Need a New Fridge!

Our 10 year old Kennmore side-by-side decided to quit defrosting over the past few days (I was wondering why my beer seemed kinda warm!?!?!).

Since it's a) 10 years old and b) a side-by-side, which I hate, but we got it with the house, I'm not going to screw around trying to fix it. It has some other issues as well, and I've already replaced the control board once several years ago.

Both the wife and I are thinking of a bottom freezer unit which in the past Amana was the king of. But nowadays, I don't know who owns what name or makes what for who. I simply want something that is reliable and serviceable (if only Keystoker could make a refrigerator... ).

Any suggestions??

thanks!

Chris

A GE profile top frig bottom freezer came with our house at auction, it was new with the house and after 3 years the computer board burned up. I don't think anything today is built to last !!! I don't care for the bottom freezer with the basket where the entire contents come out with the door when you open the door. I have a freezer in the celar thats from 1971 and still works great. The older compressors had compressor pumps with pistons the size of silver dollars, now their smaller than your thumb. Today it's all about efficiency and the compressors were not made to handle large loads, ( having to stock up large loads, kids who hold the door open for HOURS )

Well, bought a new fridge. Talked to one sales person at my first stop and it seems there are 4 main players - Whirlpool, GE, LG, and Electrolux. Whirlpool owns just about everyone - Maytag, Amana, Kitchen Aid, and several others. Electrolux owns Frigidaire. I wanted a bottom freezer and hoped to get a single door fridge section, but there are not many like that and they are smaller than what I have currently (25 cu.ft. or so) and would be smaller than the fridge space in the cabinetry. The LG units seemed to be well designed and took up the least fridge space with the ice maker/dispenser. I thought it was kind of dumb (engineering view here) to try and make ice inside the door of the fridge, but that's what they are all doing. So either you have a very small ice bin and tiny door shelves (LG) or a bigger bin and NO door shelves on the left door. DUMB!

So I left there and went to Sears. I found a Kenmore that had a water dispenser on the door, but a "normal" ice maker in the freezer section, so it had full size door shelves on both doors. It was not festooned with LCD screens and fade-in/fade-out LED lighting. The sales person walked up and said "you can't beat that deal". I'd not even paid attention to the price at this point - but when I looked at the sheet I had to agree - $1000 off. Yes, 1 and three zeros. I looked around a little more just to see what else they had available, and then called the wife to discuss color. We have bisque appliances now and it was available in bisque, but decided on the "Ultra Satin" which is not quite stainless but close and it doesn't show any fingerprints. I didn't want to limit our choice of dishwasher, stove, or microwave down the road when they go belly-up since bisque isn't real common. Bottom line, it was a $2300 unit for $1300. New, not scratch and dent. The regular colors were $1000.

I thought it was made by Whirlpool, but the sales person said it was made by LG to Kenmore's specs/schematics. We'll see how it holds up!

Chris

I'm in the market for a new frig now. Still shopping but will likely get a GE profile, bottom drawer freezer. One thing I've learned that all brands have problems with the in door ice dispenser. A couple of sales people told me they will not sell one without the extra warranty. What happens is the ice melts then re-freezes jamming things up. Then the homeowner really screws it up banging, poking, etc. trying to get it to work. As much as the wife would like to have and ice dispenser we will likely just get one that dispenses cold water only. The claim is unlimited cold water. Sort of like the instant domestic hot water heaters. It can cool the water faster than it can dispense it. There are government rebates available for energy star rated products. The amount of rebate varies by state, even though it's mostly federal stimulus money paying for it. In Maryland the max is $100 for a frig. Not much on a $1500-2500 frig. For me the bottom freezer is helpful. We use the frig more that the freezer and not having to always bend over is a plus for us. Yes opening the freezer door all the way gets the frozen stuff open to lots of warm room air. A bit less for those that have a solid bottom and sides. Think of the open food display freezer in your grocery market. Cold travels down, it's better to have a solid bottom freezer drawer.

I've been impressed with GE 1-800 service and web service sites. Recently bought a display model gas cooktop that was missing manuals and the parts to convert to propane. Got most installation and service manual from web download. What wasn't there was mailed me at no cost. And the 1-800 line was clearly staffed by Americans, no foreign accents. I've got an engineer friend that worked for Maryland's GE appliance park 20+ years ago. He said product engineers were on call to answer the hard calls to the 1-800 customer support line. Don't know if it's still true but the two recent calls I made were certainly very helpful knowledgeable. Far more than I expected.

I bought a mammoth 25 cu ft. bottom freezer Maytag 2 years ago during one of the former "tax holidays" that the state used to have. (yeah, we went from tax holidays, to tax EVERYTHING in just 2 short years )

I'm a Maytag snob - fridge, washer, dryer & dishwasher are all Maytag. My parents always bought them and got 20 years out of them .... although that's wishful thinking these days. No problems so far. Washer & dryer will hit 7 years of service in 3 weeks. I always wondered why all fridges were designed with the freezer on top ... where most people go the least. I always hated crawling on the floor trying to find something on the bottom shelf, before it grows fur. Now everything is at eye level ... and no more filling ice trays! That alone was worth the 2 grand - I use alot of ice. Plus the internal filter, in combination with our softener & whole-house filter in the basement, makes the water taste exactly like store-bought spring water. Makes for some tasty drinks here!

I'm a cheap bastard, but I never skimp on appliances. We spend a ridiculous amount of money on them, but it's worth it to have something that works better than anything you've ever owned before.

markviii wrote:The GE Profile we got has a filtered water dispencer inside, and a regular ice bin in the freezer.

Same here except ours is a Kenmore. We bought it in Jan 2004 and absolutely love it! Plenty of room and we love the large pull out drawer. It's great for platters. We thought about getting a side by side with the water and ice on the door. The saleman was very good at convincing my wife that you really can't put big things in a side by side, like frozen pizzas and stuff. We also didn't like the fact that you lose soooo much room with the ice and water dispenser on the door. You got a steal Chris. Back in 2004 we paid $2,400 with the extended warranty. Well worth the money in my book. Congrat's!

I bought the LG french door model with the bottom freezer 3 years ago. The unit itself works fine and we love the french doors. The pull out shelves are flimsy and we've replaced 2 so far. We have the extended warranty so it's not a problem...yet. My sister just bought an Electrolux french door model that I'm very impressed with. Seems very solid construction and it's around 30 cu ft. Mine is only 25 cu ft which was the biggest they had at the time. If I had to do it again I'd buy the Electrolux.

When I redid my kitchen 8 years I ago I went with all top of the line Maytag because of it's reputation. Never again, after only 8 short years, I now have a Whirlpool dishwasher, Jenn-Air grill/stove top and Panasonic Microwave and I'm looking for something to replace my Maytag Oven. The only thing I had than that wasn't Maytag with the refrigerator and that was an Amana which was new in 2000. The Amana died in 2008 so I replaced it with a GE bottom drawer freezer model. The Amana had had numerous service calls in it's short life. I'd think twice about getting a Maytag anything or an Amana.

The reason I went with the GE was because the original 1972 Olive Green GE refrigerator in the house was still going strong in the garage. There didn't seem to be anything I could do to kill this refrigerator. I eventually took it to the landfill last year after I was given a replacement "old" refrigerator for the garage. I only dumped the 1972 model because the new technology really does save on the electric bill.

I like my GE bottom freezer drawer model. I like the user friendly level of storage in the refrigerator cabinet. However, I find that the Refrigerator cabinet has a very small capacity, volume wise; it fills up fast. Although, the door shelves can handle gallon containers, I don't like to use those for that purpose. I prefer to put small jars on the doors and larger items like milk and juice in the cabinet. I can see things better that way; the half used jar of pickles doesn't get lost on the back of the top shelf. Even though my cabinet shelves can be arranged in a variety of ways by my storing gallon containers in the cabinet section I mess up the depth between the cabinet shelves, leaving very little space for taller items or large bowls. My suggestion is really think about what your shelve arrangements will be and determine if the model you're thinking of can be adjusted accordingly to afford you the maximum shelf space. Had I done so I may have gone a different way when I was looking.

I don't like or dislike the bottom freezer. I find locating things in it to be just as big a pain as what I have in the Top Freezer refrigerator in the garage. I went with the bottom freezer so I would have the refrigerator cabinet at eye level. I access the refrigerator more then the freezer so it made sense to make accessing that more convenient. I'm happy in the respect. So far I haven't seen the repair man or needed to do any repairs myself. (knock on wood) Good luck, Lisa

I just went and looked at my spare 25 year old fridge that I haven't used in 6 years (and still works), & that is a GE! I'm going to keep that in mind when I replace my range. Thanks for the info Lisa!

After hearing about how Maytag shut down their plant in IA shortly after my purchase ..... after decades of keeping the locals working in that area, my thoughts on Maytag changed a bit. I won't buy another in the future.

SMITTY wrote:I just went and looked at my spare 25 year old fridge that I haven't used in 6 years (and still works), & that is a GE! I'm going to keep that in mind when I replace my range. Thanks for the info Lisa!

After hearing about how Maytag shut down their plant in IA shortly after my purchase ..... after decades of keeping the locals working in that area, my thoughts on Maytag changed a bit. I won't buy another in the future.

Maytag got bought by Whirlpool, who shut the Iowa plant down and moved most production to Mexico. Most of the appliances I've looked at are all assembled in Mexico these days, and it wouldn't surprise me if China is next on their stop. Even some of the LG fridges were assembled in Mexico - probably under contract at Whirlpool's plant. The higher-end LGs appeared to be Korean assembled.

It's a shame, because Maytag used to be THE washer and dryer to buy. I grew up with one (we didn't have a dryer) and still remember the round knob and buttons to this day. And I STILL see those old washers doing duty today.

On the other hand - Google "Calypso washer"....it was made by Whirlpool and also sold by Kenmore. We had one, and fortunately we got rid of it before the problems started, but it was a total FAIL. We replaced that set with a Whirlpool Duet Sport front load set and have been very happy so far.

Sometimes I wonder what was so bad about our old Whirlpool fridge (OLD, as in 1970) - it would probably still be going today. Well - no icemaker, no freezer light, no water, manual defrost, small, wire shelves..... sure the guts would probably still work, but the gasket materials and plastics used back then were poor compared to modern equivalents and the door bins would be cracking to bits.

Lehman's has a nice selection of "off-beat" fridges using gas and one that is geared toward solar or off-grid that is super insulated. http://www.lehmans.com/store/Appliances___Gas_Ref ... =&sort_by=

Thanks for that info --- I was trying to remember where the plant went. I figured it was Mexico or China.

I have had nothing but bad luck with anything Kenmore, but some have good luck with them - so I guess that's no different than the other brands. Everything is hit or miss today. I read online about people replacing wax motors left & right in the Maytag Neptune washers, others having mold issues. Actually the only problem I've had so far is the bulb finally burned out in the washer. My Kenmore A/C decided to quit on the hottest day of the year (6 years old) ... while I had waaaay too much to drink one day .... so you can use your imagination as to it's fate. But I do have another identical one that is still working, so go figure.

I guess I got one of the Tuesday morning first shift units, & one Friday night 3rd shift before Christmas ones.

If you live near a Sears appliance outlet store they have some great bargain. It's hit or miss. To find a location go to web site below, check box "Sears Appliance Outlet Stores", type in your zip code.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/StoreLocatorView?store ... &adCell=WF

spc wrote:If you live near a Sears appliance outlet store they have some great bargain. It's hit or miss. To find a location go to web site below, check box "Sears Appliance Outlet Stores", type in your zip code.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/StoreLocatorView?store ... &adCell=WF

All the original appliances in the house came from an outlet store and indeed, the savings were substantial when I looked through the original paperwork. The dishwasher has a scuff on the door which gets neatly covered up with one of those "Clean/Dirty" magnets!

Back to fridges --- I let all the ice melt out of the evaporator yesterday - almost filled the drip tray to the brim! I sucked the water out with my wet vac and cleaned the condenser coils too which weren't too bad as I keep a piece of filter material behind the grill to keep out most of the lint and dog hair. I powered it back up just to see and it actually appears to have run a defrost cycle last night. WTF???

At this point, I don't care since we have disliked the side-by-side ever since we moved in and I got a screaming deal on a new one. So there.