Need to buy a new refrigerator

Peter Person

Peter Person

501 Club
We've been in our home for 22 years and the Kenmore (Whirlpool) refrigerator finally bit the dust yesterday. We replaced the Maytag dishwasher (22 years old) earlier this year and the Kenmore (GE) gas range 3 years ago. Our Whirlpool Washer and Electric Dryer were replaced 5 years ago because the washer died dead after 25 years. With 5 children, that's not bad in my book! Bought a Speed Queen set with manual controls, washer uses 34 gallons of water for a wash cycle that only takes 30 minutes and the dryer can do a full load in 45 minutes max.

First observation. "They" don't make them like they used to! Appliances are no longer considered a long-term investment. Lots of plastic and the electronic controls that don't last.
Second observation. Short of major rework of the cabinets, our options for something that will fit the opening are pretty limited. Opening in cabinets is 36" wide x 69" tall.
Third observation. Most salespeople in appliance departments of the big box chains, i.e. Home Depot, Lowe's, Best Buy, PC Richard, are worthless, period.
Fourth observation. Online reviews are less than reliable, though if you read all of them, you can get an idea of what the common complaints are.

With that said, I need some recommendations for a new refrigerator.

Thanks,
Peter
 
My last several fridges were manufactured by Whirlpool (under various brands noted below). More recently, I've had a Samsung french door fridge with bottom freezer for 1.5 years now and it has been great! I like the french door for the fridge portion as you don't have to open both sides and let all of the cold air out just to grab something quick. I also have a depth restriction due to an island in the kitchen that would make a single large door difficult to manage/maneuver. Regardless of door type, bottom freezer units were much more efficient than the alternatives the last time I did heavy research.

Samsung and LG units typically are more complicated electronically and more difficult/pricey to repair that the other commonly known makes. That said, I haven't had to make any repairs to my Samsung fridge yet. My Samsung washing machine is another story (also recalled because they were prone to having the wash drum explode from the housing during the spin cycle: http://abcnews.go.com/US/samsung-cpsc-recalling-28-million-top-loading-washing/story?id=43291726).

Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, Jenn-Air, and Amana fridges are all made by Whirlpool Corporation and share common components/design despite visual differences. Kenmore is made by a variety of manufacturers. In my experience, most Kenmores are rebadged Whirlpool units.

When choosing a size, make sure that you read through the various owner's manuals (usually available online) to ensure that you have enough space around the unit for the heat to escape. Also, some have varying requirements as to how far out of the hole they need to be to allow doors to fully open.

Jim
 
Couple days ago daughter purchased the Samsung French Door fridg with freezer on the bottom to replaced one 22 years old.

Our current fridg is a 17 year old side by side Hot Point.

Asked the bosses, wife and daughter about purchasing another fridg. Both said the French door style but did not recommend a brand.
 
We had a Maytag frig go bad about a year and a half ago and decided to try an LG because we liked it's features and Lowes had one in stock. After 3 days it was still not cold so they took it back and we got a Samsung. Bigger than we needed, but we really liked it, especially the ice and water through the door. A little over a year old the Samsung ice maker started giving trouble. It would quit working for a couple days then work for a week or so, then quit, etc. We had bought the extended warranty, and after they worked on it 4 times and still had the same problem, they paid us for it, and we got a Whirlpool, which was what we had had for many years before buying the Maytag. We have had this one about a month, but so far really like it.
This is similar to ours, other than ours not having the center drawer.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Whirlpool-24-5 ... _VF_110917

Note, when you look at the height, there are 2 of them, one for the cabinet, and one including the hinges. Since the hinges will be far enough out to clear the cabinet they should not be a problem.
 
I recommend NOT an LG.

We had an LG before we moved. It was French door with water and ice through door. It was too wide for the new kitchen. For a while we continued to use the side-by-side that came with the house, then bought a new LG, French door ice maker in freezer. The ice maker in the first one had made trouble, some caused by stopping because of icing up. Interestingly, the problems didn't seem to start until after a recall fix for excessive energy use where they changed a circuit board. I thought the ice maker problems were probably a quirk, so was OK with another LG. The first LG refrigerator got moved to a cabin, where later on it sprung a water leak inside a door. I found a crack in a plastic water tube. Zero dollar fix after spending a lot of time isolating the leak.

The "new" LG ran OK until this summer, a few months after the full warranty expired (36 mo warranty as I recall), when it quit cooling. It turns out that many appliance repair companies refuse to work on LG because it is so difficult to get parts. Our problem turned out to be the compressor which ended up on order for ages. Elapsed time for the repair was 6 or 7 weeks. About the only company we could get to work on it was the one LG contracts to. The least expensive repair was to buy a new service contract from LG. The compressor itself was under warranty so no charge for parts. Nonetheless, by the time it was finally working, I spent something around $600. I consider all extended warranties and service contracts to be rip-offs and nothing about this experience changed that opinion. By the way, the LG service contract has a clause that says if they decide a repair will cost too much, they can cancel the contract and refund the prorated charge for the contract. What value is that? If it breaks down, all they have to do is give you a refund for the part of the contract after you dispose of the unit. The time period for the contract starts the day you sign up, not after the unit is actually repaired a month or 2 later!

I also learned about at least one way LG saves production costs. They don't even put line taps in. If you want to check compressor output pressure, you have to install taps. Thus you have a parts and labor charge (after the service call charge) just to see if the compressor is compressing.

Bottom line:
LG uses all the production shortcuts it can find to reduce build cost. It may or may not eventually bite you.
Parts availability is terrible, expect long waits if anything does break.
The people on the other end of their 800 number are not particularly knowledgeable or helpful, particularly on questions like "when is the $#$%@$ compressor going to be here?"

I definitely decided to avoid another through the door system. I'm not sure the French doors are worth it. It seems like 90% of the time I end up opening both doors anyway. Next time, I will definitely be looking for something where the door will open with zero side clearance. In the future, I will limit my selection to American companies, even if the refrigerator itself is made somewhere else. These companies seem to take support and repair at least somewhat more seriously. The repair guys that were here all had things to say along the line of "if it had been an XXXX, the compressor would be here in 3 to 5 days, for an LG we'll just have to see when it shows up." I still won't bite on another extended warranty. If it fails after the basic expires, if it is something I can fix myself (like a broken door switch or blocked air passage) I'll fix it. Otherwise, I'll just junk it and buy another. Six weeks is too long to wait for a refrigerator repair.

Every time some body tries to sell you an extended warranty, turn it down and put the same money in an appliance replacement fund. It will quickly be big enough to replace any appliance that fails in less than the 10 year expected life!
 
We had a brand new Samsung side by side, ice in the door. It lasted 3 years and then quit. We had an experience that sounds very similar to Jim Becker's LG.
The repairmen had a very difficult time dealing with Samsung support. Had to wait for parts. The repairmen came back, installed the parts, and got it working. They were less than 1 mile away when it quit. I had their cell number and called them to get them back. They said they couldn't because everything had to go through Samsung office because of the extended warranty, etc. Long wait, more parts and it worked for another year. When it died that time, we went out and bought a GE. Have had the GE a couple years now and we really like it.
When the Lowe's guys came with the GE they threw the Samsung up in the truck and said, "Yeah, we seem to pick up more newer Samsung refrigerators than anything else..."
In the end, there is still a lot of luck involved, I think.
 
The repairmen that turned down working on the LG usually said "LG or Samsung" when they were turning down the work. I have not had first hand experience with Samsung repairs.
 
Since we are on the topic, I have made many refrigerator (and other appliance... and even small engine) repairs using http://www.repairclinic.com as a reference. They have repair videos and some diagnostic troubleshooting instructions. I don't always buy my parts from them, but they have been spot-on in helping me identify the problem and the part number of the repair part. I always use the part number to check Amazon.com, Servall, and Sears for price and shipping comparison. I have the advantage that Repair Clinic (Canton, MI) is within driving distance from me for urgent same-day repairs.
 
we had a samsung nightmare with our washer . i thought i had written a post in my sleep until i saw jim beckers name on the post . ours went 4 MONTHS with a spiral bound note book to document all the calls . incredible experience with uncaring customer service reps. 3 separate repair men , the first repairman and HIS HELPER stayed three hours with the door to the washroom closed , said he had to order a part , would take two weeks to arrive . never saw them again . the second and third repairmen stayed an hour or so , "ordered the part" . and never saw them again . samsung customer service basically shrugged their shoulders . i finally got some free time for my own investigation , the needed part was a small geared part that was DISCONTINUED and unavailable :x CAVEAT : in the end after all the turmoil , samsung gave us a FULL purchase price refund ! but my wife earned it . coppersmythe...............................PS: we also had an independent repairman decline to work on it when we said samsung . the other repairmen were sent by the samsung company under warranty .
 
I know this is an older thread, but I couldn't turn down the opportunity to tell someone new how much I hate my Samsung French Door cabinet depth refrigerator.

We bought this thing new when we built the house 3 1/2 years ago. First year, all clear. Second year started, smooth sailing. 8 months into the second year, trouble started. Do a google search for "Samsung Fridge freezes up" and/or Samsung icemaker stopped working" and you'll get page after page of hits. I was taking everything out of the fridge, removing the shelves and the back of the inner cabinet in order to thaw the coils with a hair dryer at least every two or three months. It's a common problem, but no one will work on it and the only part still under warranty is the compressor. The auto defrost just can't keep up with the ice, and there are only two of us using the thing so it's hardly overloaded. Luckily I found the keypad forced defrost mode instructions for this model buried in a post somewhere - it's different from most Samsung code access procedures - so I can run it through a forced defrost every couple of weeks. If i don't do this, the fan starts hitting the built-up ice and sounds like cartoon termites are chewing the house down.

I hope you didn't buy a Samsung - if you did I hope you bought the extended warranty AND live close to an authorized service tech. I'll never buy another appliance made by Samsung and wouldn't take one for free.
 
Don't do like I did last month. My old frig was 33inches wide single door. The wife wanted side by side. When I pushed it back in the hole where the old one came out off the doors hit the wall and wouldn't open. Then I had a big job.
 
Shortly after my wife and I bought our house in 2009, the old Fridgidaire bit the bullet. We bought a GE at Lowes, and has been great. One thing that I do every spring is pull it from the wall and vacuum all of the dust out from underneath and around the compressor. Its unbelievable how filthy it can get under there. A little bit of PM might save $ down the road.
 
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