Need suggestions regarding RELIABLE refrigerator brands

[RitaZ.]

We will be looking for a new side-by-side refrigerator soon. Our 6 yr. old Frigidaire is in trouble, please don't recommend this brand (never again for us). We have had several problems with it, the latest being several large cracks in the plastic liner (inside). I have never seen anything like it! Of course, the warranty only covered this particular problem until the 5th year of ownership.

If there are any web sites that you can guys can direct me to, I would appreciate it. I really want to hear about personal experiences, though. Are there any particular brands that are reliable and relatively problem-free?

Thanks!

 

[Hnymoon@Dixie]

I'm in the middle of re-doing my Kitchen & polled a lot of people about this. (Also got a side by side) A lot of people say Kenmore is wonderful! I myself have a GE that came with my house & it has been wonderful for the past six years that I've had it. I decided on a Kitchen Aid, like the mixers, but can't tell you how I like it yet because it hasn't been delivered yet. Great brand but very expensive! My second choice was a Kenmore (The Sears brand).
I hope this helps! I'm sure you'll get tons of opinions that differ, though!

 

[mom2boys]

Please don't tell me your Frigidaire had to be replaced in 6 yrs We just bought one last month. We replaced our Signature by Admiral - bought it at Montgomery Wards & know why they went out of business. That fridge wasn't right from day one & we should not have kept it.
Good luck. One salesman recommended Maytag - but then again he was the salesman...

 

[grinningghost]

I have one pretty amazing refrigerator story. We've had the same refrigerator since we got together back in 1988. We bought it USED for $150. It was already 5 years old when we got it. It's a Kenmore, and we STILL have it. I'm not sure about all Kenmore refrigerators, but this one is pretty remarkable.

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

We purchased a KitchenAid Superba when we built our house. It's now one year old, and we have had no problems with it whatsoever.

We put our old GE in the basement... it's still going strong after 8-10 years, but I have had horrible experiences with other GE appliances and would not recommend that brand of anything.

After all of our research we would stick with the Whirlpool/KitchenAid line with Kenmore coming in second.

Good luck!!!

 

[RitaZ.]

Anyone else?

 

[~Sparkly~Zoe]

I have a whirlpool and the only problem I have keeps returning! No matter how many times it's been fixed it still returns. (The freezer won't drain right when its going thru it's self defrost mode) (It's 7 yrs old)
Next time I am going with a Kenmore.
I kind of like this one, not sure about the freezer part however.
http://www.sears.com/sr/product/sum...al=APPL&fromAuto=YES&bidsite=&pid=04673502000

 

[Figment22]

I've been searching for a major appliance ratings website to guide you but I haven't been finding anything worthwhile. I know I found a couple of decent sites about a year ago when we were looking for a new side by side. We chose a GE Profile because it was well rated for reliability but I'll be darned if I can find the websites I used then! Anyway, we've had our GE Profile for about a year and have been very satisfied with it. I remember that Amana was also well rated but I couldn't tell you which models.

 

[Micca]

Shouldn't a fridge last for 20+ years? When I was growing up, I remember only one new fridge and that was when we switched from one of those old handle-on-the-door jobs that actually opened the unit mechanically We have an Amana that we bought in '85. Although it works (i.e. keeps stuff cold), there has been a drip from the top of the inside of the fridge for about 5 years(we keep a small bowl inside to keep the water off of the food) and some of the plastic racks inside are broken. I've been ready to replace it for several years but frugal DW says it's no biggie.

 

[catsrule]

The refridgerator repairman that came to our house for our Amana said he gets more calls for Amamas than any other. He gets few to none for Kenmore and...Whirlpool. Guess I would go with a Kenmore. We got a new fridge 2 months ago and I got a Kenmore with just the basic stuff, less to go wrong with it. No more ice maker/water dispensor!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Amana here from '71 till about '95 or there about. With 24 years of service, basically trouble free, we bought a second one, trouble free since. Good luck, Rita.

 

[catsrule]

Ha-Ha, Dan! Glad yours worked wonderfully, ours was nothing but trouble! Sometimes you luck out and get a goodie, and with my luck, of course a get a lemon!

 

[tar heel]

We've not had any trouble with our Whirlpool -- it's 6.5 years old. We didn't have any trouble with the Whirlpool before it either, but it was only about 4 years old when the people who bought our house wrote it into the contract. We had a 20-year-old Kenmore that came with our first house that was great. BTW, I believe Whirlpool makes Kenmore -- at least it does the washing machines.

I really don't like the side-by-side set-up, though.

 

[elgerber]

Yes, Whirlpool and Kenmore are made by the same company. We have all Whirlpool appliances in our new house. In our old house we had all Kenmore. When we moved they were all 19 years old (even the microwave) and we had never had a single problem with any of them.

Erika

 

[ToyStory Fan]

We remodeled our kithen last year and went witha GE Profile Arctica. No complaints - we are planning to take it with us to the new house (as a spare though...the new house has a SubZero).

 

[RitaZ.]

Thanks for the suggestions! I think we will probably consider GE, Whirpool, Kenmore and KitchenAid.

I usually don't do a lot of research when buying appliances, we have replaced all the appliances in our home and none has given us any problems except for "the thing". DH tries to cover up the rust stains with DD's alphabet magnets, it looks hilarious! You guys should see the rust on the door, though.

Anything that we buy has to be an improvement over "the thing".

 

[lauraljp]

We have recently been in the same boat--looking for a new refrigerator. The salesman at Sears told me that refrigerators used to be made to last 30 years but now, because of enery efficiency standards, are only made to last about 10.

We went with the Amana with the bottom freezer, so not sure about side by sides.

I know Kenmore and Whirlpool have been rated pretty high in Consumer Reports.

One thing CR mentioned was that refrigerators with ice makers had higher repairs. I can understand that.

A friend of mine has a Kenmore and her ice maker went out after five years. She had it repaired. She said it is just too hard to live without once you are used to it.

LAira