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What do you love or hate about your refrigerator?

14 years ago

Any advice on which brands give you the best layout for the size or features that you really loved? Also things you to watch out for? I have started looking but sometimes you don't really appreciate design features or flaws until you get the thing home.

I'm just interested in a decent refrigerator with a bottom freezer, nothing that costs several thousand dollars. I've got a bump-out for the fridge so I don't need counter depth.

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Comments (6)

weedmeister
14 years ago
What do I love/hate? It gets empty too soon!

I like the Samsung bottom freezer (not FD). Since there are no shelves on othe freezer door, everything is pushed forward. So you don't have to bend over to see if there is any ice. These don't come larger than about 20cuFt.
mdod
Original Author
14 years ago
Ooooh...I think that's one of the ones I was looking at online. I actually prefer a smaller model because the recessed bump-out in the wall is only 34" wide. The garage is behind that wall so we could make that area wider if we had to but my current fridge is only 31" wide and we did fine raising 3 kids with it. I'd rather put my time and effort elsewhere if I like can find a smaller model that I like.

Does yours have a hinged bottom door or a drawer? I saw a single door Samsung today at Lowes but I think it had a hinged door on the bottom. That seems like it would be a pain. I think that one also had all solid shelves. I have that now and it's alright but I can see where the split shelves might be nice if you have some odd shaped items.

I was searching ajmadison and found a few that would fit. I think I prefer a single door because the counter where I load/unload food is to the right side of the fridge. It seems like it would be awkward to put stuff away with French doors. OTOH, the island is right across from the fridge so I could probably switch to using that if I got a FD model.
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refrigeratorexpert
14 years ago
I'd say get an Energy Star auto defrost model. Forget about through the door ice & water dispensers - except if you absolutely can not live without them - they are very repair prone. Finish depends on your preferences - stainless steel is timeless & durable, black is modern, white is dull.
Electronic temp. controls (separate for freezer & fresh food), glass spill proof shelves.

Here is a link that might be useful: refrigeratorexpert
mississippirose
14 years ago
I went shopping for a built in today & saw the 42" subzero I have been wanting. I have to say that I wasn't all that thrilled when I saw the water/ice dispenser in the refrigerator door (verus the freezer door). This impacts some space in the refrigerator. Now I am trying to decide if I really want the dispenser at all. It's something I use several times a day. Now I am considering a Jenn Air 42 built in to save the money.
mdod
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for the comments and the link refrigeratorexpert. I don't want anything in the door but that leaves me with only a few choices if I stay under 33".

I went to Best Buy tonight. They had a 32" wide Samsung single door (RB195ABWP) but it had a hinged freezer and, as I suspected, the door kept blocking the drawers from pulling out so I eliminated that one. I did see a Samsung 33" wide FD model (RF217ABWP/XAA) that wasn't bad. It didn't have the split shelves or the wide pull-out tray at the bottom like the 36" wide models. That seemed like an interesting feature. My main concern was that the door bins in the 33" FD model are only 10" wide which isn't enough to hold two gallons of milk. There's another deep shelf in there but the narrower the shelf is, the less flexibility you have in what you can fit in there. I took all the internal measurements so I could compare it to my refrigerator at home.

I was surprised that the freezer drawers didn't pull out as far as I expected. It seemed like it would be tough to access stuff in the back.

I think I'm leaning toward getting a 36" wide unit (even though it would mean widening our fridge bump-out) just because there are a lot more options in the 36" width. I It's not a big deal to us, but it may be a benefit when we ever sell the house. Since we're replacing the cabinets, now's the time to mess with the wall, if ever. Surprisingly the estimated yearly energy cost was only a dollar more for the 36" unit so there wasn't a significant energy benefit to the smaller one.

I didn't look at the LG units because there seemed to be a lot of complaints about them here.

They had a 36" GE in SS that was kind of tempting. It was marked down $300. I saw it when I first got there and didn't look at it too hard because it was a 36" unit. I should have checked it out some more but it was 9:00 by the time I got done measuring the other models.
ellen76
14 years ago
I have a side-by-side, which drives me nuts, because I can never find anything in the freezer. I plan to replace it with a French door model soon.

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