New fridge recommendations

[Ronstar]

I suggest Whirlpool. Our Whirlpool fridge is 24 years old, runs fine, never required service, and is just now starting to be a little noisy on occasion. Our microwave and oven are also 24 year old Whirlpool appliances and are running fine.

 

[redduck]

I suggest Whirlpool. Our Whirlpool fridge is 24 years old, runs fine, never required service, and is just now starting to be a little noisy on occasion. Our microwave and oven are also 24 year old Whirlpool appliances and are running fine.

Could be that the 24 year-old Whirlpool fridge outlasts the 2018 edition.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Whirlpool made our KitchenAid (I described some problems in this thread). Per Wikipedia, these brands are made by Whirlpool:

Acros (México)
Admiral (sold exclusively at Home Depot)
Affresh Washer Cleaners
Amana
Ariston
Bauknecht
Brastemp (Brazil)
Consul
Diqua (China)
Estate
Gladiator GarageWorks
Hotpoint (Europe)
Indesit
Inglis
Jenn-Air
KitchenAid
Maytag
Polar
Privileg
Roper
Royalstar (China)
Sanyo (China)[27]
Stinol
Whirlpool

 

[bUU]

After 2 years of fighting with the warranty company, we have finally been granted a refund of our money for our last fridge purchase. So, now it’s time to be finding a new model. Our last fridge was a Samsung French door with ice maker and door dispenser. What a lemon it was. We definitely will not be considering another Samsung.

We also replaced a Samsung French door refrig. It had a design flaw that caused it to leak water and freeze.

We have one of those and over three and a half years went through several warranty repairs. The unit is working great now, and I wouldn't consider another brand. I was treated well and fairly, and that established trust that I would not have with regard to any other brands.

 

[Bamaman]

Consolidation of appliance companies has lowered the quality of all appliances, not just refrigerators. Brands like LG and Samsung are more into good looks and fancy electronics than high quality. Parts are difficult to obtain and ultra exoensive.

My appliance mechanic says no brand is much better than any other brand.

We have a Maytag that is the same as a Whirlpool, and it was custom made for Lowes. What we love is the twin center opening refrigerator upper doors, fridge drawer and bottom freezer. We will never go back to any other configuration.

 

[redduck]

We have a three-year old double door Samsung (bought at Lowe's). Also bought a 5-year warranty (parts and labor). The repair guy is coming out tomorrow. Seems like the fan (or a fan) is hitting some built-up ice. Apparently, this is a defect of the refrigerator because there's a bunch of comments on-line about this problem. Can also watch the temporary fix on YouTube.

As an update, the refrigerator repair guy came out this morning (after cancelling last week) and hopefully "fixed" the refrigerator. He replaced a sensor and steamed out the ice that had accumulated. He said that maybe we will get up to two years on this "fix". He also suggested getting the longest warranty available when buying new appliances because they often break after the first or second year. Anyhow, no charge for parts and labor. Glad we bought the warranty.

 

[2soon2tell]

Our appliance repair guy suggested buying another Whirlpool frig when our current one quits. It is now 18 years old and still going strong.

Doesn't Whirlpool still make Kenmore appliances?

 

[Telly]

Our appliance repair guy suggested buying another Whirlpool frig when our current one quits. It is now 18 years old and still going strong.

Doesn't Whirlpool still make Kenmore appliances?

At one time, Whirlpool made most/all of the Kenmore large appliances. Now it is just a subset. Some Kenmores are now made by companies that I wouldn't touch!

Here is a link to decipher Kenmore appliances as to who the actual source is. Note that there are multiple 3 digit codes that equal Whirlpool, it depends on what type of appliance. It's the 3 digits ahead of the decimal point that matter.

Appliance411 The Purchase: Who makes Sears Kenmore?

 

[Scuba]

Well, I have to take back what I said before about no problems with our LG Fridge. It is just over 3 years old and a few days ago it completely died. First a local repair guy came out and said it was the LG “sealed system” so he couldn’t fix it. Then LG came today, agreed with that diagnosis but didn’t have the right parts with him so he’s coming back tomorrow. The only good thing about this is that because it’s the “sealed system” that failed, it’s still under warranty, but we’ll still have to pay $250 of labor to fix it.

The bad thing is that it is a huge pain to have a fridge be out for several days. Thank goodness we have helpful neighbors that were willing to let us cram their freezer and fridge with some of our stuff. Still, we will end up throwing away quite a few things I’m sure. About half of our food has been in coolers for 3 days now.

Interestingly, the repair guy we had out first told us his company makes a lot of money on LG’s because they aren’t very reliable. Hopefully ours will be fixed and run ok in the future, but if/when it dies again, we will buy something else.

 

[W2R]

Well, I have to take back what I said before about no problems with our LG Fridge. It is just over 3 years old and a few days ago it completely died. First a local repair guy came out and said it was the LG “sealed system” so he couldn’t fix it. Then LG came today, agreed with that diagnosis but didn’t have the right parts with him so he’s coming back tomorrow. The only good thing about this is that because it’s the “sealed system” that failed, it’s still under warranty, but we’ll still have to pay $250 of labor to fix it.

The bad thing is that it is a huge pain to have a fridge be out for several days. Thank goodness we have helpful neighbors that were willing to let us cram their freezer and fridge with some of our stuff. Still, we will end up throwing away quite a few things I’m sure. About half of our food has been in coolers for 3 days now.

Interestingly, the repair guy we had out first told us his company makes a lot of money on LG’s because they aren’t very reliable. Hopefully ours will be fixed and run ok in the future, but if/when it dies again, we will buy something else.

Sorry to hear that! A three year old refrigerator is barely more than brand new.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

The consumer shows and articles I've read all seem to indicate appliances don't last as long any more with inferior parts and construction. If it lasts over 10 years, that's apparently fantastic. We've got a couple of appliances somewhat on the fritz that we're looking to eventually replace and are trying to determine if we can/should pay more but get a more solidly built and simpler (less electronics, more mechanical) appliance.

 

[bUU]

It is a double-edged sword: The old stuff might have been more durable but they were much more costly to operate.

 

[ncbill]

Here $250 would get you a reconditioned fridge (top-freezer w/ ice maker) from the local used appliance store, including delivery.

 

[redduck]

It is a double-edged sword: The old stuff might have been more durable but they were much more costly to operate.

Yeah, the last double-edged sword I bought only lasted 10 months. Maybe I shouldn't have used it on the broken Samsung refrigerator.

 

[aja8888]

Yeah, the last double-edged sword I bought only lasted 10 months. Maybe I shouldn't have used it on the broken Samsung refrigerator.

A double edged sword only means you will be cut and bleeding by both edges!

 

[redduck]

But, weren't well-made double-edged swords supposed to last for generations? I understand that generations didn't last as long in the 1100's, but still.

 

[RobbieB]

My new fridge coming next week, it's a Whirlpool.

 

[Texas Proud]

It is a double-edged sword: The old stuff might have been more durable but they were much more costly to operate.

It really is not... they can make the new ones cheaper to operate and also where they would last IF they wanted too...


I would rather pay an extra $100 to have a fridge last 15 to 20 years than hoping to get 8 to 10 years out of junk...

 

[bUU]

It really is not... they can make the new ones cheaper to operate and also where they would last IF they wanted too...

It isn't up to them. They are slaves to profitablity. It is therefore up to us consumers to make what you are suggesting more profitable than what they are doing now.

But I guess we're slaves too, slaves to low prices regardless of the impact on durability.

 

[aja8888]

But I guess we're slaves too, slaves to low prices regardless of the impact on durability.

That's a generalization I don't buy into. Many times people buy higher quality goods in favor of durability and longevity.

 

[meierlde]

That's a generalization I don't buy into. Many times people buy higher quality goods in favor of durability and longevity.

But today when the top of the line items have a lot of dodads attached that can go wrong, it is not clear that a mid to lower end item might not break less than a top of the line item. In particular the IMHO foolish idea of a fridge on line is one of the dodads, that if it lets you adjust the temp, means a hacker could turn the fridge off etc. There is a principal in a lot of things called Keep it simple stupid, that IMHO applies to appliances also. This means less ways for the device to go wrong.

 

[Walt34]

There is a principal in a lot of things called Keep it simple stupid, that IMHO applies to appliances also. This means less ways for the device to go wrong.

That's my take on it too. We're about to have to replace a 16-year-old washing machine. Taking a cursory look at Lowe's offerings the other day I saw machines ranging from near $2k to $500. I'll buy the $500 one even if it is less efficient. I'll swap efficiency for reliability any time.

Now, is that really going to get me better reliability? I haven't the foggiest. But at least I'm only risking getting a $500 piece of crap instead of a $2k one.

 

[RobbieB]

I tend towards cheap appliances. The service life is good. If my $500 washing machine breaks in 10 years, that's a whole $50/yr and I just go to my favorite appliance store and buy another one.

I just bought the most expensive fridge I ever bought. A 25 cu-ft side by side Whirlpool in stainless steel for $1200. If it lasts 10 years that'll be a whole 10 bucks a month for a fridge.

 

[eytonxav]

We have a Samsung counter depth french door model that is approximately 5 years old. It has the best ice maker/water dispenser of any refrigerator we have owned; at least thus far.

 

[Dash man]

We also have a Samsung French door refrigerator, and it has two ice makers. We bought it in 2009 and it’s been great. We recently bought another similar one for our Florida condo. So far so good.

Edit: Ours are not cabinet depth, and about 28 cu. Ft.