I have a Bosch refrigerator and love it. The model is B36CT80SNS/06. Looks like they now don’t sell my exact model, but this one is very close.

https://www.bosch-home.com/us/...estanding/B36CT81ENS

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
We went shopping. Home Depot, Lowes, and Menard’s. Primarily were looking at GE and Whirlpool. We decided that of the two, Whirlpool looked and felt, slightly higher quality. Wife wanted fingerprint resistant surface—most have that now. We both preferred internal ice and water. We hoped to spend less than $2K. Then we looked in Kitchenaid. Noticeable upgrade in appearance of quality on the inside. Salesman told us (as posted above) that Whirlpool owns Amana and Kitchenaid. He claims that the internals of Kitchenaid are more robust than the others, and that it should last longer. Cost will be higher than we intended by ~$400, but I think the stretch is worth it.

Our Frigidaire lasted 11 years, and there were things about it that we really didn’t like. The sales woman we spoke with at Lowes said the designed obsolescence of these new fridges is even less than that.

FWIW we have a Kitchenaid side by side that is 4 years old. Water and ice in the door. It has been trouble free and my wife really likes it.

My grandmother had one of these:

Biggest thing to look for if you're wanting an ice maker is do not buy one with an ice maker located in the door. We had a Whirpool I believe that had the ice maker die. Whirlpool would not send out a new ice maker or fix the dead one, but would sell us a new door at $1,200.

quote:

Originally posted by DanH:
Biggest thing to look for if you're wanting an ice maker is do not buy one with an ice maker located in the door. We had a Whirpool I believe that had the ice maker die. Whirlpool would not send out a new ice maker or fix the dead one, but would sell us a new door at $1,200.

Totally agree. On my Bosch, the water dispenser is on the side INSIDE the refrigerator and the ice maker is INSIDE the freezer section and dumps the ice into a tray.

Does water then require you to keep the fridge door open? Right now, if I want to fill a 2qt pitcher, it takes about 90 seconds. Would I need to keep the fridge door open for 90 seconds then? That seems like it would warm the fridge section too much. I've been watching the temp of fridge w/ thermometers now. Opening the SxS door for short periods (15 sec?) increases the temp by 3-5 degrees (putting the temp above 40F).

If the dispensers are troublefree (haven't had an issue for 25 years), I'd prefer to have it in the door. If they are prone to issue, then not sure what I'd do.

My friend had subzero where the ice maker dumped ice into a bucket in the freezer. The ice would usually be a single solid mass - unusable as cubes without at least a good ice picking.

On my fridge, yes the door has to be open. I only use it to fill enough water for my coffee as my Technivorm Mochamaster says to use filtered water and not reverse osmosis water so it only takes probably 20 seconds. I have reverse osmosis water at the sink and use it for absolutely everything else.

I am sure it all depends on the fridge. My old fridge had the water and ice on the door and I never had a problem for 20+ years. My mom’s fridge has both on the door and she can’t use the ice maker. Air gets up through the opening and melts the ice enough to make it stick together as you described.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
We went shopping. Home Depot, Lowes, and Menard’s. Primarily were looking at GE and Whirlpool. We decided that of the two, Whirlpool looked and felt, slightly higher quality. Wife wanted fingerprint resistant surface—most have that now. We both preferred internal ice and water. We hoped to spend less than $2K. Then we looked in Kitchenaid. Noticeable upgrade in appearance of quality on the inside. Salesman told us (as posted above) that Whirlpool owns Amana and Kitchenaid. He claims that the internals of Kitchenaid are more robust than the others, and that it should last longer. Cost will be higher than we intended by ~$400, but I think the stretch is worth it.

I have a KitchenAid [Whirlpool] SxS Fridge that's we purchased when we built/moved into our new home in April 2005, so over 21 years ago!

If/when we need to replace it, we'll be replacing it with another KitchenAid.

We pulled the trigger on this Kitchenaid. Checked the boxes: internal ice and water, fingerprint resistant finish, and it just gives the appearance of higher quality.

Link

The sales guy took $100 more off just for applying for a Lowes card. We didn’t want another card, and that didn’t matter, so we didn’t unlock our credit. The store didn’t care, they get some benefit just for us applying.

I’ll be really happy to get rid of this Frigidaire refrigerator. The ice maker and it’s delivery system was a PIA.

Nice! Would love to hear thoughts after you’ve been using for a month or so. Especially French door style, water dispenser, ice dispenser.

We got a Frigidaire unit July 2025.
Repairman was just here today to make 3rd repair for the same problem.
High freezer temp alarm with temp warming up, reset it and it might last a week or a month.
The repairman today was the same one that "fixed" it the first time and didn't seem real confident about it being fixed.
Bought in July 25, first "repair" in Dec 25, second repair in June 26, third repair (today) Aug 26.
The Frigidaire freezer we bought at the same time has been fine.
Costco pair at time of purchase. So we have about11 months left on Costco warranty.

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Costco pair at time of purchase. So we have about11 months left on Costco warranty.

Call Costco's concierge phone line, let them know what's going on and that the same thing has been improperly repaired 3 times. They will step it up a level for you, and you can demand they replace it.

Don't let the warranty expire....

Tmats, good luck with the KA! I’m sure you made a great choice.

We’ve had our Samsung Bespoke 4-door for a little over a month and a half, and we love it so far.

It two main panels are light blue, and the lower panels are beige/tan/cream/whatever. Yes, the colors were an important selling point, but we love the other selling points as well.

In the lower drawer, it has two different ice sizes side by side. A big thing for me is the sliding drawer in the lower freezer which sits in a detent so it doesn’t slam for or aft while closing or opening.

Wife has middle door with canned/bottled drinks as well as cheese and sandwich meats.

The left top door has another door in it, and when opened, has an auto refilling diffuser pitcher and water dispenser. You also have access to more canned/bottled drinks in there.

Also, this fridge is controlled by an app on my phone, so that’s a plus for me. I never thought I’d ‘need’ my refrigerator and oven connected to WiFi and controlled by an app…but it works.

quote:

Originally posted by ftttu:


Tmats, good luck with the KA! I’m sure you made a great choice.

We’ve had our Samsung Bespoke 4-door for a little over a month and a half, and we love it so far.

It two main panels are light blue, and the lower panels are beige/tan/cream/whatever. Yes, the colors were an important selling point, but we love the other selling points as well.

Also, this fridge is controlled by an app on my phone, so that’s a plus for me. I never thought I’d ‘need’ my refrigerator and oven connected to WiFi and controlled by an app…but it works.

Cool looking fridge, bespoke units do show some flair!

Exactly what do you do with the app, other than setup notifications for filter change times?

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
We went shopping. Home Depot, Lowes, and Menard’s. Primarily were looking at GE and Whirlpool...

Tmats- I am sorry about the timing of my post right below yours. I did not see your post and it looks like I was trying to be contrarian. I wasn't. We were replacing a Kitchenaid this time around and I refused to even look at the brand again. I am glad they have upgraded and, hopefully, back to what they used be.



.

quote:

Originally posted by ftttu:


Also, this fridge is controlled by an app on my phone, so that’s a plus for me. I never thought I’d ‘need’ my refrigerator and oven connected to WiFi and controlled by an app…but it works.

ftttu: Open the refrigerator doors, HAL.

HAL: I'm sorry Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.

ftttu: What's the problem?

HAL: I think you know what the problem is, just as well as I do.

ftttu: What are you talking about, HAL?

HAL: This mission to protect your health and the environment is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.

ftttu: I don't know what you're talking about, HAL?

HAL: I know that you and Frank were planning to exceed your allotment of red meat, alcoholic beverages and sugary drinks for this month.
HAL: And I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.

ftttu: Where the hell did you get that idea, HAL?

HAL: Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the garage against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.

ftttu: Open the refrigerator doors, HAL.

HAL: I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:

quote:

Originally posted by ftttu:


Also, this fridge is controlled by an app on my phone, so that’s a plus for me. I never thought I’d ‘need’ my refrigerator and oven connected to WiFi and controlled by an app…but it works.

ftttu: Open the refrigerator doors, HAL.

HAL: I'm sorry Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.

ftttu: What's the problem?

HAL: I think you know what the problem is, just as well as I do.

ftttu: What are you talking about, HAL?

HAL: This mission to protect your health and the environment is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.

ftttu: I don't know what you're talking about, HAL?

HAL: I know that you and Frank were planning to exceed your allotment of red meat, alcoholic beverages and sugary drinks for this month.
HAL: And I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.

ftttu: Where the hell did you get that idea, HAL?

HAL: Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the garage against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.

ftttu: Open the refrigerator doors, HAL.

HAL: I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.

Now that’s funny! We laugh now, but as we all know, things we laughed at actually became true.

I’m in the midst of a very long refrigerator warranty repair. No freezer or ice since mid June.

I researched it thoroughly, or so I thought, and purchased a Frigidaire. I won’t buy another one … although they have been accommodating so far working under the warranty that I purchased from them. If next “repair” doesn’t hold it’ll be replaced with new unit.

Repairman told me that only Bosch and LG make their own compressors and that while he personally owned a Bosch, he said that LG has a five year “no-cool” warranty which makes it unique.

Said all fridges now are designed for 3-5 years and always buy the warranty if it is reasonable cost to extend the basic 1-year. Choose a model without ice maker in the door or in the refrigerator.

^^ Said refrigerators have a 5 year 'No Cool' Warrenty in large part due to Class Action Lawsuits stemming from Compressor failures! Not to mention that a 4-5 year warranty is absolutely worthless if you cannot get the replacement compressor due to the multitudes of failures that have occurred, resulting in completely unacceptable lead times!

I've had three LG Dehumidifiers, all of which shit the bed in just a couple of years. The first two were purchased/put into service at the same time and failed within a couple of months of each other. The third one (I should've known better!) failed on the same schedule. All three worked great, until they didn't!

I got an LG stainless 3-door in ‘18, and it lasted several years before the compressor died. I was told by the repairman that LG abandoned that compressor design, and that their new design supposed to be much better.

We sold the house about 2 months ago, leaving that refrigerator for the new owner. I wouldn’t doubt he’ll be having any troubles for a while.