What is your favorite refrigerator brand? (That isn't Samsung)

Came home yesterday to another 46F refrigerator.  Apparently the power had blipped off long enough to cause it to ice up again, turn off my desktop and turn on the Leg Lamp from the Xmas Story House, but not enough to cause any flashing clocks.

I've been nursing this stupid thing for at least 2-3 years.  At first it was every 6 months or so I would see ice bulging out of the vents inside on the back wall & have to shut it off a day or two.  The last year has gotten more frequent and almost every time the power goes out the ice built up inside seems to turn to a solid block.

Samsung something from 2012, and everyone tells me stay away from Samsung & LG.  One person said anyone that makes TVs.  I don't need water or ice makers, it's a French door stainless steel but not concerned if the next one is...

I swear, I'm not sure it matters anymore.   I've got a side-by-side Kitchenaid that's going on 20 years old.  It's been very good.  When it gives up the ghost, I'll probably pick up whatever has the features I want that Costco sells.  Appliances used to be called "durable goods".  Nowadays, it seems like they're designed to have a major component break down every year or so.

The "best" rated fridge tends to change every year.  I bought a used fridge for my house and it is a Whirlpool.  I've had it for 3 years and it was at least 3 years old before that.  It does the things.  The freezer is frozen, the fridge is refrigerated.  It was rated very highly for the year that it was manufactured.

This is one of the reasons I don't like doing things new.  Same with cars.  I don't want to buy the latest generation Buick only to realize it's plagued with recalls and issues.  I urged Dad not to buy an 88 GMT400 because it was the first year for them.  He did, and it was one of the ones with the bad valve oil seals.  I urged him not to buy an early Duramax, but he did and they were the ones with the faulty injectors.  I like to give it a few years so that the googles can become populated with "why won't my [insert make and model] fridge get cold?"

From what I understand, most of the new stuff won't last long, but at least if you avoid LG and Samsung you might get 6 years instead of 3.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

The "best" rated fridge tends to change every year.  I bought a used fridge for my house and it is a Whirlpool.  I've had it for 3 years and it was at least 3 years old before that.  It does the things.  The freezer is frozen, the fridge is refrigerated.  It was rated very highly for the year that it was manufactured.

This is one of the reasons I don't like doing things new.  Same with cars.  I don't want to buy the latest generation Buick only to realize it's plagued with recalls and issues.  I urged Dad not to buy an 88 GMT400 because it was the first year for them.  He did, and it was one of the ones with the bad valve oil seals.  I urged him not to buy an early Duramax, but he did and they were the ones with the faulty injectors.  I like to give it a few years so that the googles can become populated with "why won't my [insert make and model] fridge get cold?"

From what I understand, most of the new stuff won't last long, but at least if you avoid LG and Samsung you might get 6 years instead of 3.

^ This x 1,000.  Wife bought a GE about 6 or 7 years ago because the old one was leaking water.  The icemaker quit after the first 6 months, warranty wouldn't cover the repair and parts were 400 bucks.  I've been buying a couple of bags of ice per week ever since, luckily the fridge and freezer still work, just won't make any ice.  Meanwhile the fridge it replaced is still going strong in the garage, keeping my beer cold .     

I've got a KitchenAid (Whirlpool) that is about 12 years old and going strong.

Jerry said:

Samsung something from 2012, and everyone tells me stay away from Samsung & LG.  One person said anyone that makes TVs.  I don't need water or ice makers, it's a French door stainless steel but not concerned if the next one is...

Low-end Samsung washer and dryer haven't given us any trouble in 4 years since I bought this house, neither has the low-end LG fridge. House had no appliances when I bought it and I'm cheap when it comes to that stuff. I'm not spending $3k on a fridge with a camera inside so I don't have to open the door. 

But it's also just me and my fiancee, so they don't see nearly as much use as if say, we had 3 kids. 

Do you want my factory discount code for all Whirlpool products, kitchen aid etc.

They have a secret website that has direct delivery and a few to several hundred dollar discount.

The I blame the only issue we had with the GE we bought for our old house on the 'French door' style, and know other brands have had similar issues. The overlapping seal on the right hand door, that gets beat up by the flapper on the left hand door when it's opened first or closed second, tore and was eventually replaced. Once the correct (mechanically sympatheitc) method for door opening and closing was used, it became a non-issue. 

The (new) Frigidaire that came with our current house we're looking forward to replacing due to vaious (not overly expensive) bits that keep needing to be (easily) replaced. While annoying, it's not enough to warrant replacement yet. 

In all fairness, both may be more representative of where they fall in the model lineup than the brands themselves too.

Sub Zero.

I have whirlpool and it sucks.

I had a plain jane white Frigidaire at our old house. Never a problem in 10 + years. 

06HHR (Forum Supporter) said:

^ This x 1,000.  Wife bought a GE about 6 or 7 years ago because the old one was leaking water.  The icemaker quit after the first 6 months, warranty wouldn't cover the repair and parts were 400 bucks.  I've been buying a couple of bags of ice per week ever since, luckily the fridge and freezer still work, just won't make any ice. 

Soooo...

Over the past 5-1/2 years you've spent $1144, at $2 per bag of ice, in order to save $400 by not fixing the ice maker?

ProDarwin said:

Sub Zero.

 

I have whirlpool and it sucks.

Sub zero? Hope you have 20k sitting around. 

Duke said:

06HHR (Forum Supporter) said:

^ This x 1,000.  Wife bought a GE about 6 or 7 years ago because the old one was leaking water.  The icemaker quit after the first 6 months, warranty wouldn't cover the repair and parts were 400 bucks.  I've been buying a couple of bags of ice per week ever since, luckily the fridge and freezer still work, just won't make any ice. 

Soooo...

Over the past 5-1/2 years you've spent $1144, at $2 per bag of ice, in order to save $400 by not fixing the ice maker?

 

I have these really cool divided plastic containers at my cabin that are in the shape of ice cubes.  You just put water in them and like two hours later I have ice cubes, only cost me the water.  It even has a special box to store the cubes in, it's highly engineered so when you push the container down into it the cubes release.  

At home I have an ice maker, but also have some cube making devices that make them into little skulls or spheres or just large cubes. 

In reply to Duke :

Therabouts, i really like bagged ice..  Besides, never any room in my freezers.  Always bringing home half a cow and whatnot from the local butcher. I have 3 freezers and they are always full.  

In reply to akylekoz :

Did that for awhile, then discovered I was the only one who would fill the ice trays, so when i wanted ice, they were always empty and I had to wait two hours for ice.  Never failed.  One day I'll either get the icemaker fixed or get another fridge.  Till then i just throw a bag of ice in the cart with my weekly shopping.  Not saying it's rational, it's just part of my routine now.   

Bought a new french door whirplool  ~8 years ago.  It was objectively horrible.  The in-door ice machine free'd up space in the fridge...but also leaked condensation into the main computer.   Awful design w/many different failures.  The one really nice feature it did have was an "auto-fill" option that would fill a glass with the specified volume w/just one touch.  No more holding the "fill" lever when getting water!!!

Once the warranty ran out we bought one through Whirlpool and everything was fixed at no-cost for the remainder of our ownership.  They literally replaced every part on the fridge and multiple times the actual cost to just buy a new fridge.  AIG managed the warranty and we got to know our repair guy pretty well.  

Last winter they deemed it unrepairable and Whirlpool gave us a gift card for $1k and we agreed to scrap the fridge.  

We bought another whirlpool...because of COURSE we'd buy another one?!!?   The replacement feels much cheaper made...but doesn't have the troublesome ice-in-door maker.  Same ~$2k price tag, less features.  The worst thing is it took several months to actually get one delivered due to COVID backorders.  When it finally was delivered it was pretty dented.  They gave us a token discount ($200) and we accept it...mainly because I just can't handle having the stupid mini fridge in the kitchen and walking down three flights of stairs to get things from the garage fridge.  

Long-story-short...fridges aren't made like they used to be.  If you think you're having issues, either buy a new fridge or pay for the warranty.

I buy appliances all the time. My last Whirlpool lasted 13 months.  I have 3 of the Best Buy house brand "Insignia" that are doing pretty well but two are less than 3 years old.  I have an LG with a scroll compressor or linear or what ever they call it, I'm waiting for it to crap out. They replace the compressors with normal ones but it has to be done by an LG tech so the fridge can be programmed to the new compressors needs.  For the last year it has been "what can I get" more than "what do I want"

I've shopped in the extremes of the price range for rentals and for personal use and it seems they all suck until you pay over $5K. It seems like 15 year fridges are no longer made by anybody, at least not on purpose.

Another Sub Zero vote here.  It's amazing.  Food actually lasts longer, temp never struggles even on busy holidays with lots of use.  Opening the doors is like a Mercedes compared to a Kia.  The ice through the door system sucks though.   Ours is a 42" counter depth.  We bought it used from a big fancy house that was renovating, it was $1500.  The only wear repair is the condenser fan which was under $100 and an easy install. This is also clearly designed with repair in mind and parts are available.  I'll never go back to a "regular" fridge.  

Yah, forgot about the ice maker.  Mines gone out at least twice. 

Fun fact:  For about $100, you can buy a generic ice maker kit from Lowe's and use parts in it to fix the one in your fancy fridge.

Knock on wood, year 15 or so on an LG double door model that was in my kitchen when I moved in.  

Two issues so far

- Ice maker wouldn't turn on.  Contacts were burned, needed a clean up and a re-seating.  Problem solved, been going strong since.

-Accidentally left the door open over a very warm weekend and came back to a warm fridge that after 3 days wouldnt cool down.  Thought it was hosed.  Turned out the condenser was full of cat hair and dust.  Once we blew it down, cleaned it out, and then ran a fan on the compressor while it recovered to operating temp its been steady for 3 more years.  

If it dies I would buy another one in a second.  

The problem is that many manufacturers re-badged 'competitors' fridges. 

We were shopping for a replacement for our 15 year old GE french door unit.  Found out that some of the new GEs are actually re-badged Samsungs/LGs.  Wasn't sure until I looked at a couple of them side by side and asked about it.  Sure enough, the sales guy says, "Yeah, that GE is really a Samsung except for the badge".

Our Kitchen Aide is 13 years old. It's been great. Makes ice, but the motor that turns the paddle in the ice dispenser hasn't worked for a year or so. None of us use ice in our drinks, so I don't care. 
 

For our second refrigerator, we got a new GE last fall as a home warranty replacement. It had to be repaired before we could even start to use it. No problems since, hopefully it will be okay for a while. 
 

I dread the day Kitchen Aide dies. 

I upgraded last year when my old GE died, and went with Fisher & Paykel. Why? I'm a single guy living in a smallish space, so I wanted a smallish fridge that wasn't cheap crappy quality. It needed to fit the existing hole in the kitchen, which eliminated many of the ginormous options, especially in terms of depth. On top of that, I wanted freezer on the bottom, and minimal bells and whistles...I don't need or want cold water dispensers, automatic ice makers, Bluetooth connectivity, or any of that crap, especially not if it comes at the expense of internal space, or quality. 

18 months later, and after removing some of the internal panels to wrap a hard line off the compressor that was rattling against the cabinet, I'm super-happy so far.

If your usage or criteria is similar to mine, certainly worth a look.

I had to bring this back up for people to reference. Since I posted, my LG compressor crapped out but was covered under the 10 warranty that LG had extended them to after a class action lawsuit. It was 9 years old.

Currently I'm waiting on service for a Whirlpool that has stopped cooling. It was purchased in Feb. this year.

I also have an Amana(also Whirlpool) that stopped working at less than 3 years old.

At this point I'm not sure if it is worth paying a couple hundred dollars more for a slightly better fridge or paying the $160 for the Best Buy 3 yr. extended service plan. I normally don't do service plans but it might make sense in this case.

Buy commercial grade once, and cry once. For the real GRM move get a used sub zero, you'd be surprised how cheap you can get one that was originally $$$$