Hi Mark, I have the RFG2997AARS. I can't give a review of its long term reliability because we've only had it since just before Christmas. Like you, I have four young children, ages 6-11. We had a side by side for 14 years and I never liked the design. I did quite a bit of research on the mid-range fridges and decided that I liked the layout of the Samsung the best. In terms of features, I definitely wanted water on the door. I would have preferred not having an exterior ice machine, in order to get water on the door I had to have the ice too. My kids drink mainly water, so the exterior water was important to me - I didn't want my fridge being constantly opened so that they could get a drink of water. One thing to mention about the water dispenser (and I'd read this in reviews b/f buying). It is fine for filling glasses, but it can be tricky with water bottles. Regular size water bottles are okay, but you have to make sure you get the mouth of the bottle under the spout. Taller water bottles that don't fit into that space on the door won't really work b/c they won't fit properly under the spout. This has not really been an issue with me, despite having four active sports-playing kids and needing to constantly fill bottles. I only have a few that don't fit so I just fill a cup then pour into the water bottle. (Again, not an issue with regular sized bottles, just oversize/tall bottles). I personally do not think the water/ice dispenser takes up too much room. I was concerned initially while researching, but I was gaining so much space moving up to this fridge from my SxS that I haven't noticed the ice maker being a space hog at all! In fact, I have TONS of room in my fridge. I thought at first that I might be annoyed by lack of storage space on the doors for condiments and such, but I still have plenty of room. They have even fitted shelving around the dispenser on the left door - I can fit smaller items on those shelves and it works. The drawers are plenty big for fruits and veggies. The Cool Select pantry I love - we have a variety of cheese that I keep on one side, then I use the other side for meats like turkey, pancetta, prosciutto, bacon. This drawer has helped keep my fridge so much better organized than my last fridge. Some complain about losing things in the freezer drawer. I have not had that issue. I can actually find things more easily than in my old SxS which was so narrow I was constantly having to move things around to fit them. I keep the things we use the most (frozen waffles, frozen bread, etc) in the top basket and then store lesser used things like frozen meats on the bottom compartment. There is a nice narrow compartment on top just inside the door that I use to store smaller things like freezer packs for my kids lunches, butter, etc. Someone mentioned noise. My fridge is EXTREMELY quiet. The only noise I ever hear, and it's infrequent, is the ice dropping when a new tray is made. That is loud and can be quite jarring if you are sitting around in a quiet house (not often here with four kids!). Made my dog jump the first time he heard it, but it doesn't happen frequently. The fridge itself makes no noise - my old fridge hummed when it was running. I didn't notice it while it was running as I'd grown accustomed to it, but when it stopped I'd notice the quiet! This one is not like that! Other comments: I wondered if having to sometimes open TWO doors instead of one to access the fridge would bother me. I think this is personal preference. It doesn't bother me at all. I tend to know where things are that I use frequently and can just open the door on the side where it is located. Occasionally I do have to open both doors to look for something, but I don't find that a pain. This morning I had both hands full and had to open both doors b/c the things I was putting away were on opposite side of the fridge - wasn't an inconvenience even with full hands. IN HINDSIGHT: I might possibly have gone with the second exterior drawer. I contemplated it, it was more expensive, but wasn't sure it was worth the expense. In hindsight, perhaps it was. I access the deli drawer frequently and you do have to open both fridge doors in order to open the pantry door. Not a big deal and I can easily live with it, but it might have been nicer to just have it be an exterior drawer. The produce drawers do not have to have both doors open in order to access though, just the pantry door b/c it's wide and cannot be pulled out unless both doors are open. Overall, I LOVE this fridge. Again, I can't speak for its reliability since we haven't had it long, but in terms of features/functions, it has been great for our family of six. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer!

Patti - Yeah,... I haven't had a cube of ice out of this thing since they brought it in here last Tuesday. And I am kinda nervous, not so much with the model itself but more with the customer service I read about coming from LG. I did purchased the 4 year EW though, but I hear that's not that much better. footballmom - Yeah,... I am getting water out of the dispener, so I know the water line is attached and turned on. Nice call! Just no ice. I've even tried turning the icemaker off for a while, just in case the switch was reversed somehow (I've seeen that before on certian things),... no change. I can't get a clear look into the water cells to see if there's water actually in either of the six cells, can't hear whether water is filling up the cells eiher (this thing is so quite when closed). If water (by now ice) is in those cells, then it's got to be a problem with the mechanism. I took some ice out of the fridge under the wet-bar in the basement and put it in the LG bucket to ses if the auger worked and ice would fall out of the dispenser,... it works well and the cubes fell. But it's not making ice on it's own. HD says it maybe because of the delivery damage, but I can't see those bumps causing this,... I wouldn't think this thing is that tender! Im' just on the fence as to accept another 950 or add a few bucks and have them bring out a 960. Upside,... I hear I'll be getting a newer model with a few more features and some problems worked out (Patti, I hear the food freezing in the crisper thing was fixed with the 960 by way of their newly designed drawers). Downside,... I'll be getting a unit not as aesthetically pleasing (I like the gray case and trim better than the black). Hell,... I guess I could always spend way more than we budgeted and opt for the 980. Yeah right,... I'd then be updating you good folks on how I made out in divorce court. LOL!

I've had a SXS for 20+ years, and can't wait to move to the house we're remodeling, in large part because of the Samsung RFG298 we've bought. I second the issue of "accessing items in a shoebox from the narrow end". I want to be able to store a large pot, pizza in a large container, ... and I wind up re-organizing left-overs, or even moving from one container to another, to be able to have room for the pineapple, large pot, or left-overs from a restaurant. I keep losing small items in the back. And, I look forward to not having to bend over as often to get to the items in the meat/veg bins. However, note that not all FD fridges are made the same. I had fallen in love with the RFG 29 cu ft, but the appliance stores we'd visited often hadn't had it. My DH had HATED the FDs, he said, ... and it's because all he had looked at were Kitchenaid, LD ones with cracked plastic bins, misaligned bins, etc. And then I realized that Samsung's bin layout may look very similar, but the construction seems much more solid. Plus it has the freezer drawer handle that requires very little force to open, which my back really loves. As I said, we've not yet been using our Samsung, but, since it's such an oft-used appliance, I've spent a few hours in appliance stores over the months, pulling open drawers, shelves, etc. on different fridges, imagining where we'll put things. And am SO much looking forward to having the 29 cu ft FD one!

my Samsung fridge is like 18 months old. I took out the shelves and set them in the sink the empty sink. The SECOND the shelf touched the sink, it EXPLODED. I don’t mean that it cracked or shattered. I mean it EXPLODED. Thank goodness I was wearing my glasses or I would probably be blind right now. The tiny bits of glass got all over me, my clothes, my hair, and my kitchen. So, I had to clean up the kitchen. Then, I had to strip off my clothes because I didn’t want to shed bits of glass throughout the house and go STRAIGHT to the shower to get the glass out of my hair. Honestly, this is INSANE!!! Below here you can see the sides of the shelf and most of the glass that I swept off the floor. (please disregard the dog hair).