New Fridge Advice

[dotgirl]

I think it's time for a new fridge - ours is only ok, but it's a traditional "Freezer on top, fridge on the bottom", and the ice maker has conked out and it's not very "configurable" to meet you needs, you know?

Anyway, I'm looking for input from people about their fridge - what do you have, what do you wish you have, if you bought a new one, what things do you wish you'd thought about, etc? Help?

[WatchingThemGrow]

If SS, then fingerprint proof like my simplehuman trashcan... I wouldn't want a freezer on the bottom b/c we actually use our freezer quite a bit... My GE Profile has been serviced just a few less times than my Profile dishwasher (argh)... I do like my SBS model with ice/water in the door.

[alien_host]

I've had a traditional top freezer, bottom fridge, side by side and now a french door with bottom freezer.

The French Door with bottom freezer is my favorite. I love the freezer on the bottom since I use the fridge part way more and it's less bending. I'm n the produce drawer a lot and when it was on the floor it was a PITA.

I hated the side by side....couldn't put a big frozen pizza in it, it just seemed small and narrow. Hated it.

My "must haves"
Glass shelves for easier clean-up of spills and containment of spills.
Nice big produce drawers
Big shelves in the door to store condiments, juice etc.

[wellyes]

Definitely get one with the super-deep door compartments (big enough to fit a gallon milk jug). And I personally LOVE freezer on bottom. I never have to crouch to get anything out of the refrigerator. I especially having the bottom lip of the fridge be wide enough so that I can put stuff there - for example, we have a Brita water filter with spigot on the bottom shelf & I can just perch my glass on the lip and use that same hand to turn the spigot on - while carrying DD in the other arm, of course.

MIL has a side-by-side and I can't stand it. The fridge portion should be wide enough to hold a pizza box IMO. Not that I have delivery often, it's just frustrating to have such a limited width.

I have a friend who manages an appliance store and she swears Maytag is the best for fridges, so that's what we got. I'm sure any mid-range brand is OK. My mom is the cheapest person I've ever met, bought the least expensive refridgerator she could find --- and has since learned that simple things most take for granted are not in her fridge. Like a light in the freezer. So, don't go too cheap!

[JTsMom]

I love my SBS. My current one is a cheap-o Fridgedaire, but it's still great. For our new house, we purchased a KitchenAid with a similar layout.

I've heard people mention having a hard time with pizza boxes before, but I think it probably depends on the cubic ft. of the fridge, b/c I've never had a problem with that. Both my current one, and the one we bought are large though.

Features I like:
Freezer baskets
Ice bucket in the door
Adjustable and pull out glass shelves
Sturdy parts- some fridges have really cheapy plastic parts
Ice and filtered water in the door
Exterior light

I really thought about doing the French door w/bottom freezer, and I actually like the look of that style much more for my kitchen, but I just don't think I'd like digging in the freezer down low.

[lilycat88]

My mom is in the process of building a new home and I'm in the process of planning an entire kitchen remodel. Between the two of us, we've looked at every flipping refrigerator on the planet, I think. We are both going to get this one. She has already purchased this one. She was originally looking at a nearly identical GE Profile but Samsung actually was manufacturing the GE and the differences were only cosmetic...and she liked the Samsung better. I think her first choice was Electrolux but she couldn't justify the added cost.

This refrigerator was recommended to her by Sears, Best Buy, a local high end appliance chain in Indianapolis and a mom and pop appliance store in the small town she currently lives in.

http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/appliances/refrigerators/french-door/RF267AEPN/XAA/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail

[codex57]

I like our LG ss french door one. It has an ice maker/water dispensor in it. I think I'd want another french door one (has the freezer on bottom), but only have a water dispensor in it. The dispensor is inside the fridge on the side and takes up no room. Ice is made in the freezer in a tray. I like that better. I'd rather have to manually get ice and get back the lost storage space inside one of the french doors. Cheaper too.

[WatchingThemGrow]

I've heard people mention having a hard time with pizza boxes before, but I think it probably depends on the cubic ft. of the fridge, b/c I've never had a problem with that. Both my current one, and the one we bought are large though.
Never had a problem fitting a frozen or fresh pizza in ours either. Oh, and isn't there a formula or recommendation for the size -to be sure you choose one that will accommodate the size of your complete family? I know a lot of people have an extra freezer in the garage or something, but we don't and we need a lot of space available for 5 people. Yes on the adjustable shelves, but I'm guessing they all have those. I love making bday cakes and refrigerating them on platters before the big day.

[TamiRuns]

I love having my freezer on the bottom. If I was to replace the one we have, I'd get the French door version with freezer on the bottom. My mom and SIL have these and like them a lot. I'd never have a side by side ever again...hated it but obviously some people love it. We actually replaced our side by side b/c we couldn't stand it....sold it to my parents as an extra fridge/freezer and it still works to this day.

Good luck and have fun choosing!

[KHF]

We just moved and sold our LG French door refrigerator with the house. Our new-to-us house came with a side-by-side. Ugh. This particular one isn't as bad as the Whirlpool one that we replaced at our old house with the LG, but I'll still replace it if I can. We have a bar in front of the refrigerator here and I need to make sure the freezer drawer will fully open with it there.

I wouldn't get another LG (LG has terrible customer service and our refrigerator was very...um...temperamental.), but that Samsung one that was linked above looks nice! Ours was the first generation of the LGs to have the water/ice in the door and I don't think they quite had all the kinks worked out. But overall, the layout could not be beat! It was awesome!

[dotgirl]

Thank you for all the great input!

We've been leaning heavily toward a "french door/freezer on bottom" set up. My husband likes the LG Semiconductor, but I'm worried about their customer service. I hear good things about the Samsung, so maybe that's one to go for.

Does anyone have input on ice maker/water vs. just water or nothing at all? I worry the water will taste weird and I'll wish I hadn't dealt with it. Also, it will go in a small area in a galley kitchen - does anyone have experience with that?

I'm so excited - DH has been dying for a new fridge, and I'd really like to have this settled by his birthday (end of Feb).

[hellokitty]

#1 advice. Don't know if your home is newer or older. However, measure the space for the fridge (all sides) before you go shopping. The newer fridges have gotten a LOT bigger. Our fridge barely fit and then we could not shove it in all of the way, b/c of the cabinet at top (we have a cabinet depth electrolux), and now we need to hire someone to trim off the cabinet so we can shove the fridge all the way in. I can't complain, b/c the fridge was free, but we have had the same problem with a new (free) DW too, and they keep getting bigger and bigger and we have had to have it adjusted with each of our new DWs, b/c of the size.

[KHF]

A big ol' :yeahthat: to the PP. We had to move our upper kitchen cabinets and cut a lower cabinet down to fit the LG refrigerator in there. Thankfully, my dad is a woodworker and cut the cabinet down, so you could barely tell.

I really like having water/ice in the door. I drank the door water from our LG and from our current Maytag and both have been fine. The Maytag one uses a Pur water filter and the LG was a Whirlpool filter, I think.

[egoldber]

I searched long and hard to find a water/no ice dispenser in the door. Love it. I hate the ice dispensers because they hog so much room in the refrigerator door IMO.

We have an LG French Door that we got through a friends&family type deal. I like it, but I would have never paid full retail for it.

[newg]

I haven't read all the posts, so I don't know if someone else already mentioned this...................but I love that my water and ice despenser will lock with a push of a button.........DD is the perfect height to push the water despenser and loves to get wet....so I just hit the lock button and she can push the buttons to pretend to get water and I don't have a mess to clean up...............

We have a side-by-side and like it...........we also have a fridge in the garage and will be getting a deep freezer for in the basement, so storing pizza is not a worry.......

My MIL has a freezer on bottom and likes it.................

In our last house we had the "fake" SS and it was really nice........in this house we had to buy a fridge and just went with black and it matches the other SS appliances really well.................

[jenandahalf]

My GE is the fake s/s and you can't stick magnets on it!

[amandabea]

We have the LG French door w/ freezer on the bottom. It has an ice maker, but no in-door water/ice. That wasn't a useful feature for us. We've never had any problems. I'd definitely buy it again.

[C99]

I have a SBS GE. The ice-maker has not worked in 5 years. But the rest of it still works, so we make our ice the old-fashioned way. :) I want a white LG French door fridge, but will settle for a top-down freezer. DH wants an ice-maker in door, so we're deadlocked.

[codex57]

My LG hasn't broken, but it had some sort of weird recall. They were very nice about it.

LG makes one with just water and no ice dispensor. Like I said earlier, that's what I'd get now if I did it all over again. Would still buy LG, altho I'm not opposed to Samsung.

[Joolsplus2]

Love my LG with the french doors and drawer freezer bottom. There is a great filter, I think we spend about $50 each and buy two once a year, and the water and ice taste great (even the neighborhood kids come over to drink our water, lol). Not sure of the model number, and have never had a problem with it, so no problems with customer service (it's 2.5 years old).

[AnnieW625]

We have this basic Frigidaire that we bought 5 years ago that we haven't had a single problem with. It's a tad small, but for three people it works fine, and we have a small 9 cu ft. freezer in our garage.
http://www.howards.com/details.cfm?c=10&b=3&s=12&id=hc01a0016zpbdf

We paid $499 for it IIRC at a local appliance store. We'd buy another Frigidaire if we had to replace this one. My favorite high end fridge is the Electrolux, which just happens to be Frigidaire's top of the line brand, but I don't like the price of it and B. I don't think I really want the water feature on the front of the fridge. DD recently found this while staying at our friends house and had a field day with it. Thank goodness it locked, but still, kind of annoying. As long as it has an ice maker in it I'll be happy. Not sure if I really like the side by sides, but for the space we have in our kitchen for a fridge if we want more than 20 cu. in. capacity we might have to go that route.

[smiles33]

We love our Samsung French door, bottom freezer with only an icemaker. Didn't want to deal with a water dispenser, as I read on gardenweb.com (a GREAT website/message boards for appliances) that those are the leading cause of repairs.

Anyhow, we opted for black to match the rest of our appliances and got a big one--25.8 cubic ft. We have big appetites. :) I was reminded of that when we had some friends over for pizza and my 3.5 year old had 3 slices of cheese pizza while their 4.5 year old boy had one.

[michellerw]

My mom has a 5 year old Kenmore french door with the freezer on the bottom and water in the door. It was OEMed by LG. It's awesome and I covet it but I won't be getting a new fridge until we redo our kitchen.

However, that said, based on the great luck they've had with their Kenmore/LG fridge, I really, really want the updated version of that fridge (I'll probably buy the straight LG unless they're still making them for Sears) in white when we do finally get around to redoing our kitchen. The drawer, door and shelf layout is great and I've never, ever seen a freezer as intelligently designed to maximize space as theirs.