Refrigerator suggestions, please

[NWICY]

Yes, since a 1990 model would kill an old man like you.

Not a bad way to go though.

 

[Bobber]

Besides the increased complexity of refrigerators also think this is a side effect of EPA mandate to switch coolants. I wonder if were going to see the same thing with house and car air conditioners in the future? Saw an interesting you tube video a while back that talked about European car makers not really liking Obama era changes to car a/c coolant requirements. Evidently much higher cost to make a/c systems with lower reliability. The new systems have to operate under much higher pressures with increased chances of fires in a crash...

Back to topic. We have a 15 to 20 year Kenmore side by side which still works great. Am dreading shopping for a new one based on what am hearing here.

 

[BoxsterCy]

Frig side of side-by-side (2004 Kitchenaid) seems to have bit the dust. Read through this for some input. Seem like all the frigs suck now. And all of the new frigs seem to be taller than when I built my kitchen. Have 71" height below cabinets above and of course most everything is taller than that now.

 

[Scott34]

GE makes the best fridge out there. Spend the money and get a GE.

 

[burn587]

As noted in the previous posts, stay away from Samsung. They make very sleek and modern looking appliances but they’re unreliable as hell. We’ve had a Samsung fridge for about 2 years and the damn thing had the ice maker in the freezer stop working after about a year. The control panel often randomly changes itself from cubed to crushed to water while no one is anyone near it.

Whatever brand you choose, if you buy a generic water filter for it make sure it has the same number of O rings on it as the original. I went generic and it had 1 o-ring instead of 2 and it leaked water all over my hardwood floor. Luckily Colorado is dry enough that I just had to play the waiting game for the floor to un-warp.

 

[cyclone618]

As noted in the previous posts, stay away from Samsung. They make very sleek and modern looking appliances but they’re unreliable as hell. We’ve had a Samsung fridge for about 2 years and the damn thing had the ice maker in the freezer stop working after about a year. The control panel often randomly changes itself from cubed to crushed to water while no one is anyone near it.

Whatever brand you choose, if you buy a generic water filter for it make sure it has the same number of O rings on it as the original. I went generic and it had 1 o-ring instead of 2 and it leaked water all over my hardwood floor. Luckily Colorado is dry enough that I just had to play the waiting game for the floor to un-warp.

I totally agree on the Samsung - stay away. We did a kitchen remodel in 2016 and bought a new, top of the line Samsung. Within a year it quit working and no one could fix it. It took 10 weeks and at least 40 calls, emails, etc. with them to get them to refund my money. Ended up with a GE fridge.

 

[BoxsterCy]

Went window shopping and measuring yesterday, first at a real appliance store and than a quick stop at Home Depot because they had a model on display I wanted to see in person. Real appliance store gal pretty much mirrored what some folks here are saying about Samsung and said their company support was non existent. HD gal was telling me Whirlpool just bought KitchenAid and I had to tell her Whirlpool is like Toyota and KitchenAid has been their Lexus for over 30 years and that they also make/owned Maytag for like 15 years. That pretty much ended that conversation.

 

[BoxsterCy]

Anyone with an opinion on Bosch? They are a little new to the frig market. Friend has one but only for a year so not much feedback on reliability and such. They make a counter depth model that decent capacity and will fit in my pseudo built-in so have some initial interest in it. She thinks it has been a relatively quiet runner. The KitchenAid of similar capacity would require cutting the cabinet above by an inch or so.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

Frig side of side-by-side (2004 Kitchenaid) seems to have bit the dust. Read through this for some input. Seem like all the frigs suck now. And all of the new frigs seem to be taller than when I built my kitchen. Have 71" height below cabinets above and of course most everything is taller than that now.

Mine is still running.

 

[BoxsterCy]

Frig side of side-by-side (2004 Kitchenaid) seems to have bit the dust. Read through this for some input. Seem like all the frigs suck now. And all of the new frigs seem to be taller than when I built my kitchen. Have 71" height below cabinets above and of course most everything is taller than that now.

Went window shopping and measuring yesterday, first at a real appliance store and than a quick stop at Home Depot because they had a model on display I wanted to see in person. Real appliance store gal pretty much mirrored what some folks here are saying about Samsung and said their company support was non existent. HD gal was telling me Whirlpool just bought KitchenAid and I had to tell her Whirlpool is like Toyota and KitchenAid has been their Lexus for over 30 years and that they also make/owned Maytag for like 15 years. That pretty much ended that conversation.

Followup: The lack of a good alternative that fit my cabinet space made me schedule a repair, figured it was worth $100 to see if 14 year old KitchenAid was worth repairing. Repair guy said it needed a new thermostat and that this was a great model and worth fixing so decided to do that. Of course after he left it ran fine so i cancelled the part order and followup repair. Ran fine for a while but would poop out and than run if you fiddled with temperature slide so re-upped the order for a new thermostat. Second guy came today to install and also said "better frig than the new ones". Easy repair/install since it's all inside the frig compartment. His thought was since all the frigs are unreliable now that it's not worth a single manufacturer making a really good one like they used to. That was kinda sad.