Basic fridge recommendation?

[madteaparty]

I’m full of consumer problems today. You’d think this would be easy—garage overflow fridge, don’t care about aesthetics nor any special features, but it needs to you know, do the fridge thing. The Frigidaire we have that’s less than a year old—the freezer does not work at all, and now the fridge part is also not cooling. It’s basically empty (ruined a bunch of salmon which I get in bulk from Alaska fishery people) so it’s not exactly overworked. It will need to be replaced, but with what? Many thanks for suggestions. 

[Katy]

Avoid Samsung. I hear good things about Maytag. 

[Pawz4me]

We have a basic Whirlpool that was purchased in 2020 and has been trouble free.

[Janeway]

Do not get Samsung. Anything but Samsung. That is my only advice.

[happypamama]

I love my Samsung, hahahaha. It's quiet and works great and has the flex zone on the top, which we use as a fridge space for drinks and leftovers, but it can be a freezer too. It's only 2.5 years old though. 

 

I will say I don't love the plastic door bins. They crack easily, just aren't sturdy. Buuuuut, I had the same issue with my LG fridge that is ten years old. In addition to all of the bins cracking, door or otherwise, the LG had a bad seal and was constant trouble for several years, even though they replaced the seal, and it would ice up regularly and start growling badly. It's a long story about how it stopped working after six years or so and then started working again so it is now our secondary fridge and lives in the basement, where it seems to be happier that it's not opened as often.

 

So part of me says that maybe we do something wrong regarding the door bins, but it also seems like they're just not well made. They're all very thin around the edge, whereas IIRC, the Kenmore I bought for our first house 24 years ago, had a sturdy plastic rim around the edges. (It gave us zero trouble for six years until we had to leave it when we moved.)

[cjzimmer1]

12 minutes ago, happypamama said:

I will say I don't love the plastic door bins. They crack easily, just aren't sturdy. Buuuuut, I had the same issue with my LG fridge that is ten years old. In addition to all of the bins cracking, door or otherwise, the LG had a bad seal and was constant trouble for several years, even though they replaced the seal, and it would ice up regularly and start growling badly. It's a long story about how it stopped working after six years or so and then started working again so it is now our secondary fridge and lives in the basement, where it seems to be happier that it's not opened as often.

 

So part of me says that maybe we do something wrong regarding the door bins, but it also seems like they're just not well made. They're all very thin around the edge, whereas IIRC, the Kenmore I bought for our first house 24 years ago, had a sturdy plastic rim around the edges. (It gave us zero trouble for six years until we had to leave it when we moved.)

I think it's the material they use for the clear bins.  Mine have cracked on Maytag, whirlpool and LG.  Makes me so frustrated because they break so easy and replacement drawers are so insanely priced.

However the old white material they used in my old basement fridge has held up for at least 15 years now without any cracks.

[history-fan]

Getting a “garage ready refrigerator “ may help especially if you have temperature changes where you live.

[Carol in Cal.]

I would personally look for a used, sturdy, running fridge.  They tend to be more robust than the ones that are being made now.

If I couldn’t find one, I would look for one that is made to be run outside as those are more capable of handling a large variety of ambient temperatures than the typical indoor ones.  

I also personally would get a fridge only and a freezer only pair.  That way I would only plug in the one I was actively using.  If it’s mostly for seasonal or temporary overflow, that’s much more efficient, at least out here where the garages get very hot in the summer.  For me this would work well because usually all I need is some extra freezer space, so I would run that year round, but during the Christmas season and then again in Lent I need extra fridge space, too, so that’s when I would plug in the fridge and use it for maybe only 2-3 cooler months, super cheap and very helpful.  

[madteaparty]

19 hours ago, Carol in Cal. said:

I would personally look for a used, sturdy, running fridge.  They tend to be more robust than the ones that are being made now.

If I couldn’t find one, I would look for one that is made to be run outside as those are more capable of handling a large variety of ambient temperatures than the typical indoor ones.  

I also personally would get a fridge only and a freezer only pair.  That way I would only plug in the one I was actively using.  If it’s mostly for seasonal or temporary overflow, that’s much more efficient, at least out here where the garages get very hot in the summer.  For me this would work well because usually all I need is some extra freezer space, so I would run that year round, but during the Christmas season and then again in Lent I need extra fridge space, too, so that’s when I would plug in the fridge and use it for maybe only 2-3 cooler months, super cheap and very helpful.  

See I can’t cope with finding and transporting used stuff.  I can’t even cope with calling Frigidaire about their absolute garbage brand new fridge that’s basically a shelf now. 
The temperature point is interesting. Garage is not heated, but we do not have massive temp fluctuations here. We don’t use (and don’t miss) central air for example 

[Roadrunner]

So I bought Forno fridge which you can set as a fridge or as a freezer and we love it. We have two of them sitting in the kitchen if you remember  -  one as a freezer and one as a fridge. 
Never buy Samsung. I am still traumatized from my last one. 

Honestly the best luck I have had with basic under $1000 ugly white fridges you find in apartments. 

Edited September 21 by Roadrunner

[madteaparty]

6 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

So I bought Forno fridge which you can set as a fridge or as a freezer and we love it. We have two of them sitting in the kitchen if you remember  -  one as a freezer and one as a fridge. 
Never buy Samsung. I am still traumatized from my last one. 

Honestly the best luck I have had with basic under $1000 ugly white fridges you find in apartments. 

This was an ugly under 1000 fridge! I thought by going basic I would be winning, but alas. My $$ GE monogram in the kitchen sometimes has trouble but it’s hanging on, and a good thing too as it’s not a standard size so replacing that one will be a trauma. 
I don’t remember your fridge set up at all

[ShepCarlin]

We have an LG that we bought 6-7 years ago. It is a basic model, no bells or whistles. I've been happy with it except for the crazy ice maker but it doesn't sound like you'd need an ice maker. 

[Halftime Hope]

I'm sorry about your Frigidaire. We bought a basic scratch-and-dent model in Jan 2020, pulled out the ice maker, and it's been great since then! Our LG which is the main fridge cost 5x, and we've had to replace the golf ball ice maker 3x, the first 2x being under warranty. (The LG fridge/freezer has been fine. It's the ice maker that's problematic.)

Maybe it's just that one model of Frigidaire that's a lemon?

[Terabith]

Our fridge died last week.  It was not new when we bought the house 17 years ago, so I guess it had a long life.  

However, our house is designed with a stupid refrigerator alcove.  The refrigerator alcove is not standard refrigerator size.  The only refrigerator that would fit in our stupid alcove and had reviews that said it would last longer than a year is a Maytag.  

I hate it so much.

It doesn't have an ice maker.  Which, whatever.  That's fine.  We can make our own ice cubes.  But what I really hate is that the top of the refrigerator is under my boobs.  I have to bend down to get anything off the top shelf, and I have to sit on the floor basically to get anything out of anywhere else in it.  It's a refrigerator designed for five year olds.

The freezer is nice and spacious.  More spacious than our old freezer.  But I hate the new fridge.  

It is, however, functional.  I'm trying to convince myself we're living in Europe, but it's just not working, what with the complete lack of universal health care or public transit.

[rebcoola]

We have a pro Frigidaire came with the house.  No freezer no ice maker basically nothing to go wrong and we love it. We have a separate stand up freezer and a garage chest freezer

 

[Carol in Cal.]

On 9/20/2024 at 5:16 AM, madteaparty said:

See I can’t cope with finding and transporting used stuff.  I can’t even cope with calling Frigidaire about their absolute garbage brand new fridge that’s basically a shelf now. 
The temperature point is interesting. Garage is not heated, but we do not have massive temp fluctuations here. We don’t use (and don’t miss) central air for example 

You might consider checking with your local big box store for a dented or scratched fridge for a very low price but with delivery and warranty.  That’s how we got our last basement fridge.  It’s black, it’s dented, it’s ugly, and it’s loud.  But it runs like a champ.  We declined the included ice maker (because according to Consumer Reports water handling/ice making functions tend to fail first), put it in the basement rather than the garage so that the ambient temperature would be more stable, and it’s chugged away down there for 10 years now.  I think it cost around $200.  If it hadn’t worked, we would have been able to exchange it and the store would have picked it up for disposal when they delivered the next one.  

[history-fan]

@madteapartyhome depot has a freezer sale going on now. Other stores probably do to this time of year.