Well, Consumer Reports just gave the Whirlpool Gold side-by-side their highest rating, and it's 70 x 36. Other types of refrigerators (i.e. top freezers, bottom freezers) also seem to feature the WP Gold at the top of the ratings. They also have the some of the lowest repair rates (across types) of all the brands featured. The through-the-door water and ice feature seems to make all refrigerators more repair prone. I know that some of these non-premium brands seem nice, but they didn't fare as well in the CR ratings (case in point: the Electrolux model which was the second most expensive of all the tested side-by-sides scored lowest on the list).

I'm doing research for a major kitchen remodel and am finding that these high-end brands aren't always what they're cracked up to be, especially when looking at repair rates and customer service. Makes the whole process rather scary.

I recently got a bosch, and I'm very happy with it so far. I found picking a fridge to be very daunting, b/c most of the reviews for all of them seemed to slant negative. I thought about the whirlpool, but I decided to go with a counter depth side by side, and when I found the bosch at a sears outlet for 1/2 off I decided to go for it(it's the 2nd rated one in consumer reports).

I looked at a kitchenaid, but their counter depth fridges were 72". I think the same was true for electrolux.

KitchenAid also makes a 69" high counter-depth that would fit. The 72" one is an "upgrade" version, though, so the interior is somewhat higher quality than the 69" one. (On the upside, the shorter one is cheaper, though! :) You can tell the difference by the capacity (among other things)---the 20+ cubic feet fridges are the 72" ones, and the 19ish cubic feet models are the shorter ones.

I like the WP Gold line. Currently our new home has the GE Black side by side and it's ok, quiet.

Samsung or LG

I just bought a KitchenAid, though it isn't installed yet.

Note that most of the fridges are built by a small number of companies. That is, Thermador doesn't make make fridges. They slap their label on a fridge made by some other company (i.e. Whirlpool, etc.). So already seem to know this from your original post, but I'll I'm saying is don't put too much weight on the brand names for fridges.

I picked KitchenAid because I wanted a bottom freezer, french doors, with an internal water dispenser and ice maker (i.e nothing on the outside of the fridge), and I didn't want a counter depth fridge. Only a few models fit these criteria and the KA was the least expensive of the group. Plus, I'm getting a KA dishwasher to the fact that the handles on the two would match was a plus (though not necessary).