What refrigerator to buy

The garage fidge is on the fritz.  Its 26 years old, from 1996.   Our kitchen side by side fridge is the newer unit, a mere 24 years old, from 1998.  The wife would like to then retire the current kitchen fridge down to being the garage fridge and get new for the kitchen.  

I don't need a tablet in the door of the new fridge (or at least I don't think I do.)  I certainly don't need the price tag of the tablet fridge.  But, I would be willing to spend more if it got me a higher quality unit.  

What are experiences, good and bad, per brand and what should I look towards.  In the clothes washer brands, Speed Queen is the workhorse.  What is the Speed Queen of the Refrigerator world?  

Just replaced our kitchen fridge.

Samsung has a new model out the past few weeks (Samsung Bespoke). It is selling for about 2500 at Lowes after rebates. About 1000 less than other comprable models.

So far it is doing fridge stuff and fits our kitchen decor nicely.

We have a three old Samsung that is a huge, steaming PoS.

The water line to the ice maker started to leak at 18 months forcing me to carve a wall of ice away each time I wanted a batch of ice.

Recently, one of three fasteners that holds a door seal broke so it's only a matter of time before an expensive repair is required.

I hope I'm wrong and I'll be following this thread closely but at this point, I'm thinking no more fancy stainless steel or impressive features as all the manufacturers today are probably producing absolute garbage.

Added later...

I am so sorry Stafford, we were writing our posts at the same time.

In reply to RX Reven' :

No worries. This one has the ice maker in the bottom/freezer where it belongs, not in the fridge or door. We had similar issues to you with the one we replaced.

stafford1500 said:

In reply to RX Reven' :

No worries. This one has the ice maker in the bottom/freezer where it belongs, not in the fridge or door. We had similar issues to you with the one we replaced.

In fairness, the ice maker fix shouldn't be too difficult (just too busy / lazy to get after it) and I've got two teenage girls that sometimes get in a tiff and start slamming things around so...  

We have a Samsung with the icemaker inside of the refrigerator. It is absolutely awful!

I've heard nothing but awful stories about Samsung appliances, especially if you ever want to fix it.  

I'll throw in something from left field that worked great for me.  Find a used Sub Zero fridge.  I live not far from really fancy places.  One of them was remodeling after not that long.  I got a 42" counter depth SubZero side by side that looked and worked totally fine for $1500.  It is amazing, especially if you are the kind of person who values mechanical design.  This thing is like an old school Mercedes. It weighs 700lbs, seriously.  There are separate cooling units for the fridge and freezer. The doors have a multi piece hinge to make sure it seals perfectly.  It is ALWAYS cold, even on holidays when everyone is going in and out all the time.  Opening and closing the doors on this and "normal" fridges is like going from an S class to an 89 Civic.  I've had to make a repair due to a power surge which took out the ice dispenser.  I had to get deep into diagnosis to figure out what it was and this whole thing was designed with service in mind, so much so that once you get it partially apart there are hidden wiring diagrams and troubleshooting tips in little pockets, if you know enough to get there in the first place.  It is an amazing piece of equipment and has totally spoiled me.  My wife says that if we ever move that it is non negotiable that it comes with us (even though it is built in and a bitch to move).  

Sonic said:

I've heard nothing but awful stories about Samsung appliances, especially if you ever want to fix it. 

This is what I have heard.  Our Kitchenaid side-by-side is 20 years old, and I'm not looking forward to replacing it.  I will do my best to avoid a Samsung.

In reply to 1988RedT2 :

That's what I've heard too. My appliance repair guy won't work on Samsung.  However, IIRC, Consumer Reports usuall rates Samsung highly.

In reply to 1988RedT2 :

I have a GE that's nearly 30 years old & is still chugging along.

We bought a Samsung (yay apparently) 18mo ago during appliance-pocolyps because it was the only available fridge that would fit our 34" opening.  Seriously every 33 was a claimed 13mo+ leadtime and Costco had 3 of these 30" ones for $900 and they where only 1 cu ft Smaller then our old 33.  It keeps things cold, nothing has broken yet.  It's one of those French door drawer freezer things.  Ice maker only in the drawer as ever family member with in fridge door ice from 6 brands have had 2+ failures each.  That said the ice maker is pretty slow but that could be our high mineral content well water. 

One unexpected thing I'm not sure I like is the drawer results in much more condensation on the food because it gets so much more exposure when open.  It's fine and doesn't seem to hurt anything but it's one thing to think about. 

Our old one was a fridgidaire side by side that lasted 15 years before expensive problems.  I do prefer the French door Fridge portion form factor for cold non frozen food access.   

I was very disappointed to have to replace my 15 yo fridge because now I know I have to buy a new one every 3 years or so...

We had to replace our fridge last year. Samsung was our only option. The icemaker has been a problem since day one. The ice it produces bonds together. We don't use it anymore. Tech support is friendly, but useless. Other than that, it's been a good fridge. It has an incredible seal. It takes some muscle to break it and open the door.

My 26 and 24 year old units are both Amana Brand and stamped with Made in USA.  One is side by side and the other is freezer on bottom.

My original tablet in door remarks were directed at I've heard to avoid Samsung. 

I'm leaning toward Wirlpool at this point

Our “basement” fridge is a 1998 vintage Kitchenaid and was relocated when we did a kitchen renovation in 2019 and replaced it with a freezer on the bottom double door on top Kitchenaid. Made in USA as well.  Whirlpool is the parent company of several brands including Kitchenaid, we’ve had good luck with them. 

It's so strange to me how bad Samsung is with icd makers. My 20 year old roper in the garage still has a functioning ice maker, but a 2500$ 2 old Samsung can't do it. 

Gonna add another "avoid" to the Samsung.  Ice maker froze up and I fixed that.

 Stupidest thing ever though:  If the power goes out, the fridge will not work fully until it's reset!  

How do you reset it you ask, well, obviously you hold down the outer two control buttons (which are in no way marked to that effect), for TEN seconds!   Obviously!  This of course is only documented deep in the owners manual.  Certainly no reason to not just mark the damn buttons!!

Our Samsung microwave leaves something to be desired also. I have my third touch pad control panel arriving on Monday. Based on how easy they are to find, it's a very common issue. I was very tempted to just buy a whole new microwave.  

Kids these days.  Why when I was a kid we went out and got our own ice.

The icemaker in our 18 year old GE went south and it moved into the garage.  After looking at Samsung and LG (then reading the reviews on them), we ended up with another GE. French door, ice and water in door and ice in the bottom freezer.  Bought on sale and added the extended warranty, which brought the price back to the normal price for the term of the warranty.

What I was told is they can't get a service guy to actually work on a fridge, so if it breaks, they haul the old one away and write you a check for the purchase price.

At this point, we're 2 years into the 5 (6?) year warranty and have had no problems.

Edit: Be careful - apparently some of the GE refrigerators are actually Samsungs and vice versa.

RX Reven' said:

We have a three old Samsung that is a huge, steaming PoS.

The water line to the ice maker started to leak at 18 months forcing me to carve a wall of ice away each time I wanted a batch of ice.

Recently, one of three fasteners that holds a door seal broke so it's only a matter of time before an expensive repair is required.

I hope I'm wrong and I'll be following this thread closely but at this point, I'm thinking no more fancy stainless steel or impressive features as all the manufacturers today are probably producing absolute garbage.

Added later...

I am so sorry Stafford, we were writing our posts at the same time.

 

 

To pile on the Samsung dislike, my Mom has one that has been nothing but trouble. Mainly the ice maker, and that may be because she doesn't use it enough, and it freezes up. Steaming P.O.S. either way. YRMV, and no offense intended for anyone or their refrigerator preference.

I want a simple fridge. Maybe with an Ice maker, but I do not need help from a robot with the amount of relish I have. Thanks, Alexa, I've got it. (Rant Off). I'll read through to see suggestions. The bottom drawer freezers are really nice...

This thread is full of reasons why I went with a $650 Maytag without ice maker, freezer on top, etc etc basic as hell fridge in white. 

Friends in the industry have pushed us way from Samsung or LG. Our previous was a Samsung and it suffered from internal icing that would lead to flooding in the veg and fruit crisper drawers. A know issue. We now have a whirlpool and it's very good.

The LG we bought back in 2020 has a ridiculous and intrusive bulge in the top of the fridge part that blocks most normal sized bottles from fitting in the shelf. So small stuff gets lost.

The freezer, even after having the circuits replaced, comes and goes. Sometimes ice cream is solid, sometimes half melted. 

The compressor connectors are also corrosion laden, but LG won't replace them until they snap through.

So don't buy the $700 LG from Lowes even if it's the only fridge in your half of the state for under challenge money. 

My old GE died at just about the worst possible time for pandemic-related appliance availability wackiness. I have a small place, and it is just me, so I was looking at smaller fridges to fit the hole I had, so this may or may not help. 

Beyond size and availability, I was searching for quality with no BS...no ice-makers, water dispensers, touchscreens, or smartphone app control. Just a fridge and freezer. Ended up with a Fisher and Paykel, and it's been great so far, but wasn't exactly cheap. Hoping it is a buy-once, cry-once situation.

Stampie said:

Kids these days.  Why when I was a kid we went out and got our own ice.

Yeah we just make sure we put a new block in the top of our icebox every couple of days. Luckily I have some connections for ice blocks. 
 

Ours looks like this, does not even use electric. We do use artificial ice, can't find the natural kind anywhere close anymore.  

We bought all Samsung appliances for our kitchen remodel last year, and where you buy matters!!! Our old fridge was a Samsung and was bought from Lowes and we paid extra for the extended warranty. When we started to have a problem with a switch on the compressor (after maybe 5 years and moving it around repeatedly during the renovation) we called the 800#. Long story short, the company Lowes uses is absolute crap, and Lowes could care less. We fought with them for weeks and weeks, endured endless frustrations, it was only when I started making a stink on social media and in person to the store manager that we finally got a call back and some action. In the end, I complained loud enough that we got a check for a new fridge and some hush $ for our pain and suffering, which we promptly spent at Home Depot. 

HDs warrant company is 100000000000000% better! We noticed a small dent and a cracked drawer when the fridge was delivered. Got through on the first call, was presented with several favorable options (New fridge? Be there tomorrow. Replacement parts? On their way already? Keep it and get a discount? The check is in the mail). we had no hassles at all, and we were happy within a few minutes.

We went with VOLUME over features, so we have no water dispenser and the ice maker is in the freezer like your grandmother's fridge. That means no water lines to the doors, no moving parts, and lots more free interior space to use. It has been working 100% problem free for over a year now. We also snagged a Samsung Oven, which emails me when it is pre-heated, a Samsung Microwave, and a Samsung dishwasher. Bundling them saved a ton of money for us, and they have all been flawless for over a year.