ISO Opinions On Which New Refrigerator To Purchase

[Cooking Goddess]

K-Girl, I have a five year old LG French door refrigerator. I'm sure the model number has changed over the years, but I don't know if their quality has. I can not recommend LG. It's a bad sign when you open your front door and address the technician by his name because you've seen him so many times.

As far as a configuration goes, this LG actually has very few issues. The ice maker and bin is in the left-hand door panel, behind the interior of the fresh compartment door. The only difference between the left and right doors is a slight reduction in the depth of the door bins. I just put my skinny bottles and jars in the left side, the bigger ones on the right. The filter is in the ceiling of the back-left corner in the fresh food section. It doesn't get in the way either. The only "problem" I had with the ice maker was a stupid repair man. I called to complain about the touch control panel on the outside of the door beginning to bubble. When he looked at it, he decided to replace that PLUS the ice maker, even though it wasn't an issue After he came and left from that "repair", I noticed a few weeks later that the "bubble" on the control panel was coming back...and that it really was the protective plastic they covered it with when it's manufactured. Installer+repairman=Dumb and Dumber.

My freezer has a shallow tray that stays behind in the refrigerator, but pulls out easily if you want it. The deep part is divided in two, side-by-side bins with an adjustable divider. In order to find things easily I "file" my foods as if the drawer was a filing cabinet. When frozen flat, even soup is perfectly happy stacked upright.

This would have been such a nice refrigerator, if it hadn't been an issue with actually controlling the temperatures accurately (47+ in the fresh-food section and melted ice cream from the freezer, anyone?) and the fact that since they replaced the compressor the danged thing ticks loudly almost all of the time when it's running.

I guess the long and short of it is we all have an abundance of food that is indeed a blessing.

Amen, Kayelle, amen.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

K-Girl, I have a five year old LG French door refrigerator. I'm sure the model number has changed over the years, but I don't know if their quality has. I can not recommend LG. It's a bad sign when you open your front door and address the technician by his name because you've seen him so many times.

As far as a configuration goes, this LG actually has very few issues. The ice maker and bin is in the left-hand door panel, behind the interior of the fresh compartment door. The only difference between the left and right doors is a slight reduction in the depth of the door bins. I just put my skinny bottles and jars in the left side, the bigger ones on the right. The filter is in the ceiling of the back-left corner in the fresh food section. It doesn't get in the way either. The only "problem" I had with the ice maker was a stupid repair man. I called to complain about the touch control panel on the outside of the door beginning to bubble. When he looked at it, he decided to replace that PLUS the ice maker, even though it wasn't an issue After he came and left from that "repair", I noticed a few weeks later that the "bubble" on the control panel was coming back...and that it really was the protective plastic they covered it with when it's manufactured. Installer+repairman=Dumb and Dumber.

My freezer has a shallow tray that stays behind in the refrigerator, but pulls out easily if you want it. The deep part is divided in two, side-by-side bins with an adjustable divider. In order to find things easily I "file" my foods as if the drawer was a filing cabinet. When frozen flat, even soup is perfectly happy stacked upright.

This would have been such a nice refrigerator, if it hadn't been an issue with actually controlling the temperatures accurately (47+ in the fresh-food section and melted ice cream from the freezer, anyone?) and the fact that since they replaced the compressor the danged thing ticks loudly almost all of the time when it's running.


Amen, Kayelle, amen.

Oh, all in all CG, you wouldn't recommend an LG french door `fridge then?

 

[roadfix]

As far as ease of organizing and accessing food in the fridge you also have an option of going shallow and wide. But selection of these free standing (as opposed to built-in) refrigerators in these configs is very limited, although you can buy built-in style refrigerators and use them free standing, no enclosure.
Built-ins are usually no deeper than the depths of your kitchen counter and cabinets, usually 24".

Our 15 yr-old Amana is a full 36" wide but only 26" deep, exterior dimensions.

 

[GotGarlic]

My freezer has a shallow tray that stays behind in the refrigerator, but pulls out easily if you want it. The deep part is divided in two, side-by-side bins with an adjustable divider. In order to find things easily I "file" my foods as if the drawer was a filing cabinet. When frozen flat, even soup is perfectly happy stacked upright.

Mine is like this, too. I keep breads, nuts, seeds and Parmesan rinds on the top tray, store-bought veggies in the left side of the bin (and a bag for stock ingredients) and homemade ingredients in the right side.

We have our old fridge from our kitchen renovation in the sun room; that freezer holds meats, soups, stews and stocks. And we have yet another small freezer that holds more stocks and several pounds of frozen tomatillos and tomatoes from the garden.

I don't find that I lose things in the bottom freezer any more than I do in the back of the fridge freezer.

 

[tenspeed]

As far as ease of organizing and accessing food in the fridge you also have an option of going shallow and wide. But selection of these free standing (as opposed to built-in) refrigerators in these configs is very limited, although you can buy built-in style refrigerators and use them free standing, no enclosure.
Built-ins are usually no deeper than the depths of your kitchen counter and cabinets, usually 24".

Our 15 yr-old Amana is a full 36" wide but only 26" deep, exterior dimensions.

We have a built in. Based on the width, it looks big, but really doesn’t hold all that much, as it’s fairly shallow. Even with just the two of us, it doesn’t have much extra room. It can make entertaining a bit of a challenge, and sometimes we resort to temporarily moving things out of the refrigerator into an ice packed cooler. However, it looks really nice with the way the kitchen is designed, which I’m sure is the reason the previous owners selected it.

 

[roadfix]

We have a built in. Based on the width, it looks big, but really doesn’t hold all that much, as it’s fairly shallow. Even with just the two of us, it doesn’t have much extra room. It can make entertaining a bit of a challenge, and sometimes we resort to temporarily moving things out of the refrigerator into an ice packed cooler. However, it looks really nice with the way the kitchen is designed, which I’m sure is the reason the previous owners selected it.

Similar situation with our original built-in fridge the house came with. It can be a challenge if you do a lot of entertaining. But we also kept a small, spare fridge going in the garage.
But when that fridge eventually broke beyond repair we couldn't afford another built-in at the time so instead found a shallow, non built-in Amana refrigerator to slide exactly in that 36" cabinet opening with just the doors sticking out.

 

[roadfix]

The other reason I brought up shallow refrigerators is because this home is a new construction and depending on the layout the kitchen can come with a recessed nook for a refrigerator instead of an just open corner. You can install a stand alone or a built-in fridge in this nook. Many new construction plans I've looked at on-line include this recessed area, regardless of size or cost of home. Kgirl, what does your kitchen floor plan look like?

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

The other reason I brought up shallow refrigerators is because this home is a new construction and depending on the layout the kitchen can come with a recessed nook for a refrigerator instead of an just open corner. You can install a stand alone or a built-in fridge in this nook. Many new construction plans I've looked at on-line include this recessed area, regardless of size or cost of home. Kgirl, what does your kitchen floor plan look like?

This is what we have from the builder, I was trying to figure out what the measurements would be in the kitchen, but not a clue...

 

[GotGarlic]

View attachment 23677

This is what we have from the builder, I was trying to figure out what the measurements would be in the kitchen, but not a clue...

Is this scanned? It's really tiny. Can you ask for a higher resolution image? I would think you could get the measurements from the builder, too.

 

[bethzaring]

I had forgotten that my Maytag frig is almost the same as Kayelle and Souschef's. I am very happy with it and echo Kayelle's comments about the ease of using the bottom freezer. I love the freezer. I had the ice making plumbing taken out because I was on a mission of simplification of everything. That did free up a lot of space in the freezer, but that is not why I had it taken out.

My Maytag refrigerator is MRB2258XES

 

[roadfix]

View attachment 23677

This is what we have from the builder, I was trying to figure out what the measurements would be in the kitchen, but not a clue...

I can't make anything out from your link but I was looking at several Dorn Homes' floor plans on their web site. Their layouts look like they're designed for stand alone refrigerators.
If possible are you able to check out any of their model homes on site to see how their appliances are set up?

You don't want to end up with a full depth fridge that sticks out like this...

 

[Kayelle]

I had forgotten that my Maytag frig is almost the same as Kayelle and Souschef's. I am very happy with it and echo Kayelle's comments about the ease of using the bottom freezer. I love the freezer. I had the ice making plumbing taken out because I was on a mission of simplification of everything. That did free up a lot of space in the freezer, but that is not why I had it taken out.

My Maytag refrigerator is MRB2258XES

What was the reason you had the ice making equipment taken out Beth?
I would guess tap water quality also? Generally, water quality in the south west is like other people in the country would not believe.
We love our Maytag too in black, and a good spot to remember all of our travel fridge magnets.

 

[cinisajoy]

What was the reason you had the ice making equipment taken out Beth?
I would guess tap water quality also? Generally, water quality in the south west is like other people in the country would not believe.

Kayelle,
"Water Quality in the Southwest" is an oxymoron.
Nearly everyone buys water out here.

 

[Kayelle]

True that CJ. I can hardly gag down a gulp to swallow a pill. Ack.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Oh, all in all CG, you wouldn't recommend an LG french door `fridge then?

Based on our experience with our five-year-old model, I can't recommend LG. HOWEVER, they may have redesigned the model to eliminate the issues I had with temperature control or the compressor. I really like the lay-out of the bins and shelves, and am happy with the functionality of the freezer. So, you may want to do a little on-line sleuthing to find out if these issues have been resolved.

LG isn't a bad manufacturer. We've had great success with cellphones and our microwave. Over these past five years, they may have worked bugs out of their French door refrigerator too.

 

[bethzaring]

What was the reason you had the ice making equipment taken out Beth?
I would guess tap water quality also? Generally, water quality in the south west is like other people in the country would not believe.
We love our Maytag too in black, and a good spot to remember all of our travel fridge magnets.

Within a very short time of owning this new frig, the ice maker went berserk. I could not get it to stop making ice. Ice completely filled my freezer space. Whenever I opened the freezer drawer, ice spilled out onto the floor. When I called the service man, my intention was to have him remove the ice innards, not fix it. There are some things I have infinite patience for, but mechanical failures like this just drives me bonkers. I try to eliminate all bonker inciting features in my life.


The town of Taos' water supply is decent tasting water. I drink it out of the tap. Does have a few minerals in it though.

 

[tenspeed]

I'll stray a bit off topic here, but if you are designing a kitchen with a clean slate, you might want to consider two dish drawers instead of a single large dishwasher. Our house came with two Fisher Paykel dish drawers. I never gave it much thought until we started living with them, and we like them a lot. For everyday use we use one for dishes and one for glass ware. When we're entertaining we have a fair bit more capacity than a single dishwasher. Our house is open, so it's nice to be able to get the dishes out of sight quickly. They are a bit more than half height, so there is room for a fairly deep storage drawer below. Extremely quiet as well.

 

[GotGarlic]

I have a Fisher & Paykel dish drawer, too. Overall, it works well and is quiet. However, when I got new dinner dishes to go with our newly renovated kitchen (eight years ago now), they did not fit in the dish drawers. Many modern dinner plates are larger than they used to be.

Also, sheet pans and platters don't fit. We've gotten used to that now and just hand-wash those things, as well as most pots and pans, but it was annoying at first.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

I'll stray a bit off topic here, but if you are designing a kitchen with a clean slate, you might want to consider two dish drawers instead of a single large dishwasher. Our house came with two Fisher Paykel dish drawers. I never gave it much thought until we started living with them, and we like them a lot. For everyday use we use one for dishes and one for glass ware. When we're entertaining we have a fair bit more capacity than a single dishwasher. Our house is open, so it's nice to be able to get the dishes out of sight quickly. They are a bit more than half height, so there is room for a fairly deep storage drawer below. Extremely quiet as well.

I have a Fisher & Paykel dish drawer, too. Overall, it works well and is quiet. However, when I got new dinner dishes to go with our newly renovated kitchen (eight years ago now), they did not fit in the dish drawers. Many modern dinner plates are larger than they used to be.

Also, sheet pans and platters don't fit. We've gotten used to that now and just hand-wash those things, as well as most pots and pans, but it was annoying at first.

Thanks for that guys, I was going to start another thread on the topic of dishwashers next. Let me see, range, micro hood, `fridge, dishwasher... did I forget anything guys?

 

[cinisajoy]

Are you going to want a freezer? New washer and dryer?
I am guessing you are good on the basic kitchen stuff.