Refrigerators - Any preferences to brand or must have accessories?

[bits]

It must be the year to replace all the appliances in our house... This week it's the refrigerator.

I love the 5 door KitchenAid but its not counter depth and we need a counter depth refrigerator. So counter depth is the first requirement. How can people stand the refrigerator to stick out from the counters an extra 5 inches?

Side by Side or Freezer on the bottom? Ive always had side by side models. What is the advantage or disadvantage to having the freezer on the bottom?

[hoopoe]

bottom freezers put the more common use refrigerator at eye level. Easy to see and access. The refrigerator part tend to have wider shelves. I hate the narrow refrigerator compartment on the side by side. The freezers are also then narrow.

Most bottom freezers have lift out baskets / tubs which is good for organizing.

[StraightForward]

Last year we bought a French door fridge with a bottom drawer-style freezer. Other than that, it is about as plain as can get (no through the door water/ice. I love it because like hoopoe says, the food is at eye level. I particularly like having the wide, shallow deli drawer, because things don't get buried and I can see it all, so no more shuffling an expensive cheese to the back to be forgotten and wasted. The produce drawers are also much easier to access, and it is easier to get to the back to clean everything out. I think this has resulted in less food waste overall.

I like the drawer freezer for similar reasons. I can pull it out and look down at most of the freezer contents rather than having to shuffle things around and have stuff lost in the back. I should say we do have a large upright freezer as well, so we don't keep a whole lot in this freezer. I think the freezer from the side-by-side we had previously might have held more, which could be a consideration if you don't have a deep freeze.

Ours is a Whirlpool, which I bought because it had the most consistently high ratings. So far, it has worked flawlessly (*touch wood*). We had a Samsung previously and aside from an issue with the through the door water that was covered under warranty, it worked pretty well for nine years, until it didn't. Sometimes the temp adjustment on it was wonky and the same freezer adjustment would yield hard ice cream some days, and soft on other days, for instance. The tech who fixed the water issue said the Samsung fridges have lots of problems, but that was 10 years ago, so they may have addressed some issues now that they've been in the appliance game awhile longer.

[PaulaO]

Bottom freezer, hands down. I have a mid size Whirlpool, no icemaker. I love the fridge. Unfortunately the baskets and dividers in the freezer cannot be moved or rearranged.

[boots-aregard]

LOVE a bottom freezer. I will have nothing else in my kitchen. Mine is 2 doors, a single door on the top, single door on the bottom. My daughter's is a french door on the top, drawer on the bottom. I prefer mine. You'd think with a french door you can adjust the contents so the more frequently used items are behind the first door and thus you'd lose less coolth by opening just one side, but they do not do that. Just habits they haven't developed, I guess, but I do notice that the cold water dispenser (inside the fridge) is on the 'wrong' side so you are actually encouraged to open both doors to get cold water. (I don't like thru door water/ice, nor do I care about cold water inside the fridge, so none of this is an issue for me).

My fridge is also a swing door bottom, hers is a drawer bottom. I prefer the door because I feel I can see the freezer contents better. With a drawer bottom, there's a bunch of insulation in the door that 'gets in the way' of viewing the basket contents. In the swing door, the basket is completely revealed. So I prefer that.

BUT that said, I'd have hers any day over a top-freezer model. Mine does not come in counter depth, hers does. (I have a built in alcove so I don't need counter depth. Every house is a little different, but I do certainly agree with you about fridges sticking out into the middle of the kitchen! That's just annoying!)

I have a Kenmore. Have had the same configuration in an Amana and a Maytag in the past. Hers is a Kitchenaid.

[Saddlebum]

My parents always had bottom freezer because of the eye level advantage to most used compartment. When I moved out and into my own home, that was one of the first things I replaced and got a bottom freezer fridge.

That said, I purchased a door unit and hated that. Open the freezer door then pull out the baskets to see what you have in there. It broke down and I got one with a drawer freezer - love it. Pull it out and you can see what you have. The baskets do come out for cleaning.

[WheresMyWhite]

Bottom freezer, french door refrigerator on top. Have water/ice in the door which I like having accessible (I like cold water) without having to open the door.

Samsung. I've been happy with it.

[Tarlo Farm]

Besides personal choices, the only brand I think you should consider is and LG. They have a new technology regarding their air compressors that make them silent. Honestly, I can't hear mine run. Period.

[Kyra's Mom]

I am on my second LG. Nothing wrong with the first one. It didn't fit in the hole when I moved (by like 1/4 inch) . I find them very quiet and I have had no problems at all between the two.

The first was a French door with bottom freezer drawer. For the second one, I went back to a single door. I like being able to see everything by opening 1 door. I have fairly narrow counters and mine does stick out but it is next to a wall so that really isn't an issue for me. One thing about French door with an ice maker...the ice maker takes up a good portion of the door. My current frig does have an ice maker but it is not in the door and I'm fine with that.

Susan

[Quelah]

Double doors bottom freezer a must for me. Also like the full width drawer across the bottom of the fridge. Ours is an Amana which is made by Whirlpool. I'm very happy with it.

[bits]

I can get a pretty decent discount on GE appliances. Does anyone know how GE's are these days?

[Srhorselady]

I bought one last year when my old one died suddenly. I did the consumer reports research. I wanted a bottom freezer like my last two. At that time LG and Samsung were the top two rated for efficiency and fewer problems. I ended up with a Samsung since I got a better price on it. I love it!

[bits]

Which one did you get?

As to color.. I think I like the slate over stainless

[Srhorselady]

I got the Samsung RFG297HDRS/XAA with French doors and water in the door. Oddly the water in the door model is less expensive than the model without it, IF you can find one without. Consumer Reports said the ice makers and water in the door features were the most likely failures in most refrigerators no matter the brand. I did want the water in the door since we have our own well and I wanted the filter. My brother and a close friend both bought similar LG models (French door, bottom freezers with water in the door) within the last two years and are very happy with them. These two companies refrigerators rated much higher than all the other companies...so I don't think you can go wrong with either.

[WheresMyWhite]

Oh, mine is black... I am so over how much of a PITA the stainless can be with showing every little water spot or fingerprint...

[heddylamar]

We have a LG, French door, freezer drawer, water and ice in the door.

The freezer is fantastic. With a sliding divider in the larger space, shallow upper drawer, and small basket on the edge of the large drawer it is easy to organize. Even my husband can find stuff. Bonus: no part of the freezer has broken.

The fridge on the other hand is a nightmare. There's a known issue (including lawsuits) with the control panel that can cause the incandescent bulb to stay on, even with the door shut. Lucky us, we had that problem. The heat from the bulb was enough to to melt the light fixture and surrounding ceiling. As well as overheat all of the contents of the fridge. It was out of warrantee, and, even if it were, the two repair techs we had come look at it told us that LG only provides a new version of the same screwed up control panel, and, so the bulb doesn't melt everything the next time it stays on, the replacement lightfixture uses an LED. All for the price of a new fridge. We passed. I yanked the rest of the light fixture out, capped off the wiring, and we have a light-free fridge.

In addition, a wheel broke off one of the crisper drawers, the entire drawer mechanism of the cheese drawer on the left side gave out, and another drawer broke this evening. Oh, and we're on the second ice maker/dispensor.

Our next fridge will have no water and ice dispensor, just an in-freezer ice maker. Because of the layout of the kitchen, I'm leaning toward a single door top, drawer freezer below. Both Kitchen Aid and Amana make a model that suits my requirements.

[Canyon]

I have an LG frig that sounds very similar to Heddylamar’s, but no ice and water in the door (our ice maker is in the freezer drawer). I, too, had the problem with the interior light. I posted about this issue briefly in the washing machine saga thread, stating how I like my LG front-load washer, but –

“Now, I also have an LG frig which had a problem with the interior light staying on; LG should have recalled the line, but did not. They did fix the problem when I figured out the proper channels, even though the warranty was up. But my personal protest is to never buy another LG product.”

I also have an LG dishwasher that has been well-behaved. But, I stand by my personal protest to never buy LG again. They REALLY should have recalled those refrigerators with the interior light problem!

Greedy bastards...

[bits]

What line of LG refrigerator has the problem? My husband is leaning toward the LGs (don't know why).

[Canyon]

bits, I don't know if LG has finally fixed their design flaw. Here is some info :

https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-set ... n-lawsuit/

http://www.northjersey.com/news/refrige ... d-1.523216 implies only French door models from 2006 - 2008.

But, I'd do some serious Internet searching before buying any LG frig.

And like I said, no more LG appliances for me!

[bits]

I'm sending this to my husband! Thanks

[heddylamar]

no more LG appliances for me!

Ditto.