[george kujanski]

don't know which brand to buy; checked the review/complaint posts on the internet, it seems every brand has complaints and the respective customer service sucks too. They are no help.

The current one is an Amana, 25 years old, and the only thing I can say about it is that it has never failed to cool....other things not so much. I have fixed things along the way and vowed i would not buy another amana. it's showing signs of failure so it's about time to replace.

In any case, Anyone have a recommendation? The complaints mostly are short term reliability and then poor service/customer service. I'd like a unit that will at least cool reliably for the long term, at least, Domestic brand if possible.

George

[Old Goat 67]

Good Luck George.

Seems everything is made by Westinghouse now.

Service & reliability sucks at best!

[indymanjoe]

I would fix your Amana,at least keep it in the basement.That way when the new POS breaks down you will have a back up.12-15 is the life of a new one,if ya keep the condenser clean anyways.Amana,Maytag,whirlpool,Admiral are all the same.Electrolux,frigidaire westinghouse are the same.GE uses some samsungs but most are built here.GL

[GT182]

We bought a GE tri-door at Sears and love it. Freezer is at the bottom so you don't have to bend over to get things out of the upper fridge.

We've had 2 before this and wouldn't go with a side by side if given to us. First one we sold to the wife's daughter as it wouldn't fit in the house we have now.... without major surgery. Second one gave us a bunch of trouble but Sears warranty fixed it for 4 times in one month. That got us a new one when the rerpair man put in for a replacement after the 5th repair. We kept it when the new one was delivered and the 2 guys said keep it if we wanted too. It was only going the scrap pile anyways. Her other daughter bought if from us after we had it running in the garage for 2 months with no problem. She still has it after 3 years, still running with no problems.

[ponyakr]

I'd consider the warranty and service side of it more than the brand name.

We bought our last one from Sears. It quit after less than 3 years. But, it was under warranty, so we called Sears. They sent out a repair guy. He checked it out and said the compressor was bad.

But, he said that most all of 'em use the same compressor, nowadays. I suppose he was correct. He had the correct replacement on his service truck. And to my surprise, he laid down on the floor and swapped it out in probably an hour or less.

He had obviously done it many times before. And the fix did not cost us a penny. It's over 11 years old now, and hasn't missed a beat since the fix.

But, since the nicer models, with ice and water dispenser, are quite expensive, we decided to keep up an extended warranty policy. It's sorta like paying in advance for another compressor and service fee, with small annual payments.

[JSPONT]

Bought a wirlpool gold $2400 about 8 years ago, 2 months after the 5 year warranty ended, looses freon. Tech comes over. leak is where you can not get to it. Now every 4-5 months I add a few ounces of freon. I bought a scale to do it. They run on small amount of freon.
All the new stuff is junk!
My garage "beer fridge" a 1953 Crosley Shelvedor, still runs mint, never apart, only had to change the plug because the insulation dry rotted off!!!
They do not make them like that anymore.

My friend has a sub zero 6 feet wide big money, POS, every 4-6 months tech guy is over fixing it. he will never let the warranty expire.

[fyrffytr1]

We bought a Samsung 3 door with bottom freezer about a year ago. It has two ice makers so we have plenty of ice. My only complaints are 1, The top ice dispenser is not very good and 2, the new type compressor causes glass items to vibrate and make a noise when they touch each other.
Those are minor annoyances and we can live with them. I put some rubber liners in the door trays and that stopped the vibration noise.

[beemergary]

Hate to think about a new one. Our fridgidare is 35 yrs old and just had to buy a defrost timer. Still have a 1967 in basement and my grandmothers coldspot deepfreeze. By the way I am 65 yrs. old. I am sure those in the basement run up my electric bill. O well

[marxjunk]

can anyone even buy one that not stainless anymore..i went thru a store here a week ago and all where stainless....

[indymanjoe]

Originally Posted by beemergary

Hate to think about a new one. Our fridgidare is 35 yrs old and just had to buy a defrost timer. Still have a 1967 in basement and my grandmothers coldspot deepfreeze. By the way I am 65 yrs. old. I am sure those in the basement run up my electric bill. O well

By the time you figuire in Making parts to repair,sending a truck out,Loss of food,time off work to wait for a service tech,ordering a new part,another day off(do u really want an expensive circuit board bouncing around on a truck for maybe months?) etc..I myself dont see the "savings"in energy.IF people would clean the condensers 2 times a year the old ones are quite energy efficient.fwiw

[indymanjoe]

Originally Posted by marxjunk

can anyone even buy one that not stainless anymore..i went thru a store here a week ago and all where stainless....

Stainless is a HUGE markup.No one mentions that stainless doesn't mean scratch-less or dent-less.Just the name says Stain Less..my white chit doesn't stain at all.And white today is white in 10 years.Remember Bisque,Avocado Green,Harvest Gold LOL
If you really look,you can see a stainless unit is just a 1000 unit wrapped in 100 dollar appliance grade stainless for about 1000-1500 more in the price.

[george kujanski]

I'm not getting a warm fuzzy feeling..........
We would probably go for a white one, still don't know what brand, took a look at a recent Consumer Reports; the third rated fridge is a GE Profile 3 door 22 cu.ft.

Might check that one out.

George

[wovenweb]

GE refrigerators are assembled at Appliance Park in the Louisville, KY area.

GE is trying to sell that business but is running into issues with Feds/anti-trust.

[Cerberus]

We bought a Samsung side by side three years ago - ice and water dispenser in door. Got it through BestBuy, free delivery and free hauling off the old one that crapped out on us. So far no issues at all. I think it was under $2000 total.

[george kujanski]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I don't see a clear winner, tho.

I'd like to avoid units with infant mortality issues....no one needs the hassle, maybe i'll keep the amana in the garage until a new one has proven itself

Gt182: was that the GE that required 4 servicecalls in a month?

George

[John V.]

We bought a 3 door Kenmore Elite. Paid roughly $3K 30 months ago. Part of a kitchen remodel, part of a package of all new appliances. I say roughly cause we bought during a special promotion, got add'l disc from salesman, multi unit disc, and also got Sears points. Which we struggled to spend cause we don't shop much at Sears. I think the list price may have been $3499 for this model.

Fridge had 2 features we wanted. Ice maker in door (was rare with the bottom freezer drawer) and it had to be counter depth style (to fit our remodeled kitchen plan).

No problems with the fridge to date.

Had the previous $1200 Kenmore side by side for 18 years and thru two long distance moves, I don't recall any repairs on it. Originally bought it for new build house, wife refused to continue using 18 year old Coppertone color side by side from old house, I think it was also Kenmore or maybe GE. I recall replacing a door switch on it.

Two complaints with new fridge. It is a large cap. I seem to recall 25 or 26 cu ft as advertised similar to our old side by side.

But because it is counter depth, this fridge would never work if we still had 4 kids at home. Space is an issue even for the two of us. I'd rethink the counter depth if I had to do it over.

Also, I use lots of ice. I do not like the small cubes this one makes. The old crescent shaped ones the old unit produced were better in my opinion.

This unit was made in Korea.

Has a water filter and air filter. That is a racket to promote parts sales IMO but they all got 'em.

We have a cheap no frills standard fridge in the garage that we plug in when we have visitors. It is a now a 10 year old Kenmore, we bought as a scratch & dent from the Sears Outlet Store, I'd guess for less than $300. Icemaker is not hooked up to a water line. But it gives us extra fridge and freezer space when we need it. When kids were home, we used it all the time but last few years it only sees occasional use.

Guess I've been lucky. I have never bought an extended warranty in my life and have never had a major fridge issue.

Sold the old side by side on Craigslist, I think got $125. It was near perfect condition, original ice maker still worked fine. Guy laid it down in the bed of his p/u. My guess, every glass shelf was broken by the time he got it home. Tore me up to see it being mishandled, he didn't seem to care.

George, get the one that fits your budget and has the features you want.

Reviews are great but generally, only the folks that have problems take the time to make a review. So you tend to hear about the bad ones, never about the 98 out of 100 that worked just fine.

If you can find a close out on last year's model, you will tend to get better value.

[george kujanski]

John: thanks for the reply. Ours is a counter depth with ice dispenser in the door and I'd like the same options with bottom freezer. I noticed some models have the ice maker on the back side of the door, saving space inside the fridge. Don't know if that might lead to more failures...

You say your Kenmore was Korean...I thought most Kenmores were made by Whirlpool.

Yep, I think I'll go for the size and options and throw caution to the wind........and keep the old one for awhile.

George

[stags]

Last year we replaced our 17yr. old Kenmore fridge with a new Kenmore. I checked around and didn't really see anything that looked a whole lot better; besides the last one served us pretty well. So far no real issues except I agree with John V. - what's with the tiny ice cubes? I do like the water filter though - cubes may be small but no "fridge" aftertaste even if they've been sitting a while. Talking to the salesperson before we bought - she said "don't expect to get 17 yrs. out of this one" - we didn't but appreciated the honesty. Good luck.

[george kujanski]

Thanx. I tend not to believe salespeople anyway......I figure how would they know the lifetime of a product?

I've heard too many used car dealers, I guess, like the one that said a car had a new starter and was pointing to the alternator.

George

[Simple Man]

Originally Posted by wovenweb

GE refrigerators are assembled at Appliance Park in the Louisville, KY area.

GE is trying to sell that business but is running into issues with Feds/anti-trust.

I DON'T think the 'fridges are built in Louisville. They used to be built in Bloomington, IN. May still be.

We have a Whirlpool side by side, that's 10 years old. It's been trouble free. Personally, I would stay away from GE refrigerators.