Missing you, Appliance Brad...but I'm sure there are others here who might have an opinion.

Our 20yo Maytag recentluy started dripping water from the freezer compartment to the back of the refrigerator compartment below, earning a ten on the wifely disapproval scale. Probably just dirty cooling coils, but there doesn't seem to be a way to get to them to clean them. No ice maker involvement, not installed, no water connected, so it isn't that. Freezer compartment probably overloaded. But, given the age of the unit, I am disinclined to attempt a repair and am considering replacement.

Of course, that opens up a whole lot of options, freezer above, drawer below, or side-by-side double door, etc? Not to mention maker and cosmetic factors. Obviously, I want to live through this so the wife will have the final word on it, but I am open to counsel from those who have recently traveled this route, and scouted out the wolf pack and bandits along the way. To narrow the field a little, we are probably most interested in a traditional freezer on top model in stainless steel, and specifically without an ice maker/dispenser. (I get my ice from trays like the cavemen did, want to make something of it?) Not particularly sensitive on pricing, but you know how that goes. It is going in an alcove, so limits on width and height will affect the options.

This is the place to brag about your recent smart purchase decision, what you like about your selection, and more important, what you don't.

Avoid LG. Worst appliance ever we’ve ever owned.

Stay away from Samsung as well.

Whirlpool or one of its clones is my choice.

quote:

Originally posted by CoolRich59:
Avoid LG. Worst appliance ever we’ve ever owned.

THIS!!!! They are absolutely terrible and they are not cheap.

Look at a 'french door' model (bottom freezer, 2 fridge doors). You are in & out of the fridge 10x the freezer, bending over sucks. I think they are a little less space-efficient (especially with through-the-door ice), but the are convenient.

I'm not a particular fan of the fridge we bought 2 years ago, so I'll spare you the make/model. It's not bad, just has some quirks. For example, right next to large, conspicuous might-as-well-be-neon 'EVEN TEMP' sign, which they went so far as to register a trademark on, it freezes things unless you dial the fridge/freezer temps in very carefully.

Beat on them in the show room. Look for things that will annoy you, it might be with you for 20 more years.

We have a Samsung with the french doors and freezer drawers. the drawer handle is horribly designed, and broke off. In the end, we got a refund from Samsung on it, as they were not inclined to fix it.

It is in our kitchen with a broken handle- and I cannot get the Samsung repair people to fix it, as part of the refund process was to remove it from their books. I could go for a privateer repairman and have him replace the door, or I could buy the new drawer door and replace it myself. We are looking at $300 for the door PLUS $180 on shipping. I'm not all that bothered by the aesthetics of the missing handle at close to 25% of the original price of the fridge.

LG's seem OK- the 2005 model that the samsung replaced is in our garage as a backup, and it is still going strong, though it is rusted by teh icemaker.

Our two Samsungs are rockin right along, one is ten years old and the other four

We have a Maytag, simple single door refrigerator on top, freezer drawer below. It does have an ice maker in the freezer compartment, but it's a simple one, no pass-through on the door.

Got it at Lowe's with the 10% Veteran discount.

Couple years ago there was a minor problem with it. Brad was gracious enough to talk me through the simple process of fixing it.

During that conversation, he mentioned that the same refrigerator was sold under several brand names; he had one in his kitchen that was virtually identical to ours except for the brand name. I think his was Amana, but not positive.

I have to assume that if this is the model that Brad chose for his own family use, then it is a reasonably good choice.

We just got a new fridge, GE, pull-out freezer below, double doors above. My wife wanted one with the freezer under. It was delivered this morning, and she just finished loading it up.

I recall Ron White saying something to the effect of it's not really 'Diamonds are a girls best friend,' but rather 'Diamonds: that'll shut her up.'

Turns out a fridge does that, too. And it was less expensive than the ring(s). Who knew?

I'd get whoever is manufacturing the equivalent of the former Kenmore brand. Whirlpool maybe??

I have a circa 2006-ish Kenmore Elite side-by-side that's worked pretty good over the years. The Water Inlet Valve went out earlier this year, which was easy enough to replace myself (and I'm a blithering dolt when it comes to all things mechanical) and I'm having the ice maker replaced this week. I think that's pretty good for a 15-year piece of machinery.

did this last year. It was extremely difficult to find a big enough fridge that

1. Wasn't made by a cell phone manufacturer or
2. had a freaking touch screen on the front door.

Why does every darn thing have to be "connected" to alexa, siri, or google? I ended up with a GE and it has Ice and water in the door! Amazing.

It doesn't email me or have a calendar built in to the door. it has plenty of room for magnets and post it notes

We've been happy with our GE two door fridge, with bottom freezer going on seven years now.

A question for those with the French 2-door and bottom freezer drawer design...

Is there a way to organize stuff in the freezer drawer, or is it essentially a "free for all" and you just throw/stack stuff in there until there's no more room? And I guess with the bottom freezer drawer, an ice dispenser in the door is no longer valid. Is there a water dispenser in the door??

Not looking to replace my Kenmore Elite anytime soon, but just asking for general knowledge when/if the time comes...thanks!!

Whirlpool/Kitchen Aid & their derivatives.

That said, our 2nd hand GE has been going strong.
We also have the Kitchen Aid from our old house, doing garage fridge duty & going strong at about 10 years old.

We previously had a Frigidaire that randomly died at about 6 years old. It came with the house. It & our dishwasher make me hesitant to recommend Frigidaire.

quote:

Originally posted by erj_pilot:
A question for those with the French 2-door and bottom freezer drawer design...

Is there a way to organize stuff in the freezer drawer, or is it essentially a "free for all" and you just throw/stack stuff in there until there's no more room? And I guess with the bottom freezer drawer, an ice dispenser in the door is no longer valid. Is there a water dispenser in the door??

Not looking to replace my Kenmore Elite anytime soon, but just asking for general knowledge when/if the time comes...thanks!!

We have this set up. The freezer has slide out, mesh drawers for everything. Ice maker slides out but nothing through the door.

quote:

Originally posted by erj_pilot:
A question for those with the French 2-door and bottom freezer drawer design...

Is there a way to organize stuff in the freezer drawer, or is it essentially a "free for all" and you just throw/stack stuff in there until there's no more room? And I guess with the bottom freezer drawer, an ice dispenser in the door is no longer valid. Is there a water dispenser in the door??

Not looking to replace my Kenmore Elite anytime soon, but just asking for general knowledge when/if the time comes...thanks!!

The GE refrigerator we got last year has water and ice in the door and some organization dividers in the bottom drawer that look like this:

The only thing I don't care for about our new refrigerator is that they put an RFID tag in the water filter, which is only made by GE. The same filter without the RFID tag is about 40% less... Other than that, it's been a great fridge so far.

quote:

Originally posted by snidera:
Look at a 'french door' model (bottom freezer, 2 fridge doors). You are in & out of the fridge 10x the freezer, bending over sucks. I think they are a little less space-efficient (especially with through-the-door ice), but the are convenient.

This is what I recommend also. Got a Whirlpool bottom freezer a little over a year ago and didn't think I'd like it, but find I love it and wouldn't go back to the top freezer thing.

Interestingly enough, we moved all of our stuff out of our old fridge into the new one and found we had a ton of space left over. Evidently the bottom freezer design is the most efficient in terms of usable space.

It looks a lot like the freezer compartment pictured just above my post including the organizational dividers.

Recently went through the same thing. Best as advice I got was that sooner or later you will need parts or service. GE has the best service and parts support. LG and Samsung both grew really quick but never developed a support network. Something breaks, you might wait a long time to get it repaired.

Same. Ours had a middle produce drawer as well.

Left it in TX when we moved to NC and bought a house that had a Samsung very similar to our Whirlpool (french doors, middle drawer, bottome freezer, ide and water int he door) that has been adequate and virtually trouble free, but I woudlnt buy Samsung appliance.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:

quote:

Originally posted by snidera:
Look at a 'french door' model (bottom freezer, 2 fridge doors). You are in & out of the fridge 10x the freezer, bending over sucks. I think they are a little less space-efficient (especially with through-the-door ice), but the are convenient.

This is what I recommend also. Got a Whirlpool bottom freezer a little over a year ago and didn't think I'd like it, but find I love it and wouldn't go back to the top freezer thing.

Interestingly enough, we moved all of our stuff out of our old fridge into the new one and found we had a ton of space left over. Evidently the bottom freezer design is the most efficient in terms of usable space.

It looks a lot like the freezer compartment pictured just above my post including the organizational dividers.