New fridge experiences?

[cat843]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Is there a "Speed Queen" of refrigerators?


Liebherr also makes high end refrigerators. I have one and its been reliable. German made I assume. It has separate compressors for the refrig and freezer and each can go to MAX cooling if needed. If you add a bunch of warm stuff it will go to MAXX to cool the stuff quickly. A chime reminds you if either door is left open more than 1 minute.

 

[Cujet]

I have a 14 year old Kitchen Aid side by side, with icemaker in the door. (same model still exists) The water valve solenoid and icemaker have both been replaced, which is to be expected. Ebay replacement parts are both plentiful and cheap.

Easy to fix too!!!

I'm honestly pleased. As I like the layout, the temperature control is excellent, and it's been acceptably reliable.

We go through a lot of ice, so I'm not at all surprised the icemaker started to deteriorate.

 

[ecotourist]

We've had 3 Maytag side by side refrigerators in a row. We hate them.

We bought the first one and have gotten the last 2 "free" with house purchases. The first one only lasted 8 - 10 years. As I recall, the compressor failed. We were using it as an extra by then so I didn't seriously consider getting it repaired.

The second one is about 16 years old. The door handles cracked during the warranty period as did their replacements. The ice maker developed a water leak so we shut off the water. I didn't check it out as it seems like such an unnecessary feature. It might even be a loose fitting or connection.

We recently got the third one - which promptly wanted a water filter change for something like $50 (parts only). I bought a filter bypass instead for much less (a bypass presumably came with it but it's long gone). The ice is made from mains water so I can't see why it needs further filtering.

We really dislike the narrow width and big depth of these refrigerators. You can't see into them very well and things would get lost in the back.

 

[KrisZ]

Our Samsung fridge is almost 5 years old and so far not a single problem with it. I forget the model number, but it is with French door and bottom freezer and it has a display above the icemaker that shows fridge temperature, water filter reminders etc.
What I like about it is that all shelves, although plastic on top, are full metal frame underneath and they clip on to the metal rack. The bottom drawer is on metal rollers as is the freezer drawer. My wife likes to stuff it full and so far all the shelves and drawers are handling it with no problems.

The water filter is quite easy to change and it is actually a nice unit. There is zero "tap water taste" from this fridge.

What I don't like is the small ice tray, but that nets more useable space inside the fridge and the water dispensing nozzle shoots too much towards the fridge. It is hard to fill up water bottles or anything with a narrow neck.

Maintenance wise, I change the water filter, clean behind the fridge annually and use the ice maker every few days, even if I don't need the ice.

 

[sciphi]

Sounds like there's no rhyme or reason for getting a reliable fridge. We'll roll the dice and see what turns up. Thanks for all the feedback so far!

 

[DBMaster]

Originally Posted By: sciphi
Sounds like there's no rhyme or reason for getting a reliable fridge.


You're right about that. I've seen several, purchased by friends or family, that were real lemons. It didn't seem to matter how expensive they were, either. My 1991 vintage Signature 2000 (Admiral, branded for Montgomery Ward) has been very reliable. It may not impress anybody, but it's staying until it dies.

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Got a samsung from Lowes. The ice maker "float" gets stuck, so I manually turn it on and off. This only affect the huge cache of ice cubes, probably 2 gallons of ice at max cap. It will always dispense them if they're there. I can only imagine the flavors an ice cube can pick up in its month of storage.

Also the plastic veggie drawers are brittle and the edges chip and crack so they don't slide smoothly. Always jumping off the track.

It is a miser on power, though. I think it has some variable load/displacement compressor as my kill-a-watt reports only 280 watts being used at times, though it can be up to 500-600. Don't think it's the defrost either.



I also have a samsung, bottom freezer as my wife is only 4'9.
No problems with the crisper drawers. We have had it about 4 years no problems. I turn the icemaker on and off as needed only because the ice forms a block in the tray if too much collects. The only other thing to watch is that the freezer door can look closed but be slightly cracked.
No service calls it works flawlessly.

 

[Lyman]

Originally Posted By: DBMaster
Originally Posted By: sciphi
Sounds like there's no rhyme or reason for getting a reliable fridge.


You're right about that. I've seen several, purchased by friends or family, that were real lemons. It didn't seem to matter how expensive they were, either. My 1991 vintage Signature 2000 (Admiral, branded for Montgomery Ward) has been very reliable. It may not impress anybody, but it's staying until it dies.
Ha ha I had a Montgomery Ward fridge that I bought in 1990. I had it for 7 years and gave it to my Sister. She used it another 11 years. It still worked when She got rid of it. It didn't even have a light inside but ran FOREVER.

 

[edwardh1]

consumer reports has reliability surveys of their readers, go to library, or buy their annual summary.
They actually vary by type of refrigerator, top freezer, bottom freezer etc not just by brand.
Dont confuse they OPINIONS from their tests with the readers survey results.CR says Toyota and Honda build pretty good cars, (reliability) I agree.

 

[Touring5]

We just bought a Maytag 2-door bottom freezer unit from Home Depot. Using my Killawatt meter, it uses roughly 1/2 the power that the previous (similar capacity) Kitchen Aid did. Only had it for about a month, but no problems and it keeps the temp around 34 on the factory setting. Only disappointment is that it is not silent - while not noisy, it is similar to the old refrigerator. It has a 10-year compressor warranty (for what it's worth). I agree with one of the earlier posts about more features meaning more expensive repairs (read: electronics).

 

[DBMaster]

^That is why I have considered a new fridge a few times over the past several years. Since the type of unit I would buy would only be about $600 there would be a small chance it could pay for itself in a reasonable time frame. It's just that I have seen so many issues with new refrigerators I am remaining in a holding pattern. I think I have read that current models use about half the power mine does.

I keep the refrigerator portion at 37° and the freezer at 0°F. Those are the temps that Consumer Reports always recommends in the refrigerator ratings.

 

[sciphi]

Bumping this:

I ended up getting the Whirlpool version of the original fridge I linked to in the original post. Also purchased was a 5 year extended warranty, as well as an inline sediment filter. Odds that 2 out of every 10 water/icemaker fridges will have an issue of some kind aren't great.

We don't have a water line run for the icemaker yet. That's this weekend's project. PEX will be tied into the existing piping using a few sharkbite fittings.

 

[Fsharp]

I've got a Samsung washer which had a problem from the factory, the drain pump would run continuously, due to a faulty pressure switch. It was a floor model from Home Depot and the only thing they could do was give me my money back or give me a new one and make me pay the difference. I had to go through Samsung customer service which is painfully bad. Not only that, but there was only one Samsung certified appliance repairman in the area and it took three weeks to get and appointment. If I did it again, I'd get a Kenmore. Sales and service through Sears which are all over. Luckily I've got a Whirlpool side by side with ice maker from the eighties which still works great.

 

[Stewart Fan]

We bought a Whirlpool Gold from Lowes a couple years ago.

The touch screen on the front has been replaced twice. The icemaker has been repaired 2-3 times and replaced twice.

 

[3for3]

I bought a GE fridge just over a month ago. It is a french door with bottom freezer style. I know it is way to early to talk about dependability of the unit, but my initial observations are: it runs quietly, it cooled down to operating temperatures rather quickly after installation, and the quality seems very solid and well built.

I really like the french doors and the bottom freezer design of the GE. The fridge part is so open and spacious. The freezer which we don't use nearly as often as the fridge, is also roomy and convenient.

I am coming from a Whirlpool side-by-side that was in our previous home. I quickly stopped liking the layout after a few short months because the fridge side was to cramped, as was the freezer. But, ended up keeping it for over 10 years, and I left it in the house when we sold the home recently.

The Whirlpool had the ice-maker and water dispenser on the door, which stopped working at about three years. The Whirlpool was also noisy, and required using the coldest setting just to keep things at a good safe temperature. Not efficient.

 

[sciphi]

Well, the new fridge showed up, and of course doesn't fit under the cabinet we need it to. Looks like it's time to remove the cabinet, shove the fridge home, and remount the cabinet 1/2" higher. Or take the wheels off the fridge. Nah, I'll deal with a mis-aligned cabinet than a hard to move fridge. The top can always be cut flush to match, and nobody will be the wiser.