I can better see what’s in there, what needs to be eaten, and what needs to be tossed much more easily.  

 

[vonfirmath]

18 minutes ago, athena1277 said:

I have the one with French doors and bottom freezer and I hate it. My next fridge will be a side by side.  The bottom freezer is not easy to organize or see everything that’s in there.  It’s just a big pit of frozen stuff.  I want the shelves that you get in a side by side so I can better see what’s in there, what needs to be eaten, and what needs to be tossed much more easily.  

 

I have a side by side currently and don't like it. The freezer side is TINY and hard to put anything in. The refrigerator side is not wide enough to put things like pizza boxes. I want the whole width  (this was not my choice of fridge. When we bought the house 10 years ago the sellers unexpectedly left the refrigerator behind and I could not justify buying a new one when we had a working one here!)

 

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by vonfirmath

[skimomma]

I suggest finding one from 1980?  For real, everyone I know that has purchased a fridge within the last 10 years has either had it repaired several times or has had to replace them....sometimes more than once.  With that in mind, when I am in that situation, I plan to look for the simplest model I can find in hopes that it will lessen the chances of something going wrong.  I currently have a 23 yo fridge that is still going strong but I know my days are numbered.  It is ugly as can be but I am hanging on to it as long as I can!

[Pawz4me]

We always go with basic two door, freezer on top models with no frills, not even an ice maker. More frills=more trouble and shorter lifespans. We have one refrigerator that's now 16 years old and still works fine. I don't need a fancy fridge that's half the size of my kitchen, I need one that works reliably. From all the reviews I've read the traditional two door, freezer on top, no frills models seem much more likely to do that.

[Clarita]

If you get a bottom drawer don't get the built-in ice maker in the door. That ice maker has a tendency to cause problems because they have to add extra mechanics to send the cold air from your freezer to the fridge door.

Otherwise I really like my bottom freezer much better than side by side.

[Kassia]

21 minutes ago, athena1277 said:

  The bottom freezer is not easy to organize or see everything that’s in there.  It’s just a big pit of frozen stuff.

 

My friend's son described it as a toy box and that's what I always think of.  Everything ends up on the bottom.  I keep an inventory of everything in there now and keep certain items in certain places to make it easier but it's a pain.

19 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

I have a side by side currently and don't like it. The freezer side is TINY and hard to put anything in. The refrigerator side is not wide enough to put things like pizza boxes. 

 

 

I haven't had a side by side but this is the reason I wouldn't ever get one (unless I didn't have a choice like you).  I've always heard about the space issue.

[Frances]

One thing I noticed when looking last year was that most did not have nearly enough door condiment/beverage storage space for our needs and we are only two people. It’s only the second fridge we’ve ever bought because our first one lasted over 20 years and is actually still working in our basement. We didn’t want a door water/ice dispenser and at first I was opposed to a freezer on the bottom, but it’s turned out fine, as it has two levels and several compartments. It does have an ice maker in the freezer which I love and use every day. We ended up with a Fisher & Paykel one after extensive research and looking. So far it’s great.

Edited August 31, 2022 by Frances

[barnwife]

I sincerely hope our fridge never dies. I hate both side by side and French door fridges. Give me a one door fridge with a freezer on top, like fridges are meant to be. However, when my mom replaced her fridge a few years ago, that wasn't even an option. 

She got the very last fridge that store sold that had a fridge with a freezer drawer on the bottom.

So I'd say what you need to know is how to repair yours!

[City Mouse]

One import thing to know is the size of your space so that you don’t get a refrigerator that is too large to fit.

[KungFuPanda]

2 hours ago, vonfirmath said:

Ours started leaking. We are going to see if we can turn off the water, etc. But it has pushed higher getting a new refrigerator

What do I need to consider in the different types? particularly French Door versus bottom freezer

 

You need to be prepared to take out a second mortgage. 

[Elizabeth86]

2 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

We have bought two in seven years. Expect that whatever you buy, it will only last 5-7 years.

Oh that’s awful. It occurred to me the other day ours is 16 years old and I’ve felt paranoid ever since. I hate the thought of a fridge going out and all the food going bad. I want to replace it, but dh doesn’t think so.

[KungFuPanda]

1 hour ago, Pawz4me said:

We always go with basic two door, freezer on top models with no frills, not even an ice maker. More frills=more trouble and shorter lifespans. We have one refrigerator that's now 16 years old and still works fine. I don't need a fancy fridge that's half the size of my kitchen, I need one that works reliably. From all the reviews I've read the traditional two door, freezer on top, no frills models seem much more likely to do that.

I don't have a space for the bigger, fancier fridges so I always end up with a basic one with the freezer on top.  We bought one when we got married in '93 and the second one about 18 years later.  The one we're using now has been going for over 10 years and is fine.  It's a bit bigger than our first one but has zero fun or fancy features.

1 hour ago, barnwife said:

I sincerely hope our fridge never dies. I hate both side by side and French door fridges. Give me a one door fridge with a freezer on top, like fridges are meant to be. However, when my mom replaced her fridge a few years ago, that wasn't even an option. 

She got the very last fridge that store sold that had a fridge with a freezer drawer on the bottom.

So I'd say what you need to know is how to repair yours!

They absolutely still have them.  They're not hard to find and right now there are Labor Day sales.  

[fraidycat]

Not just for fridges, my motto for ALL appliances is: The more bells and whistles it has, the more of a pain in the neck it will be. Get the non-fanciest one you can find. 
 

My current one is plain all-fridge, because the one we got with the house was newish, but a piece of junk. The shelves that were "split" so you could have a full shelf or push part of it back to put taller stuff in was super unreliable and would try to roll itself back with stuff on it. The bottom freezer drawer slides broke and couldn't find parts to fix it, so it was stuck closed! The ice maker took up a lot of room, etc. My kitchen wall configuration didn't allow for the french door on one side to open properly with the giant fancy handles, rendering the drawer on that side only half useable because there wasn't room to pull it out to get stuff in and out. And now, it's sitting in a scrap pile or landfill somewhere since we took it to the recyclers.

[cjzimmer1]

1 hour ago, vonfirmath said:

I have a side by side currently and don't like it. The freezer side is TINY and hard to put anything in. The refrigerator side is not wide enough to put things like pizza boxes. I want the whole width  (this was not my choice of fridge. When we bought the house 10 years ago the sellers unexpectedly left the refrigerator behind and I could not justify buying a new one when we had a working one here!)

 

 

all I can say about side by side is "size matters"  if you get the 28 cubic ones, than even 16 inches pizza boxes fit just fine in the fridge.  So does a half of  a sheet pan.  If you get the smaller versions, than yes you will have problems with those things.

 

I absolutely detest the freezer on the bottom style.  I always feel like I'm standing on my head to get anything out of them and it's so hard to find things.  I find it so easy to lose things on the wide shelves of french doors.  I find it much easier to not lose things on the side by side shelves but like I said "size matters"  get the biggest ones they make (like 27+ cubic).

 

Not to mention side by sides tend to be significantly cheaper than french doors.

Edited August 31, 2022 by cjzimmer1

[Tree Frog]

Know the difference between counter depth and standard depth. We just replaced our 10yo Samsung with a Bosch. We thought we might want a counter depth, but even for only 2 people, it wasn't quite enough space for what we wanted. 

We have a wall on one side and a counter on the other so we needed a door that didn't take up too much outside space when it was open. I'll

We ended up getting it at Lowes because I couldn't find a mom and pop appliance store that wasn't scratch and dent. We opened a credit account to purchase it because it gave a longer warranty and return window. While we were looking, we noticed many Whirlpool fridges had shelves missing. When a fridge was delivered, if a shelf was missing, the customer was told to get it from the display fridge at the store. We didn't want to deal with that hassle, so choose not to get a Whirlpool.

Home Depot has a reputation for being difficult to work with on warranty or replacement issues. 

Different Lowes have different fridges on display, so call a store to see if they have what you want. We purchased it from our closest store, but saw it at a different place.

[cintinative]

2 hours ago, Miss Tick said:

We avoided water and ice in the door as unnecessary and added complications.

This. Water and ice in the door just adds another thing to fix.  

Think about the size of your freezer items. Some side by sides can't accommodate certain pizzas.

Also, call your local repair people and ask what brands they would recommend.  I can't remember what they told us (we ended up with a Whirlpool) but they told us to avoid certain brands because they need their circuit boards replaced so often.

You could literally spend years looking at reviews online, and it's not completely useless. Just know that there will be negative comments on every model. You are looking for trends.

When we got ours, our fridge was still working, so we could afford to wait to buy. We ended up buying a few weeks before Black Friday.  Our credit card at the time had a price rewind benefit, so when the price dropped again for Black Friday we got the difference back to us via the price rewind feature. Unfortunately our card no longer offers that benefit.

I don't know if any of this advice will hold with buying in a pandemic. Most of my friends have had a horrible time buying appliances over the last year or two.

Edited August 31, 2022 by cintinative

[barnwife]

40 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

 

They absolutely still have them.  They're not hard to find and right now there are Labor Day sales.  

I should have been more explicit. The one appliance store in her tiny town had made the decision to not stock my preferred type of fridge. I have no idea what's in stock in our local appliance store in our almost as tiny town. I just know that I'd rather try all the DIY fixing tips I can find online before going to a side by side or French door fridge.

[Clarita]

For the bottomless pit bottom freezer comments, mine has 3 pull out drawers with optional dividers so it's less of an abyss in there. I did, however get the largest fridge I could 9 years ago (32 cubic is what I found) so there is a lot of buried treasure in there. The bottom freezer with drawers is great because I can fit the entire NY pizza box in there or 2 cookie sheets flat (great for freezing wontons). 

[Kassia]

58 minutes ago, Elizabeth86 said:

Oh that’s awful. It occurred to me the other day ours is 16 years old and I’ve felt paranoid ever since. I hate the thought of a fridge going out and all the food going bad. I want to replace it, but dh doesn’t think so.

Yes, this is such a big fear of mine.  Most appliances you can live without for a while but the fridge going out would be a huge loss and hassle.

[Pawz4me]

6 minutes ago, Kassia said:

Yes, this is such a big fear of mine.  Most appliances you can live without for a while but the fridge going out would be a huge loss and hassle.

I bought a new one a couple of years ago for this very reason. It's such a hassle when a fridge goes out, plus I have a very expensive medication that has to be stored between 36-46 degrees. So we moved our still-running-fine fridge out to the garage and bought a new one. Now the old one is 16 yo and still humming along fine, but I don't regret buying a new one.

[kbutton]

3 hours ago, vonfirmath said:

Ours started leaking. We are going to see if we can turn off the water, etc. But it has pushed higher getting a new refrigerator

What do I need to consider in the different types? particularly French Door versus bottom freezer

When ours leaked, it wasn't the ice maker, as we found out after turning the water off. It was something to do with the freezer--water would condense, and when it would do it's defrost for the freezer, it would drip into the fridge. We kept a container in the back that collected water and kept using it until we moved.

3 hours ago, Pawz4me said:

We always go with basic two door, freezer on top models with no frills, not even an ice maker. More frills=more trouble and shorter lifespans. We have one refrigerator that's now 16 years old and still works fine. I don't need a fancy fridge that's half the size of my kitchen, I need one that works reliably. From all the reviews I've read the traditional two door, freezer on top, no frills models seem much more likely to do that.

The guy at Lowe's said the newer fridges that have the bells and whistles have terrible compressors. He was disappointed that we didn't listen to him and get an old-style fridge, but I was really tired of having the vegetable drawer mess near the floor--I wanted to be able to clean it up more easily. So far, our fridge is fine except the ice maker (it has a bent thingy that we could probably replace, but it would get bent again, sigh). I love the freezer drawer on bottom. Our old style one lasted long-ish, but it limped along for a long time while leaking, and it wasn't any easier to find things in the in on top freezer than in the on bottom freezer. We got a really good deal on the fancier one. Time will tell.

1 hour ago, KungFuPanda said:

You need to be prepared to take out a second mortgage. 

The prices in the last few years...yikes. 

Honestly, if ours goes out, I might try my luck at a reputable brand from a thrift store, lol!!! So many people replace all their appliances when one breaks or they remodel even a little bit.

[Roadrunner]

Whatever you do, stay away from Samsung. 
We have been battling weekly with ours - massive ice sheets forming, terrible noises… 

I have decided on GE or LG. I don’t care about style, but I want my next one to last more than 8 years. 
 

My DH keeps getting attracted to cool looking Samsungs. He just doesn’t learn his lesson. I told him, over my dead body. 

[prairiewindmomma]

55 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

I bought a new one a couple of years ago for this very reason. It's such a hassle when a fridge goes out, plus I have a very expensive medication that has to be stored between 36-46 degrees. So we moved our still-running-fine fridge out to the garage and bought a new one. Now the old one is 16 yo and still humming along fine, but I don't regret buying a new one.

This is exactly why we have two fridges and a minifridge in our house…preserving medications. When our fridge died again last year (three major repairs and then we said no more)—the new one took 6 weeks to be delivered. We survived only because we had the backup fridge.

[prairiewindmomma]

15 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

Whatever you do, stay away from Samsung. 
We have been battling weekly with ours - massive ice sheets forming, terrible noises… 

I have decided on GE or LG. I don’t care about style, but I want my next one to last more than 8 years. 
 

My DH keeps getting attracted to cool looking Samsungs. He just doesn’t learn his lesson. I told him, over my dead body. 

Yes, our Samsung had one repair year one, three repairs year four, and got replaced at 5 years, 1 week old when it needed another repair as the warranty expired.

[Kassia]

34 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

Whatever you do, stay away from Samsung. 
We have been battling weekly with ours - massive ice sheets forming, terrible noises… 

 

My DH keeps getting attracted to cool looking Samsungs. He just doesn’t learn his lesson. I told him, over my dead body. 

We get the ice sheets too.  Some of those things are dangerous - like a huge ice pick comes flying out when you open the drawer (if it isn't stuck from ice).  The drawer is either full of water or there's a huge sheet of ice causing it to get stuck underneath.  Horrible

ITA about "over my dead body."  Never never never another Samsung.  

[madteaparty]

Just that I would stay away from GE Monogram. And Samsung. Not sure what fridges are there they work as intended but it’s not those two IME

[stephanier.1765]

My father has always said (the same as many of you have) that the more features there are just means more things to break. I'd roll my eyes. You know what? That old man is right. LOL Hard lesson learned.

ETA: After reading @madteaparty reply, I agree whole heartedly about the trash Samsung fridges are. Just bad. So very bad.

Edited September 1, 2022 by stephanier.1765

[Spy Car]

My LG experience?

We have a just over 5 year old side-by-side LG with ice/water in the door. It was a fairly cheap model. Around $1000.

In late spring the LG Linear Compressor failed. They are evidently notorious for failing (and I think there was a major lawsuit).

When they don't fail, the LG compressor is fairly impressive. They do the job of refrigeration very well and they are energy efficient

Anyway, LG replaced the compressor quickly and w/o cost and rebated us $100 for food.

Then a month or so later the icemaker failed. The mechanism in the door went out as did the computer board on top.

My wife was super unhappy as the hot weather was just upon us and she needs her ice.

Again, LG quickly sent out a technician  and the parts were replaced w/o cost.

I'm not sure what to make of this exactly. I'm not thrilled by the failures, but....

Bill

 

[Roadrunner]

So no LG, no GE.

 

what should I get? 

[prairiewindmomma]

We only had a few choices to choose from when we went shopping a year ago….all stores had the same 4. Everything else in the 26-28ft3 size was backordered indefinitely. Hopefully supply has improved since then. 

[Ottakee]

Also, measure and measure again.  This morning s especially important if the fridge has to fit between two cabinets and/or has a cabinet above it.  Hard to find one that fits in some spaces in houses that are 20+ years old as fridges were smaller then 

[Janeway]

Do not buy a Samsung, no matter how pretty or amazing they seem to look on the floor. NO SAMSUNG APPLIANCES. Repeat after me...NO SAMSUNG APPLIANCES. That is the most important advice.

[Ann.without.an.e]

No on LG. We had a nice LG that I loved the function of but it only lasted 3.5 years and it died 😞  That was my first and last LG product lol. We replaced ours with a Kitchen Aid. Hopefully this one will last longer. So many other options were out of stock, backordered, or had supply issues. I also went appliance shopping with my dd a few months ago and you can't just go in and know that you'll have lots of options. You really are limited to availability unless you can wait a few months. 

I love the French doors (freezer on bottom). I like that I can place wider things in my fridge. I don't have ice in the bottom, only in the door. I really don't prefer side by side. Counter depth is cool but so little room that it isn't worth it so we avoided that. 

 

Edited September 1, 2022 by Ann.without.an.e

[Roadrunner]

So which ones are solid brands?

 

[Frances]

Our Fisher & Paykel came with a five year warranty, so that at least gives me some hope it will last. I also love how easy it is to pull out the produce, meat, and cheese drawers for cleaning or even cooking.

[HazelAnne]

Agreeing with the others that appliances aren’t made to last long now. (That’s what the appliance repair guy told me when he said I might as well buy a new fridge rather than spend nearly as much on repairing my fridge- which was only a few years old). So my recommendation would be to buy the least expensive one you can find with decent reviews. The less “fancy” features, the less there will be to break. 

[Clarita]

43 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

So which ones are solid brands?

I know right?

So glad my fridge with it's issues kept chugging along. It's a Kenmore Elite (a Sears branded fridge) which looks like an LG. Essentially it boils down to every 2-3 years I have to chip ice off a fan in the freezer. The "fix" they sent me for this problem doesn't really hook up to where it needs to hook up easily (sure I could solder the wires in to where they need to go, but let's remember it's in the freezer compartment and the parts are stuck inside the refrigerator). 

[Ann.without.an.e]

7 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

So which ones are solid brands?

 

When we did our research we were between kitchen aid and Bosch and maybe whirlpool. I can’t remember how we came to that conclusion (it was exactly a year ago). We eliminated LG and Samsung altogether. Can’t remember if we came to any conclusions on GE?

Edited September 1, 2022 by Ann.without.an.e

[Ann.without.an.e]

Also we got the extended warranty this time. Our LG was a big investment and to only last 3 ish years was insane. 

[vonfirmath]

2 hours ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

Also we got the extended warranty this time. Our LG was a big investment and to only last 3 ish years was insane. 

We are buying extended warranties on all major appliances "Well, at least it lasts X number of years" (Length of the warranty)

 

[Ann.without.an.e]

11 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

We are buying extended warranties on all major appliances "Well, at least it lasts X number of years" (Length of the warranty)

 

That’s our new rule too. It’s sad that you need a 5 year warranty to cover such an expensive item. In the last year we’ve had to replace our fridge and our washer and dryer and we got warranties on all of them. We used to never do that. 
 

ETA: what bugs me more than the money is the environmental impacts if everyone needs to replace such large items so frequently? Why can’t we just make them better, even if it costs a little more?

Edited September 1, 2022 by Ann.without.an.e

[cintinative]

Apparently I commented on a thread in 2017.   

 

In this thread I said our repair guys said to avoid Samsung and LG because they go through circuit boards like tissues.

[Janeway]

10 minutes ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

That’s our new rule too. It’s sad that you need a 5 year warranty to cover such an expensive item. In the last year we’ve had to replace our fridge and our washer and dryer and we got warranties on all of them. We used to never do that. 
 

ETA: what bugs me more than the money is the environmental impacts if everyone needs to replace such large items so frequently? Why can’t we just make them better, even if it costs a little more?

We can make them better. But then the companies would not sell as much. It is all about corporations making profits. The same exact reason the tobacco companies get away with so much. 

[Wildcat]

Our LG French style failed at 16 months, so not long out of warranty. It was also the compressor.

The repair guy said both LG and Samsung are so awful, they don't even replace the compressors because they will fail again and they purposely do not contract with either company to do warranty work because they lose money due to all the calls for those two brands.

13 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

So no LG, no GE.

 

what should I get? 

Kitchen Aid or Frigidaire. 

Our repair guy recommended those two brands and said he has never repaired a Frigidaire, either because not that many people buy them so there are fewer to break down, or because they are just that good, but that was the brand he was going to buy when he needed one. 

We considered the Kitchen Aid brand, but the configuration of storage in the doors and the exterior esthetics didn't mesh with what we were wanting.

We ended up with a Frigidaire from Lowe's. It's the French style freezer on the bottom with a drawer in the freezer. We absolutely love it and have no issues finding anything in there. The drawer is a big help in that regard.

 

 

[Ann.without.an.e]

9 minutes ago, Wildcat said:

 

Kitchen Aid or Frigidaire. 

 

If I remember correctly, kitchen aid, Frigidaire, Electrolux, and whirlpool are all made in the USA and from what we heard that makes quite a bit of difference. Samsung and LG are made overseas, mostly in China. 
 

GE was purchased by Electrolux just a few years ago and some people believe that has improved their quality a lot. They are made in the USA now too? I think?

Edited September 1, 2022 by Ann.without.an.e

[Bambam]

We always check Consumer Reports for their latest reviews/rankings. The library is useful for this if you don't have a subscription.
Size (width and height) and which way you want the door to open.
Do you want counter depth? (I think that is the term)
What color? 
Do you want ice/water in the door? This was a feature when we had younger kids at home so they would be sure to be able to get a drink easily. It is still important to use because we like our drinks cold, but it is an added point of failure. 

When we shopped last time there was one that had a coffee maker in the door too. I thought that was hilarious. Adding a heat generating device to a refrigerator? That didn't seem like a wise idea to me. 

And I'd consider budget. We looked at a lot of refrigerators last time. The freezer on the bottom looked really cool, but it also looks like I would lose stuff in there (this is the reason we have a less efficient standup freezer vs. a chest freezer!) But everyone's organizational style is different, so that may not be an issue in your case. Those freezer on the bottom refrigerators (which are supposed to be more efficient), were like almost $1K more. 

And, unfortunately, it probably isn't going to last 15-20 years.

Now that we are more plugged into our community, I think I would call our local appliance repair show (which we've had out to do maintenance on our current one) and ask what they recommend. I might also consider purchasing from them as well. I've never been to their showroom.  Their repair guy was friendly, efficient, and helpful - a good endorsement for his company.