Anyone bought a refrigerator they like?

We are very disappointed in our Samsung due to failing shelves. We have had 4 of them crack and break.
Like anything these days, probably have to spend big money to get one that will last as long as they should and used to. We still have the Kitchenaid we purchased for our first house back in 1993 and it's been doing garage duty since at least 99.
 
Can't believe a moderator hasn't moved this thread.

But I just love the look of those Kenwood integrateds, don't you?
 
This has been a fun thread. Sometimes it's nice to just read about mundane things. I like cooking, so anything kitchen related is fine by me.

We went with a 900 doillar Whirlpool a couple years ago after our Frigidaire went after 11 good years, which seems to be an eternity in modern appliance life. We also got the 5 year service warranty because it seems they like to either go out just after the first year, or last for ever. Our 1950's GM Frigidaire is still going strong. I wish they still made them like they used to.
 
Well I missed a lot while travelling yesterday!

First, apologies to anyone offended by the thread misplacement. I fully intended to put it in Off Topic but I was in a hurry. I would have no objection to moving it.

Interesting that so many people said Samsung is unreliable. Including service and sales guys. I put 10x more stock in that than a single customer who bought a single appliance and decided a whole brand was junk. You can find reviews on any make/model both good and bad - from "Works great!" to "Everything broke on this unit" to "Don't buy anything by XXXX, it's all junk!"

Consumer Reports polled thousands of customers and their data shows Kenmore, GE, LG and Samsung all pretty close in repair rates (32-35% of respondents saying their units required repair). The other bunch is Maytag, Kitchen Aid, Whirlpool at 40-47% (in that order, so Whirlpool had the worst rate of breakdowns. Yet may here are saying the reverse: that Samsung is awful and Whirlpool is great.

:dunno:

To be completely honest the refrigerators I've owned were all pretty old and lets face it, there aint much out there anymore that is reliable, there made to break even faster.
So it's basically a coin toss nowadays if ya get a lemon or not. Hope the frig works well for ya for a long time sir.
But, again being painfully truthful, cold air drops and hot air rises and a refrigerator is cooled by the freezer so a bottom freezer has to blow the cold air up to the frig
unlike a top freezer that the cold air is blown into the frig below and not working against the current so to speak. Never liked a bottom freezer because of it, that and banging
your shin against the open door and having to bend down so far to get anything out. But, I reckon to each his own, watch your shins. cheesy.gif
As far as the other troubles that are following you, when it's all over you'll be able to look back at it and laugh or at least say thanks for it ending.
 
We'll see how mom and sis like the bottom freezer. The old GE was a side by side and every time you opened the freezer, stuff would fall out because it was so full. At least they won't have that problem. Also it seems to me that one uses the freezer less and the fridge more, so having the fridge at eye and reach level seems like a good thing. You basically have a chest freezer down there though which has its own drawbacks. No such thing as a perfect refrigerator.

Apparently the delivery guys did NOT bring the dented discounted fridge but a brand NEW one in the box...somebody screwed up because they got a $600 discount...doubt if Lowes will even notice though.
 
Hey, Never know, when they plugged it in to test it before delivery it may not have worked so they had no other recourse then to bring you a new one.
Or as I have been in the appliance repair/delivery business when I was a young man your delivery man may have got the deliveries mixed up.
I would call them just to make sure to avoid any problems down the road.
 
IMG_20180511_174622.jpg LG all the way.
Kinda cool fridge. Having a door within a door. The glass lights up when you knock on it twice then after 30 seconds blacks out. I especially like getting the "quick" items such as the milk, coffee etc in the glass service through door section.
LMXS30796D_350_20171010.jpg
 
Well I have a gas stove,gas dryer,fridge and washing machine all by the top audio mfg Crosley:).Over 21 years now and still going strong.
 
I saw that door feature while researching, it really is cool.
It was more than that. For the same footprint this absolutely crushed my side by side Bosch fridge in terms of storage. That bottom freezer packs away more and I can fit five large pizzas on one side in there if I wanted while the other half tons of meat.
Then you have the center drawer for quick deli meats, drinks etc.
This was just one well laid out fridge. The "last one" I'll buy if everything last.
 
23 year old Kenmore. The only problem it ever had was a clogged drain hose. An air compressor and a LOT of paper towel :no: fixed that.

Kenmore dishwasher is also 23 years old. Needed a new control board in 2004 but the replacement board and the dishwasher have been going strong ever since.
 
Parents have a GE. In 4 years, it's broken like 4 times. blown fans, inverters, front door replaced, stuff arrived messed up.

I wouldn't buy a GE...
 
My frig was free! Hotpoint, found it on the side of the road, old, oiled the freezer fan motor and the condenser fan motor(locked up), cleaned it, good to go!, been going strong for 2 years, made during the better years imo. OK so I have two homes, one is OK, the other is a dump I'm working on. Where am I going to get a frig for the dump?, and it "appeared". I should have been thinking, "Where am I going to get $5,000,000?" I would go to Youtube and look up stuff having to do with refrigerators, "consumer reports", reviews, things like that.
 
I love it when stuff 'appears' just when you need it. Happened to me numerous times when building and outfitting my shop, the Garage Mahal. A lot of recycled and salvaged stuff in that building.

So did you have to re-charge that Hotpoint after oiling the motor? I assume it was R-12, in which case, where in the world did you get the refrigerant?.
 
Our refrigerator is a 20 year old Whirlpool, freezer on top. Other than replacing the ice maker myself (instructions say to turn it off when the water supply is off, but we were not home when some idiot hit a fire hydrant in our neighborhood) there has been no problems.

The handle to the refrigerator section broke on Thursday. I'm looking at options, which includes doing nothing as it can be easily opened without the handle.
 
I love it when stuff 'appears' just when you need it. Happened to me numerous times when building and outfitting my shop, the Garage Mahal. A lot of recycled and salvaged stuff in that building.

So did you have to re-charge that Hotpoint after oiling the motor? I assume it was R-12, in which case, where in the world did you get the refrigerant?.


No, I didn't have to do anything else to that refrigerator, but I painted it with white appliance paint using a roller. It just so happened that the oven that was still in that little house is a Hotpoint also so, I thought it was kind of cool that it happened to match up. I've done things differently from most. I look for deals even though I don't "need" to. I have no debt and never had a credit card, I'm 54, both houses paid for. I think the previous owner is a landlord, the frig wasn't cooling. There is a "c-frame" motor that blows in the freezer. It's a very simple, common and efficient motor. It blows the cold air around. If it's frozen up, I think people will think their frig is broken because it would not be cooling down. I didn't know any of this until I took this frig home. It's actually kind of rare that the compressor goes bad, they are pretty reliable but they do go bad eventually. Anyway, so if that inexpensive motor in the freezer freezes up, temps don't go down. This is basically the motor design right here: https://www.zoro.com/dayton-c-frame...MI4sHokpWH2wIVEbXACh2mTgXQEAQYASABEgJKrfD_BwE When I took that motor out of the freezer, I saw that there were felt washers on the front and back of the little rotor, covered by plastic covers, you will see if you ever look into it. The felt washers are supposed to be saturated with oil but they dry out over time and probably aren't well lubed out of the factory, prob designed to fail soon that way. So I soaked the felt with totl synthetic, thin oil since it gets cold and snapped the plastic covers back on. I'll never have to worry about that again. Even old refrigerators only cost about $30 a year to run, they are amazing machines taken for granted imo. That little motor is usually easy to get to. If you have to do it, if you find an old frig, just start unscrewing screws in the freezer. Open the freezer door and look toward the back, you should see some screws there.
 
How many times have ya heard, "They don't make them like they used to!". From personal experience, I agree.


Well, like me, many got tired of the little lady complaining bout how that relic in the kitchen, that didn't miss a stroke in 20 years, caused you to turf it and go out and buy a brand new shiny one (stainless even!)...with THREE doors no less. Hopefully you waited till the newer ones came out and you didn't have to polish it every second day...like we do. We didn't wait!

Then the fridge fun can begin. After searching for the warranty card, you read it and guess what? A little more than a year elapsed, and it does state this on the card (if you still have it) that the unit was good for only a year (one!). After that, unless you purchased at extra cost, added coverage...but for what? Just parts? Labour? And from where? By whom? You are good for repairs.

There is a plethora of brands out there, but most will fall under an umbrella company who makes several, but end up putting specific brand plates on them. Some times there is a difference of specs, but I've found they are all pretty much the same...unless you go for the upper tier of the brands (more $$$), but that's another "can of worms" that needs yet another thread.

So, you go to the phone, dial their respective number, and get lost in the labyrinth of different departments, trying to get the right person to talk to. If you do, often you end up waiting, listening to some horrendous music that I'm sure they select in order to get you off the phone. If lucky, some one comes on, and now the real fun beings! What ever you do in the end...make sure you ask for a certified company tech.

Check out the recalls on the net some time and you will be amazed at the number of recalls that have been made in order to prevent your house from burning down because of faulty appliances. You will be amazed at the high number of appliances being warned about by both manufacturer and government. It's staggering.

I seem to remember within the past few years, there was one president who proclaimed that "We have to make better appliances"...now get this! "Because our landfills are overflowing". As Spock would say, "Where is the logic in this?" And I have to agree.

If you do get a nice new appliance, be happy if it's still running after five. It just may be the exception.

Q
 
I bought my Frigidare refrigerator "neused" at half price 10 years ago. It's still working perfectly. Apparently, at least at that time, Lowe's policy was to just dump appliances that came in non-functional, instead of bothering to send them back or attempt repairs. A local repair shop would scoop up stuff for pennies on the dollar, fix it, and sell it for about half price. This fridge came in with a bad compressor, but after the repair, it has been perfect.
 
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