I've never heard of a refrigerator that didn't need defrosting (except the ones that claim to prevent frost to begin with). Condensation builds up, frost forms, it has to go somewhere. That's why "frost free" fridges were such a hit when they came on the market. Old fashioned bar fridges had those little "freezer" compartments. They weren't for freezing. They didn't actually make ice, though they came with ice trays, and couldn't keep a popsicle frozen for a few hours. They were for the frost, and needed defrosting. And the only way to do that was to turn them off and empty them out.

So auto-defrost is a good thing! The kind you defrost manually make a really big mess (even with a tiny fridge) because one doesn't actually get around to defrosting them often enough.

The towel thing is probably weasel words. Find out how often the defrost cycle works, if the drip pan is meant to evaporate or always needs manual attention, etc. But I'd guess (just a guess) that it says that about the toweling so that you can't sue them if the carpet gets wet.

Maybe someone here can tell you more about your particular model and their experiences with it.

You can also check out some of the higher end ones. The full sized models have an evaporator that is supposed to prevent frost from forming to begin with. I don't know if there's an undercounter model that does the same...

I forgot to say: "Frost free" fridges traditionally achieved this by turning themselves off at intervals so that the coils could defrost. I assume "auto-defrost" is the the same thing.

Condensation is guaranteed to happen in a fridge. Whether that condensate gets re-evaporated or not is another question. "Auto defrost" is good. If you have a humid environment, more and more water might condensate and have to be returned back into the room air, which at some point becomes a never-ending cycle, like a dog chasing its tail.

The word "defrost" is used even though it is a fridge, because it is the most accurate term. In a fridge the back wall is where the cold coils are, behind the plastic or stainless interior. The coldest spot is where you'll see the most condensate forming and dripping. Temperature variation is normal and freezing a little too since the R134a (or other) can go below H2O freezing easily. This is considered normal. So you can occasionally see drops of water hardened into ice on the back wall. Then, when the cooling system stops for a cycle, the water drips off when its temperature rise a couple degrees.

"Frost-free" dries everything out. All your food. "Auto-defrost" is better for your food, but nobody can guarantee the condensate will never overflow, if you open the door a lot AND if your room air isn't AC'd. In a climate-controlled house this won't be a problem. Do you have AC? They should mention that the drip tray is big enough to accommodate condensation in a climate-controlled space.
HTH
David

Thanks for the tutorial on refrigeration. I'm not at all good at machinery of any type and I'm trying get up to speed on buying a whole kitchen full of appliances at once. In the past I've made the very big mistake of buying because something looked good and then finding out that the good design didn't extend to the function of the appliance. It sounds like I don't need to worry on this one and I can move on to worrying about the dishwasher.

I haven't seen anything special about U-Line; as equal as any other manufacturer, in comparison to all other competitors.

-david

dbyczynski works for u-line, I believe. But he seems well liked here, so we'll overlook his forgetting to mention that.

We have 2 refrigerator vertical drawers by ULine… I have 2 issues:

1. the temp light& arrows are not lite up and functioning therefore have no idea the temperature of fridge drawers!
2. the bottom drawer now seems to have water pooling on each side of draw frame in front…

What can It be and how to fix?
I have not been able to find any info online
Thank you,
Bev & Carl