Best French Door Fridge - On a Budget

[sookie]

Hi!
I am looking to get a stainless steal fridge - french door style. would like the icemaker in the door.
Anyone have any tips? which one is best? i am having trouble on the consumer reports website, which is weird....


THANKS!

 

[maleficentmom]

Sears did have one that they run for $999 like that(i want it!)..but I havent seen that offer in their sale flyer in about 4 months..it is a Kenmore. I saw a Maytag(I think) at Home Depot for $1299 on clearance. I have an 8.5 year old Frigidaire Gallery side by side...while it runs great, half of the shelves have broken completely out of the thing and even the drawer frame is broken...we have issues with switching between crushed and cubed ice too and it getting jammed.....i would never buy a Frigidaire again I don't think. the guy at Best Buy told me Samsung is probably the best fridge you can get...if I get a new one I will go with that Kenmore or a Samsung(rated great in Consumer Reports I think).

 

[mtblujeans]

Sears did have one that they run for $999 like that(i want it!)..but I havent seen that offer in their sale flyer in about 4 months..it is a Kenmore. I saw a Maytag(I think) at Home Depot for $1299 on clearance. I have an 8.5 year old Frigidaire Gallery side by side...while it runs great, half of the shelves have broken completely out of the thing and even the drawer frame is broken...we have issues with switching between crushed and cubed ice too and it getting jammed.....i would never buy a Frigidaire again I don't think. the guy at Best Buy told me Samsung is probably the best fridge you can get...if I get a new one I will go with that Kenmore or a Samsung(rated great in Consumer Reports I think).

My side by side quit on Thursday and we went over to Lowe's and bought this Frigidaire on clearance for about $420.00 last night. With your side by side, did the shelves break out or did the supports that hold the shelves break out?

 

[sookie]

I have a frigidaire gallery side by side that is 8 years old, been through 3 moves, and has needed no repairs.
I'm beginning to think that with appliances it is 100% luck of the draw after I read all this stuff this am! I will look at the samsung

 

[sookie]

My side by side quit on Thursday and we went over to Lowe's and bought this Frigidaire on clearance for about $420.00 last night. With your side by side, did the shelves break out or did the supports that hold the shelves break out?

My side by side looks like this! You got a good deal!

 

[mtblujeans]

My side by side looks like this! You got a good deal!

Oh, good... thanks! DH told me I should have checked the Budget Board BEFORE going to Lowe's!

 

[StitchFanZ]

I have an Amana French door stainless steel with the freezer on the bottom. Love the fridge - Hate the stainless stell.

The water dispenser is on the inside of the fridge on the side and there is no ice dispenser. I thought I would hate not having the ice dispenser but we don't miss it at all and I love having the extra room in the fridge.

However, I will, never ever buy a stainless steel fridge again. It shows every little smudge and fingerprint and worse - magnets do not stick to it. If I ever need to buy a fridge again I am going to take a butter container into the showroom and when the salesman tells me they doesn't show fingerprints, I am going to run a few tests with buttery fingers!

IMHO, Stainless steel is not worth the extra cost and the extra continual cleaning to keep it looking nice.

 

[Maybelle]

I have an Amana French door stainless steel with the freezer on the bottom. Love the fridge - Hate the stainless stell.

The water dispenser is on the inside of the fridge on the side and there is no ice dispenser. I thought I would hate not having the ice dispenser but we don't miss it at all and I love having the extra room in the fridge.

However, I will, never ever buy a stainless steel fridge again. It shows every little smudge and fingerprint and worse - magnets do not stick to it. If I ever need to buy a fridge again I am going to take a butter container into the showroom and when the salesman tells me they doesn't show fingerprints, I am going to run a few tests with buttery fingers!

IMHO, Stainless steel is not worth the extra cost and the extra continual cleaning to keep it looking nice.

I am not a fan of my stainless for the same reason. I have a couple of appliances that are "clean steel" and they are great, but the real stainless ones are a pain!

Sears did have one that they run for $999 like that(i want it!)..but I havent seen that offer in their sale flyer in about 4 months..it is a Kenmore. I saw a Maytag(I think) at Home Depot for $1299 on clearance. I have an 8.5 year old Frigidaire Gallery side by side...while it runs great, half of the shelves have broken completely out of the thing and even the drawer frame is broken...we have issues with switching between crushed and cubed ice too and it getting jammed.....i would never buy a Frigidaire again I don't think. the guy at Best Buy told me Samsung is probably the best fridge you can get...if I get a new one I will go with that Kenmore or a Samsung(rated great in Consumer Reports I think).

I think you are refrencing the Samsung being rated well in Consumer Reports...But just in case everyone knows, many Kenmore appliances get really high ratings in Consumer Reports, ever notice that? Well it turns out the Consumber Reports location is in a building owned by Sears...concidence???I think not.

 

[mtblujeans]

DH talked to a local repairman about our refrigerator (then we decided not to spend the money on repair) and he told DH that Kenmore and Whirlpool are manufactured by the same company. Taking his word for it.

 

[maleficentmom]

DH talked to a local repairman about our refrigerator (then we decided not to spend the money on repair) and he told DH that Kenmore and Whirlpool are manufactured by the same company. Taking his word for it.

Sears has told us that too.

 

[mtblujeans]

Sears has told us that too.

Thanks for the confirmation. I know nothing about refrigerators as the last one I bought was 12 years ago. I didn't want to spread misinformation.

 

[maleficentmom]

My side by side quit on Thursday and we went over to Lowe's and bought this Frigidaire on clearance for about $420.00 last night. With your side by side, did the shelves break out or did the supports that hold the shelves break out?

well the supports in mine are molded into it...they are part the actual inside of the the door and seem pretty sturdy. The little plastic box like shelves that fit in the door of the fridge (where I put milk,soda,condiments)is what broke on mine...freezer door shelves too! The frame that you slide the drawers in broke as well.....on the flip side, mine runs great(except for the ice on crushed and ice getting stopped up sometimes)...never a mechanical problem at all and icemaker itself has never had an issue with the making of the ice...but my inlaws have one that is the same and they have had several mechanical issues,as did my cousin who has one.I have a home warranty but it doesn't cover shelves or icemaker...I thought about buying some(maybe from a used appliance place??)but I am hoping to change out all my appliances in another year.However,when I got mine it was $1000,and i got a free small chest freezer.For $420, I would maybe try a Frigidaire again..but not for $1000.I think you got a steal!

 

[mtblujeans]

well the supports in mine are molded into it...they are part the actual inside of the the door and seem pretty sturdy. The little plastic box like shelves that fit in the door of the fridge (where I put milk,soda,condiments)is what broke on mine...freezer door shelves too! The frame that you slide the drawers in broke as well.....on the flip side, mine runs great(except for the ice on crushed and ice getting stopped up sometimes)...never a mechanical problem at all and icemaker itself has never had an issue with the making of the ice...but my inlaws have one that is the same and they have had several mechanical issues,as did my cousin who has one.I have a home warranty but it doesn't cover shelves or icemaker...I thought about buying some(maybe from a used appliance place??)but I am hoping to change out all my appliances in another year.However,when I got mine it was $1000,and i got a free small chest freezer.For $420, I would maybe try a Frigidaire again..but not for $1000.I think you got a steal!

Thanks for the information. I might take some of the shelves out of my old refrig, before they haul it away, and see if they might fit in the new one....worth a try 'just in case'.

The Frigidaire we found seemed to be a left-over sale or clearance from the holiday last weekend. We got the last one in white but they also had some in a steel color and a black color. The clearance price was $497.00 or so with an additional 10% off sale. DH used a Lowe's card that allowed him another 5% off, or something like that. The end price was $420.00. I'm not sure the percentages off work out but we were happy with the final tally. DH was happy that they will be delivering the new one and taking the old one away. That's juggling 2X 26cf refrigerators up and down, to and from a second floor kitchen. UGH.

 

[Green Tea]

Broken shelves in a Frigadare too! I also will never buy another Frigadare. Our first refrigerator was that brand and it lasted well. My parents had that brand and I was "brand loyal.". The current one has been a piece of junk. The plastic bins have broken, been replaced (expensive parts), and broke again. As someone else mentioned, the frame the pieces fit into has broken as well. Junk.

I recently got a new Samsung SS on sale at Lowes. I've looked casually for a couple of years. This one is a great model and I got it for a great price. So long piece of crap Frigadare!

 

[TBGOES2DISNEY]

Our Frigidaire just broke down after about 7-8 years. We bought a Samsung side by side on sale at the Lowe's 4th of July sale. I like it so far, but am still ticked we had to dip into savings for it (did not want to put it on credit). I didn't want a new fridge, but what can you do?

Anyway, they had one of those fridges that are french doors with the extra 4th door that pulls out for whatever you want. Super cool. It was $1000 off! I still didn't want to spend almost $2000 for a fridge though, so we didn't get it.

We did get stainless steel. It is a mess already - water smears and kids' prints etc, but I know that I'll be able to get it clean once I get stainless steel cleaner. My white fridge would get dirty and was a pain to scrub off; the only thing that worked well was Magic Eraser.

Samsung's web site says to use mild detergent to clean the stainless steel fridge. What does that mean? What's a safe product?

 

[Mom2micayla]

Not so sure about "budget", but we have this Samsung french door fridge and we LOVE it. http://www.samsung.com/us/appliances/refrigerators/RFG297AABP/XAA It holds soo much more than our old side by side. I can't imagine going back to one of those again after having a french door fridge.

 

[mtblujeans]

Why do the Samsung's cost so much? Or, do french door refrigs cost alot? Are there lots of 'bells & whistles'?

 

[cccdisney]

STAINLESS PLATINUM!​

We just purchased a new french door Samsung at Best Buy last weekend. Love it!! This is the one we got http://www.samsung.com/us/appliances/refrigerators/RF266AEPN/XAA paid approx $1350 at Best Buy.
Although I do like the look of stainless steel, I also did NOT want one for the reasons mentioned above. My solution was the STAINLESS PLATINUM!!

This replaced a 9 year old GE side by side that was no longer working properly.

 

[mtblujeans]

Refrigerator just delivered. The guys from Lowe's did a great job! Everything was in and running in much less than an hour. We see what you mean about the inside of the Frigidaire. The paperwork seems to show that Frigidaire is made by Electrolux. Didn't they used to make vacuum cleaners?

While they were making adjustments and getting the refrigerator in place, I ran outside and grabbed the drawers and shelves from the old refrigerator, as they look like they match/fit.

Even though we had already purchased this refrigerator, DH & I were happy to see the posted reviews from previous Frigidaire owners. The kids are only home from school a few months out of each year so DH & I will watch for breakdown and take it easy on the shelves and drawers.

 

[Anne34]

I have an Amana French door stainless steel with the freezer on the bottom. Love the fridge - Hate the stainless stell.

The water dispenser is on the inside of the fridge on the side and there is no ice dispenser. I thought I would hate not having the ice dispenser but we don't miss it at all and I love having the extra room in the fridge.

However, I will, never ever buy a stainless steel fridge again. It shows every little smudge and fingerprint and worse - magnets do not stick to it. If I ever need to buy a fridge again I am going to take a butter container into the showroom and when the salesman tells me they doesn't show fingerprints, I am going to run a few tests with buttery fingers!

IMHO, Stainless steel is not worth the extra cost and the extra continual cleaning to keep it looking nice.

So agree -- my DH asked me last week WHY did I buy stainless steel? He hates it. We had white at the last house and it was so easy to clean!