What's new

New Refrigerator

Karen

Karen

Wiggle it, just a little bit!
Team Lead
Joined
Jun 28, 2008
Messages
33,796
So.... our freezer side of our refrigerator decided to die yesterday. The fridge side is still working, but not super well. Ugh! So, a week before graduation we are having to scramble and figure out if we can repair it or if we have to get a new one. The one that is dying is 19 years old, so I guess it's probably time for a new one anyway.

SO... tell me what I should be looking for in a new refrigerator? Do you guys have one that you love? Should we stick with a side by side or go with the newer style that has the freezer on the bottom? Also what brands do you love/hate? We live in the town that has the world headquarters for Whirlpool (also owns Kitchenaide and Maytag) so we lean towards those out of some weird loyalty, but I'm open to whatever.
 
Good luck in getting one. I know people that have had to wait for months if they didn't take something in stock at a store.

As for me, I go with as simple as possible. The good old-fashioned freezer on top. No ice maker or water feature either. Those also happen to be the best size for my kitchen. When I remodeled my kitchen in 2017, I stuck with the same type that I had at the time. It was still working and was well over 20 years old at that time since Mom was still alive when we got it (sometime between 1990 and 1995).
 
We tend to have smaller kitchens in the UK so the most common versions are the fridge/freezer where the freezer is at the bottom, alternatively you can get 'under counter' options so the smaller units are separate. There has been a move towards what we call American style (side by side fridge/freezers) but I don't have room for one myself.

I had a new fridge/freezer last year and specifically did not want one with the water or ice dispenser (mainly because it is on an internal wall with no easy access to plumbing), but also the water tank takes so much room up from inside the fridge.

My other requirements were that I wanted one with a larger fridge section (I have a second freezer in the utility room), I wanted a certain ability to move shelves around and ditto the door compartment boxes. Also self defrost. Oh and a large vegetable/salad box.

My initial choices were on a long back wait, but I love the one I did get in the end.

It's last year's version of this one I think. It's Bosch.

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/bosch-serie-4-kgn39vweag-7030-fridge-freezer-white-10206756.html

Fridge is 279 litres and freezer is 89 litres capacity.
 
I don't have a preferred brand but I'm happy with my LG I bought a few years ago . . . except one thing. The pull out drawers style of freezer is awful. It holds less than simple shelves, there's wasted space around the drawers, and it requires Tetris skills to put away the frozen groceries.
 
michelepixels said:
I don't have a preferred brand but I'm happy with my LG I bought a few years ago . . . except one thing. The pull out drawers style of freezer is awful. It holds less than simple shelves, there's wasted space around the drawers, and it requires Tetris skills to put away the frozen groceries.
Click to expand...

Ugh. This is the kind my hubby really wants and that's exactly what I was worried about. I hate that you don't know until you buy it either, unless they let me bring all of my groceries in the store and try it out. :giggle
 
fruitysuet said:
We tend to have smaller kitchens in the UK so the most common versions are the fridge/freezer where the freezer is at the bottom, alternatively you can get 'under counter' options so the smaller units are separate. There has been a move towards what we call American style (side by side fridge/freezers) but I don't have room for one myself.

I had a new fridge/freezer last year and specifically did not want one with the water or ice dispenser (mainly because it is on an internal wall with no easy access to plumbing), but also the water tank takes so much room up from inside the fridge.

My other requirements were that I wanted one with a larger fridge section (I have a second freezer in the utility room), I wanted a certain ability to move shelves around and ditto the door compartment boxes. Also self defrost. Oh and a large vegetable/salad box.

My initial choices were on a long back wait, but I love the one I did get in the end.

It's last year's version of this one I think. It's Bosch.

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/bosch-serie-4-kgn39vweag-7030-fridge-freezer-white-10206756.html

Fridge is 279 litres and freezer is 89 litres capacity.
Click to expand...

Oooh... Bosch is a really great brand! I'd love a Bosch, but they are CRAZY expensive here.
 
so, we had to do this at the start of the pandemic.... and it was a hassle. We ended up fixing our fridge and it's holding steady. Our dishwasher didn't dry.

We also ran into issues with sizing, delay in products on backorder (months and months!) and finding a fridge that has an ice maker in the size we needed. We were also looking to replace all our appliances at the time, but eventually didn't. (Or dishwasher is still not working properly, so my boys have become dishwashers, lol! - I'm lazy to spend and get it since they can wash.)
 
jk703 said:
so, we had to do this at the start of the pandemic.... and it was a hassle. We ended up fixing our fridge and it's holding steady. Our dishwasher didn't dry.

We also ran into issues with sizing, delay in products on backorder (months and months!) and finding a fridge that has an ice maker in the size we needed. We were also looking to replace all our appliances at the time, but eventually didn't. (Or dishwasher is still not working properly, so my boys have become dishwashers, lol! - I'm lazy to spend and get it since they can wash.)
Click to expand...

Oh man! What a hassle! I remember you saying your dishwasher wasn't drying. We had to replace ours in 2020 too (I think) it's all a blur lately.

My hubby wants to replace it like TODAY and is stressing me out with the hustle to just get it done. I need to overthink it all first! :giggle We took the afternoon off work and are going to Lowes to check out what they have in stock. Then he wants to put it in his truck and try to bring it in our house ourselves. I think my brain might explode.
 
I have a 1950's kitchen ... the space for the fridge is small, so I'm limited to a freezer on top, fridge on bottom not too wide or tall.

Now my dream fridge would have the fridge on top w/french doors, middle pull out drawer for snack stuff, and a freezer drawer on the bottom with an ice maker. I have an upright freezer in the basement, so I don't keep much frozen stuff in my fridge freezer beyond ice cube trays and ice cream.
 
Memaw2Wm said:
I have a 1950's kitchen ... the space for the fridge is small, so I'm limited to a freezer on top, fridge on bottom not too wide or tall.

Now my dream fridge would have the fridge on top w/french doors, middle pull out drawer for snack stuff, and a freezer drawer on the bottom with an ice maker. I have an upright freezer in the basement, so I don't keep much frozen stuff in my fridge freezer beyond ice cube trays and ice cream.
Click to expand...

1960's house here so I hear you on the small space!

My cousin has your dream fridge. It came with the house when she got it. It is HUGE! It sticks out a good 10 inches from the cupboard it is next to. Her stove is flush with the cupboards. My stove is flush with the cupboards and the fridge is next to it. It sticks out about 6 inches but only because I have left a space of about 3 inches between it and the wall. Because of the size of her fridge and the location of the island in the kitchen, it is a tight space to walk between them and you have to stand to the side to open the freezer portion. IMO definitely poor layout in that house by the people that built it but then I would have never bought it. She loves it though... after she did some major renovations of the bedroom area.
 
I loved with a passion our french door, freezer on the bottom fridge. Alas, we had to leave it with the house when we moved in 2013.

Our current fridge I hate with a passion. We were stuck trying to buy whatever someone actually had in stock, and we have a width limit because of the way the kitchen is designed. We did not want to do major destruction when we bought the house.

Our despised fridge is a Frigidaire 22-cu ft Side-by-Side Refrigerator with Ice Maker. We drink more water if it's cold, so an Ice maker was a must in our house. The original intention was to get rid of our stand alone water dispenser, but alas, my husband is too much of a water snob to drink the fridge water. So, the rest of us drink happily from the fridge tap that we got for him. The fridge tap has the water line on the outside of the fridge, so the water is room temperature. Luckily, the ice cools it quickly. Also a design flaw in my opinion but apparently intentional.

Anyway, on to the rest of the hated list: This thing is super loud. Well, turned out the fan was only attached on the bottom, and moved constantly when it was on (intentional design). So, we had to Mickey Mouse it with washi tape, and binder clips so it doesn't move anymore. It's quiet now. Also, the fridge door 'drawer' broke after just over 1 year. We don't know of any stress on it, so I'm assuming bad workmanship. A replacement drawer was almost $50 because only one company makes a no-name brand for it. The brand name replacement was $80.

Size: For us, what was most important was considering what we store in the fridge. I wanted room to stick a pizza box without always unloading it. And a gallon jug of milk in the door preferably. I didn't take into account how teeny tiny the freezer size is because of the larger fridge size. Luckily, I have a deep freezer, so most of the stuff is stored there. The freezer side does hold Sharon's ice cream and frozen dinners and pupsicles decently. And it makes ice just like we wanted.

I would not buy this again, and in fact, won't buy a frigidaire again. They literally have youtube videos with the horrible loud noises explaining why it's not a problem. :angry :banghead :hairpol
 
Ours is pretty close to your dream fridge. We loved it so much we had the same exact one put in when we finished our basement & kitchenette down there. I love the adjustable/customizable shelves & drawer dividers & the bottom freezer baskets are so handy. We have the stainless steel in our main kitchen (which shows EVERYTHING!!!) and the black stainless in the basement- much better with fingerprints, but does show the water drips from the dispenser that no one in my family can seem to clean up... ;) It's a samsung- This is the newest version of ours I think...
 
Karen said:
Ugh. This is the kind my hubby really wants and that's exactly what I was worried about. I hate that you don't know until you buy it either, unless they let me bring all of my groceries in the store and try it out. :giggle
Click to expand...

Look for one that has square corners on the freezer baskets. Some are slanted at the back and those do require more packing skills. Those with squared up baskets are more normal.

That said - I am in refrigerator selecting mode too - arrrgghhhh. Let me start by saying get the extended warranty and read it well. You want one that will refund or replace should the fridge completely die. The ice maker on my 4 door Frigidaire (the one with 2 drawers - the middle can be fridge or a freezer) died 14 months in (2 months after the manufacturer's warranty expired). Because I had the extended warranty, Lowes sent out a repair person. Unfortunately, due to a design flaw, the water pipe from the water filter to the ice maker froze and then burst. It sent water into the inner workings of the fridge until we found this out. It is not repairable. So they authorized a replacement even though the rest of the fridge and freezer are working (for now). After waiting a month for Lowes to call me, I finally got through to them and they gave me Lowes gift certificates to replace it.

I can buy whatever I want but I really like this model -- but it doesn't matter because the bigger problem is Lowes has very few of any kind of fridge in stock right now. I can't even order one if I want the same brand/style - at least right now. And because I only have gift certificates, I can't go to another store either. So what to do, what to do. Meanwhile, I am waiting and hoping this one keeps working - and I am hitting up the Dollar Tree for more ice cube trays.
 
bestcee said:
I would not buy this again, and in fact, won't buy a frigidaire again. They literally have youtube videos with the horrible loud noises explaining why it's not a problem. :angry :banghead :hairpol
Click to expand...

My fridge is a Frigidaire ... it too makes a loud noise when something (compressor?) cycles on. I've had it for about 6 years now and most of the time I don't even hear the noise anymore.
 
We have a Kitchenaid that was branded as a Viking (no idea why but it was a floor model so we got a great deal). We switched from a Subzero side by side to the French door and I will never go back to side by side. Yes, the freezer drawer is a bit of a tetris puzzle and might hold slightly less than our old one but we could hardly fit anything in our old side by side refrigerator. The French door gives you so many more options for configuring the fridge section - we can now fit things like pizza boxes and platters that we could never get into our old side by side. It's just holds so much more. We went with no external dispenser for a cleaner look and I'm glad I did because the stainless is kind of a pain to keep looking good if you drip water on it (fingerprints too, of course). That means you have to pull the drawer open to get ice but that's ok with me. We have reverse osmosis in our sink all the way across the room so I'd rather drink that water than the water from the fridge anyway.
 
Our fridge is a hand-me-down from my mom. She remodeled her kitchen and went with all stainless steel, so we took her white fridge with freezer on bottom. It's a GE Profile, and I believe she bought it in 2004. We've had two repairs on it that were fairly inexpensive (compared to buying a new fridge anyway). There is an ice maker, but not an ice dispenser or water dispenser. We keep a Brita 18 cup water filter dispenser in the fridge for cold water. It's a pain to take it out and fill it up, but we prefer having the filtered water and for the water to be cold without having to use ice.

Our fridge went out on us right around the time Piper got sick back in February. We had to wait over a week just for a service technician to come out and look at the fridge, then another week for the part to come in + a couple of days to get an installation appointment.

It was a pain to live out of a cooler, with Jay buying ice every day. About a week in, he went out and bought a small fridge with a freezer on top (9.8 cu ft). We were wanting additional fridge and freezer space for freezer overflow when we buy stuff on sale and for keeping beverages cold.

So we paid a couple of hundred dollars for the fridge repair and it's working like a champ again. We moved the small refrigerator into our laundry/pantry room, and we have really enjoyed having the extra space. Now we can really see what we have in the main fridge.

My dream fridge is one that has french doors, a separate snack drawer, water dispenser on the inside of the fridge. It has a really clean look. Lowes is showing that it's not available until August 29th!

Bosch 800 Series 21-cu ft 4-Door Counter-depth French Door Refrigerator with Ice Maker (Stainless Steel) ENERGY STAR
 
We went from side-by-side to French door with freezer on the bottom a couple of years ago. (I scrapped about it. LOL) I like it, but am not as in love with it as I thought I'd be. Each design has pros and cons. The new one isn't as organized for us as the old one was... it's more "stick stuff where it will fit" in the main section instead of items having a designated home, but we do seem to get everything to fit. The old one was better for 2-liters of soda. We don't use the freezer much on the new one since we have a big stand-alone freezer in the laundry room, but that was the case with the old fridge too. I do love the center drawer on the new one and am glad I got one that was directly accessible, rather than having to open both doors to get to it. :agree
 
I would recommend anything but what I have :giggle I like the fridge itself ok (freezer on the bottom), but it's a shiny black with no handles, only a slot on the side to open it which no one uses the way it's intended, and shows ever single fingerprint. It drives me up a wall.
 
My DD has a smart fridge - she can "look" into it when she's at the grocery and see what she has. LOL It has lots of cool features and has all kinds of bells and whistles on it.
 
Back
Top