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KitchenAid 22 cu ft refrigerator--is it quiet?

15 years ago

I'm considering two KitchenAid bottom-freezer models:

1. The 21.9 cu ft with a single fridge door (KBRS22KT),

2. The 21.8 cu ft counterdepth French Door (KFCS22EV).

If you have one of these, could you please let me know how quiet it is? We have an open floor plan, and the noise of our current fridge can be heard throughout the house.

I decided upon KitchenAid because it has one of the best warranties of any brand I've seen lately: 1 year = parts & labor on everything; years 2-5 = parts & labor on the sealed system (compressor etc.); and years 6-10 = parts (but not labor) for the sealed system.

Here is a link that might be useful: KitchenAid refrigerator warranty

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Comments (6)

markw
15 years ago
I'm assuming that KA is still rebadging and selling the Amana-manufactured bottom-freezer fridges (of course, these days, Whirlpool *owns* KA and Amana, so I guess that doesn't matter any more). If so, I have the Amana version of this fridge in an open floor plan. The compressor noise is not objectionable although it is not silent. There are some let us say "interesting" occasional sounds - one that sounds mechanical, like plastic gears meshing and another infrequent one that sounds a bit like ball bearings dropped onto a hardwood floor. I might guess the second sound might be a problem but I had another very old Amana fridge that did the same thing for years. I make it sound worse than it is, the noise isn't a problem for us and we really like this fridge overall. Bottom line, though, if noise is a top priority for you, you might want to look elsewhere, perhaps at the Korean makes.
budgeteer_s
15 years ago
I have the 25 cu ft SxS KA fridge and it is much quieter than our old Kenmore. Other than the occasional clink of the ice cube dropping to the bucket, we have not notice any distraction in our open plan. But then again noise reduction isn't one of our main priorities.
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ryin
15 years ago
Markw:

The noise you describe as "one that sounds a bit like ball bearings dropped onto a hardwood floor" - does this occur around every 25 - 30 minutes. With my fridge, I think it's the compressor that turns on first for a couple of seconds and then shuts off. And then a couple of seconds after that, I hear a noise like a ball dropping. This noise is not loud, but I am puzzled as to what is making this sound.
And this repaets itself ever 25 - 30 minutes.

I have just purchased a 22 cf Maytag floor model from Home Depot.
weedmeister
15 years ago
icemaker would be my guess.
nancyk
15 years ago
I have a new(delivered one week ago) Maytag 25.1 cubic feet refrigerator, bottom freezer, single door on top. It is very quiet, much quieter than the 20 year old Amana sidexside it replaced. It also uses just a bit more than 1/2 the watts of the old refrig(I bought a Kill-A-Watt tester), so I am pleased with that.
Nancy
nessas
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for all the input. I ended up buying the single-door 22 cu. ft. KitchenAid, and it is MUCH quiter than our old Kenmore. The compressor also doesn't run as often. It uses about half the kwh/year as our old fridge.

I really like the single fridge door better than the french door, and having the freezer on the bottom is great. The produce drawers are a bit shallower but are wider and deeper front-to-back than our old top-freezer fridge, which is good.

I didn't think we'd like the full-length "pantry drawer" in the fridge, but it turns out to be very handy. So we're very pleased with this model.

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