Need help choosing a new fridge!!!

[Minnie_me]

I'm moving soon, and my new kitchen has black appliances, but no fridge. So I'm out looking at refrigerators, and noticed that the ice/water in the door option shoots the price up by at least $300!

Is it worth it? The other refrigerators I'm considering have an icemaker in the freezer, so there would be no ice cube trays or bags of ice to worry about. I'm just thinking it's a lot of money to spend on a small convenience....

Ideas?

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

I'm moving soon, and my new kitchen has black appliances, but no fridge. So I'm out looking at refrigerators, and noticed that the ice/water in the door option shoots the price up by at least $300!

Is it worth it? The other refrigerators I'm considering have an icemaker in the freezer, so there would be no ice cube trays or bags of ice to worry about. I'm just thinking it's a lot of money to spend on a small convenience....

Ideas?

I drink so much more water by having the ice/water on my fridge. It is easy, free and refreshing. I would definitely spend the extra $$ to have it!

 

[monkey30]

Personaly I hated my ice maker in the freezer! Took way to much space, and for me since it is just tap water running through the fridge I just use tap water (filter if u need to but water here is good) and fill a gallon jug and keep that in the fridge. Its easy for me and the family, we just ensure we fill the jug every night so its cold by morning.

I would save your money, and remember u have to run the lines for the water if u don't already have that!

 

[disneyfan007]

We just had to purchase a new fridge. After 17 years of a side by side that I decided that I was not going that route again . We purchased a Whirlpool french door fridge with freezer on the bottom. We love it. The upgraded version with the water and ice thru the door was $500.00 more. We get our water from a Brita pitcher anyway so we just didn't go with that option. It does have an ice maker in the freezer. A bonus is that we are on the reserve list for cash for appliances. Might get $100 back. (We didn't need the fridge when the program started in our state.)

 

[Inigo]

I really don't care about the water in the door, but I absolutely love having the ice in the door. My fridges before had ice makers, but you had to open the door to get to them, and it's just so much nicer to just be able to push a button to get ice.

If I could have my pick, I'd get a french door refrigerator with the freezer on the bottom. Unfortunately, or fortunately I guess since I don't need to spend the money, I probably won't be in the market for a new fridge for years.

 

[csharpwv]

There are a few other things to think about besides the upfront cost of adding the of the Ice/Water dispenser. Think of every time you open the door to get ice, or to fill ice trays. PLUS you have to think about the room that an ice maker and open bin take up inside the freezer. Next thing to think about is this, are you currently plumbed for an ice maker? It's not at all difficult to do install the tap needed to run a waterline, but you have to have access to your basement or crawlspace - or in the wall if that's where your water lines are.
You have a few things to think about!

Be sure to see if there are energy star tax credits to be had, or see if your state has an energy star appliance rebate.

My advice, avoid The Home Depot as though you will emerge with the Black Plague. Their service is horrible, and they carry appliances that have a single difference that allows them to avoid matching prices or getting a fair comparison. I worked for one of the nation's largest appliance retailers, so I know that the difference can literally be whether it comes with a Egg caddy or not, or whether has 'crisper' or a 'vented crisper'. So shop savvy, compare prices, and most importantly, think about the financing offers that are out there. Some are a scam, I know that Sears is one of the only retailers that still has a TRUE same as cash offer. No payments, no interest. Most 0% offers require minimum monthly payments.

Tons of options!

 

[mombare]

I am so excited because my new fridge should arrive Tuesday!!! We "flipped" a house, and put our not-so-old fridge in it because I absolutely hated it (and then bought ourselves a new one).

We had a Maytag model that was three years old - freezer on the bottom, french doors on the top. I can't pinpoint one specific reason, but I hate, hate, hate that fridge! We are going back to a side-by-side model - a Samsung energy efficient model. We first bought it at Sears, but they were out one month for deliver! We could have made it work, but called Best Buy and they were willing to price match - along with their 0% financing with minimum payments! Sears refunded our entire amount, and was understanding in our reason for seeking out another option.

Anyway - good luck with your shopping. Our old model did not have ice/water in the front but our new model will. We have the basement exposed, so running a water line will not be an issue for us.

 

[apnep]

the ice/water in the door option shoots the price up by at least $300!

Is it worth it? ...a small convenience....

Ideas?

I cannot live without my ice maker and cold filtered water! Definitely worth it!

Ang

 

[AceParkle]

I agree it is better if you buy a fridge that it is built-in with ice maker. It takes a lot of advantage and benefits and makes you task convenience. However, it is not easy to find a cheap fridge and I remember I bought my fridge at $2,447.

 

[llori7]

We just got a side by side black Samsung fridge from Best Buy yesterday. It was back-ordered, so we will not get it till May 26. We didn't get the extended service plan, but now we are wondering if we should. It has the water/ice on the door. The fridge we have now is so old (it was here when we moved in). So we never had experience with the water/icemaker.

Do you recommend the warranty? It is $150 for 3 years or $250 for 5.

 

[Orange County Girl]

We just got a side by side black Samsung fridge from Best Buy yesterday. It was back-ordered, so we will not get it till May 26. We didn't get the extended service plan, but now we are wondering if we should. It has the water/ice on the door. The fridge we have now is so old (it was here when we moved in). So we never had experience with the water/icemaker.

Do you recommend the warranty? It is $150 for 3 years or $250 for 5.

Yes!
I will never buy an appliance again without buying the extended warranty. They don't make appliances like they used to. In the past 8 years we have bought all new appliances, and we have actually bought 2 washers and 2 dishwashers during that time. Our fridge has been a bother since we bought it as well. My front loader washing machine had the computer panel AND the motor break a few months ago. It was 11 months old.

 

[ceecee]

I really like the filtered water and ice in the door, we use it a lot as we have well water that isn't great tasting. We got a great deal on ours and it really wasn't that much more.

 

[Sarah_Rose]

I think the question to ask is whether you normally drink filtered (or bottled) water at home, or if you normally drink tap water.

For us, it was a no-brainer. Our tap water smells and tastes so strongly of chlorine that I won't even give it to the dogs. I also use filtered water to make my coffee and tea, because our tap water just tastes so "off". We chose to go with a Whirlpool side-by-side fridge with ice and water (filtered by a Pur filter) in the door. It's so much nicer than dealing with a Brita filter all day, when you go through a lot of water. I find myself drinking much more water now than I did with the Brita filter.

Also think of how often you entertain; it's so easy to offer your guests water when you don't have to worry about keeping a pitch of it in the fridge to keep it cold.

 

[ybcart7]

We have a Maytag refrigerator and I don't like it very much. The light bulbs have a covering over them that anytime I am grabbing something off the top shelf - it takes a layer of skin off my fingers....It is very annoying -and quite painful too!!!

 

[TIGGERmetoo]

We have an LG french door that we purchased from Home Depot almost a year ago. I love it. I do drink alot more water with it being in the door and even though an ice maker takes up room in the freezer, I would be without one. I certainly think it's work the extra money.

 

[cjlvsccm]

I'm moving soon, and my new kitchen has black appliances, but no fridge. So I'm out looking at refrigerators, and noticed that the ice/water in the door option shoots the price up by at least $300!

Is it worth it? The other refrigerators I'm considering have an icemaker in the freezer, so there would be no ice cube trays or bags of ice to worry about. I'm just thinking it's a lot of money to spend on a small convenience....

Ideas?

We think it's worth it for ice/water, for all the reasons already mentioned. Several older side-by-side models tended to have a poor design that would freeze up the water in the line, but that seems to have been worked out in the last few years.

An added note -- Be sure to measure your open space for the fridge carefully... unless it's a brand new house, it may not accomodate the latest BIG models all that well. Our fridge spot is right next to the doorway to the dining room, so we had to get a counter-depth model in order to not block the doorway. So for a new French-door type, try adding $1000 for 5-7cu.ft. LESS!

Congrats on the move!!

...

Do you recommend the warranty? It is $150 for 3 years or $250 for 5.

We did pony up for the longest warranty available. New models have so many electronic components, it's not likely you would be able to get a cheap fix or replacement part if something goes bad. So get the best level of warranty and/or service plan you can afford. Home appliance warranties are even recommended by Clark Howard.

 

[PaulDavid's mom]

We just purchased a Samsung French Door with freezer on the bottom from Best Buy. My husband really wanted the water/ice in the door, but I could really care less. I bought bottled water.
All I can say is WOW. I'm so happy with this fridge. It is spacious. I don't buy the bottled water now. I purchased a nice mug with a lid for taking places instead. My 8 year old son even started drinking more water because it's so convienent. LOVE IT!

 

[riley2008]

We have had our Samsung side-by-side with in-door ice/water for 6 months and love it. We too bought our new fridge when we moved. Our old fridge was only 10 years old and worked fine, but was white. It's now the garage refrigerator.

For us, water in the door has been GREAT for our boys. We placed a stack of plastic cups (all those kids' cups from restaurants) in a low shelf for them, and they get to serve themselves. They have stopped the "fridge shopping" that they did previously with the old one - opening the door and just standing and looking.

Also, we use a lot more refrigerator space than we do freezer space, so having a filtered pitcher of water would just take up space.

That said, if it was just my husband and I, I'm not sure the extra expense would have been worth it. (I do like that DH can get his ice with grubby hands, now. He used to always "Ask" me to fix him a cup of ice water after doing stuff in the yard, etc.)

 

[PatMcDuck]

I just got my new Samsung side by side, with ice/water in the door option last week, and we LOVE IT! Here is what I learned..... I was tempted by the french door refrigerators, but then I looked at the square footage of the freezers in those, vs the side by sides..... I wanted more freezer room. So I went back to the side by side. The lighting is SO nice! It is quiet too.

Another thing is that I wanted a frig with the ice maker on the DOOR inside. this gives you loads more room in the freezer. (my old one had it taking up the top shelf, about 12-15") I wanted the ice available outside too, because like others have said, opening the door to get ice all day wastes energy, lets that cold air out.

We got the Stainless Steel but in the platinum, which is metallic and is magnetic. (but is so pretty, I have not allowed anyone to out anything on it yet).

When you read reviews of various models, you see many negative reviews. Take this with a grain of salt, more disappointed people with issues post about it than happy customers. Read the websites of the manufacturers, Samsung has it's OWN rebate program right now, I will get $100 back from them for buying 2 appliances for over $2000 in total (we got a new samsung dishwasher from BB (free install this week on dishwashers!), refrig was from Sears). The stores were unaware of this promotion, I stumbled upon it while researching models. We got the counter depth model S/S.

We will get the Samsung rebate, the NJ rebates for both the refrig and dishwasher, and also got $50 for the old refrigerator thru some energy program for clunkers. SWEET. We want to sell the house next year and knew the old white appliances would not be popular.....

 

[squirrel]

I had to get two new fridges within about a year of moving into my house.

The first one to go was the one upstairs. I had to purchase black as all the other appliances were black. I bought a Maytag with the freezer on the top. No special water or ice options.

Then I needed a new one for the daycare. I went with an appliance place that gets dented ones. I got a Kenmore (they take the brand off) with the freezer at the bottom (swings open not a drawer). I love this as I rarely need anything from the freezer. Less bending to get things from the fridge. No water or ice options on this one either.