There is not much to go wrong with these and all the brands share most of their major components (compressor etc.) They use mechanical controls, not electronic. I say buy whatever you want. Top mounts are mostly all the same.

Well, there may be a qualification to what hvtech wrote about mechanical controls. Digital controls and controllers have begun proliferating into the
top-freezer market and you may have to dig into specs and "overview " pages on vendor sites in order to find out which do and which do not.

Most top freezer models can be had in white. Depending on where you live, local stores may or may not have stocked up only on stainless-finish models and getting a white model could require a special order. I live in a pretty rural state where white is still a preferred finish and most vendors stock those as well as stainless models. (In fact, I wound up with a really great deal on my fridge because the vendor had sold all the white units and was overstocked on the stainless-finish versions.)

Width of 32 1/2" or less? Some of that will depend on capacity. Models rated at 20 cu. ft. or less will generally be 30" wide or less. If you want one of the larger model top-freezers models (those rated from 21.8 to 23 cu. ft.), you have to read specs. My recollection from a couple of years ago was that GE models were 32 7/8" and LGs were 32 3/4, and that some Whirlpool branded models (including Maytags) were 32" and some were 32 1/2. I don't recall any Frigidaire to-freezer models over 20 cu. ft. The Kenmore top-freezer models are, I bleive, made for Sears by LG and were 32 3/4 inches wide. I don't know about new brands like Haier. I suggest you check sites like AJ Madison and Lowe's and use the search filters to find the appropriate widths.

One thought about widths, though. Maybe you've already thought of this, but if want your fridge to go in a corner with a door opening against a wall, I'm not sure there are any top-freezer models with zero-clearance doors.

In terms of reading user reviews, bear in mind that an unhappy buyer is more likely to post than a happy one, particularly with so much warranty service being out -sourced to third party bidders. Nothing like poor service to push an unhappy customer from mere disappointment to vociferous outrage with virtiolic posts on the internet. Also, consider the volume of product sold by the major manufacturers. A 10% defect rate translates to a potentially large number of posters. (CR's membership surveys show that buyers are reporting defects at around that rate most major brands of top-freezer models purchased in or after 2010). Best to read the complaints for patterns. If you see a lot of complaints are about the same things, that can be a good indication that there is a model to avoid.

Thanks for the replies!

My current fridge (Kenmore) is 32 1/2" wide and it fits perfectly into a 33" wide space. The fridge is pulled forward a but so that takes care of the door clearance issue.

So, I can't go any wider than 32 1/2". I'm finding lots of 30" (bummer to have to buy something smaller than what I have) and 33" wide (too big to fit).

If Consumer Reports is to be believed, then I should stay away from Maytag, Whirlpool, Hot point and Amana. LGs were soso. I'm just not sure how reliable Consumer Reports is these days. In the past they were an excellent resource. And if I don't look to them, then who can I look to for solid information. There are certainly lots of places to find complaints, but as you pointed out, they don't always show the whole picture. Consumer Reports noted certain models to avoid and some of these were from companies that they recommended (like Frigidaire). This just adds to my confusion.

The ratings and recommendations section of Consumer Reports is pretty much useless. Lots of seemingly arbitrary numbers and symbols thrown around with little to no explanation, and identical products with different name badges given completely different ratings.

The only part of CR even worth a little bit of attention is the reliability stats section, and even that tends to just confuse people more than help them. Let's take a look at reliability scores for top mounts. For some reason they always feel the need to include Kenmore, which is stupid because it's just a mix of appliances made by other companies. In the case of top mounts, Frigidare, Whirlpool, and LG. Not helpful. So the first step when reading CR reliability rankings is always to eliminate Kenmore. Then, look at what the percent difference between brands has to be in order for the difference to be considered statistically significant. In the case of top mounts, 5 percent.

With Kenmore out of the picture, all the brands are within 5% of each other, which proves my point! The reliability differences are insignificant. You might as well pick a top mount by throwing a dart. They're all the same. Don't get analysis paralysis over this.

Electronics... JWVideo is right that they are more prevalent on top mounts then before, but the vast majority of top mounts still use mechanical controls. The best way to figure out what type of controls a fridge uses is to find an interior picture and look the control panel.

Please explain to me what you mean by 'look at the control panel'? I would like to avoid electronics in this fridge (I'd prefer mechanical controls) but I don't know what I'm looking for. Do you mean does it have a dial for the temp?

Some of the brands that Consumer REports praised in the Jan article, it panned in the July article. I will say that the Kenmore that we have lasted 12 years which isn't terrible for a kitchen appliance.

Yes, if it just has a knob it's going to be mechanical. If you see buttons and digital displays then it will be electronic.

Your 12 year old Kenmore is probably Whirlpool (model number starts with 106).

"Your 12 year old Kenmore is probably Whirlpool (model number starts with 106)."

Just checked. Bingo. So it's a Whirlpool labeled as a Kenmore.

What went wrong with it? If it is a sealed system issue like compressor failure or refrigerant leak, replacing is the best choice, but if the problem is anything else it would probably make more sense to repair.

We think that the problem is with the fan. We got a new part and then took the freezer apart to put in the new part, but we couldn't find the problem with the original part. It seems that the fan gets stuck and there is a very loud, annoying noise that we can hear from all over the house. We can sort of bang/move the shroud that's in front of the fan to get the noise to stop, but this has been going on for months now and it's getting very annoying.

Can't help with the fan shroud issue beyond suggesting that, if you have not already done so, maybe you try a complete manual defrost. Might have some hidden ice build up back by the fan that increases a bit, causes the noise, and chips away "just enough" when you bang the shroud. Taking everything out of fridge and freezer and shutting down for day might be needed to get rid of all of it.

Going back a couple of posts, if you see the word "digital" anywhere in the specs or list of features for the fridge, it is a good bet that it has electronic controls. What we're talking about is touchpads (up and down arrows next to internal LED displays) for selecting either an arbitrary chill setting or, in the fancier models, directly setting the temperature. A mechanical control will be either a rotary knob or a mechanical slider lever.

That said, a mechanical control is probably linked to some simple digital electronics that run the compressor and automatically operate the "frost-free" functions on every refrigerator you can buy these days. The only exception I can recall would be the fridges made by Sunfrost which I stumbled across when I was fridge shopping. (You can check out www.sunfrost.com for some interesting reading -- but 'twill be merely entertaining for you since, IIRC, Sunfrosts have 35-inch wide cabinets and need an addtional 3 or 4 inches to the side for door swing clearance, so completely out of consideration for your kitchen even if they weren't $3k to $4k in price.)

Personally, I'm okay with the simple digital fridge controls. I've found them to be reasonably durable, easier to clean, and no more likely to fail than the mechanical ones. Also, even the simple ones have little dinging-bell alarms for fridge doors not fully closed (very handy if you have teenagers and/or lots of guests.) The digital stuff that gives me concern is unlikely to be found on top freezer fridges --- they're too "downmarket" for "smart" electronics with wireless internet connections that you can "manage" via a smart phone or computer, or that have electronically controlled and metered through-the door ice and water dispensers, etc.

You've probably already figured this out, but for those who do not know, there is a website called appliance411.com that has a page explaining how to use the 3-digit presfix to Kenmore model numbers to identify the contractor who made the appliance. Unfortunately, last time I looked, Sears "sales" web site listed model numbers without the three-digit prefix that is the manufacturer code. You pretty much need to see the plate on the actual appliance in order to get the full product number. Maybe it is different now?

I think the current Kenmore top-freezers are made by LG which, if correct, means the larger capacity ones will be 32.75" wide.

Other non-digital features to consider for a new fridge are humidty controls for the crisper drawers and a vent/temp control for the deli-meat-cheese drawer. These are simple mechanical sliders. Had them on my previous fridge, a vintage 1998 Maytag top freezer. I found that they worked well for things like prolonging the shelf-life of greens and such. The folks who received that fridge from me likewise find them useful.

I agree with what Hvtech said about CR's appliance ratings being much less helpful than they used to be. I've posted several lengthy rants about how uniformative the graphic "button" charts are. Suffice it to say that I've also noted that CR sometimes buries nuggets of useful information in the pages for individual models. "Useful information" meaning things like statements about their tests of crisper performance. When you delve into the page for a model you may see statements like "very good crisper performance" for a fridge to which CR otherwise gave middling ("good") ratings while some of their higher rated models reportedly have "poor crisper performance." Plus, there is no way to know how significant or insignificant the differences are between the performances that they give a button designating "excellent," "very good," "good," "below average" and "poor." About the only other clearly helpful set of details that CR regularly puts in its testing reports are the measurements of actual usable interior capacity of specific models.

I find the membership surveys somewhat helpful in finding things to avoid -- for instance, you want to avoid GE and LG top-freezer fridges with ice-makers. One in five will have a major failure during the first five years of ownership. That's almost double the defect rate for non-icemaker models. No use for that advice here since mabookreader has already decided to avoid icemakers. Also, CR's surveys can be helpful to let you know -- as in this instance -- there is not much difference between the repair rates for the various brands. That's helpful because it tells you that reliability does not seem to be a big factor in choosing a top-freezer model.

When I was fridge shopping three years ago, I did find one site which used tests similar to CR's for evaluating fridges AND which published the test data in the report. (No reducing everything to four or five dumb graphic buttons.) The site is www.refrigeratorinfo.com. Unlike its sibling reviewed.com sites, which frequently seem to be little more than inflight-magazine gush, there is actual performance testing with reported details. Want to know how much temperature variance there is between top and bottom shelves? Refrigerator.info actually tells you what temps were measured and where so you can see if the variances are significant or unimportant. Be warned, though: the number of tested models is very limited (you find lots of models listed but for most of them, they only give specs and advertising without any testing). There is constant, intrusive pop-up advertising. If memory serves, their favorite tested top-freezer was a 20.5 cut. ft. Frigidaire with an internal icemaker.

An additional thought on icemakers: if you choose a fridge that comes with an icemaker, they (usually) can be removed easily. Note the qualification for "usually." Good idea to download a pdf of the owner's manual and check that out before buying one. Taking them out can free up as much as a cubic foot of space in the freezer and substantially diminshes reliability worries.

One final thought: when you've narrowed your choices, there is real benefit to going to a few stores with floor models to check out. See what you think of the door bins. How sturdy or flimsy are the crisper drawers and how well do they slide (or roll) in and out. Have look at how large or small they are. I say this because, three years ago, I saw more than one fridge that sounded good on paper but, in person, turned out to have flimsy components with inconvenient bins and shelves.

Thanks for the lengthy reply. I have been to refrigeratorinfo.com but was frustrated that they had not reviewed the models I was interested in.

We don't have a water line that goes to the fridge so we'd have to have someone put one in for us and since I don't even want an icemaker/water dispenser, that would be a silly expense. I did find some info indicating that an ice maker can be removed, but evidently it depends on the model if this is the case. I'm just irked to be forced to buy something that I don't want. And it seems that the sites that review fridges favor the ones that have ice makers.

Consumers Reports did not note any LG top mount fridges so either they don't make any or they were so bad as to not be included. The actual users section didn't note any LGs either. The non-icemaker category only noted Kenmore (7) Frigidaire (7), GE (7) and Whirlpool (8). The number in ( ) is the percent of repairs. So all are quite similar.

I think I will end up choosing based on color (must be white), size (it has to fit in a specific space) and I'd prefer a mechanical model (no digital controls for me).

I appreciate everyone's comments here as they have been very helpful to me. If anyone has more to add, I will gladly read it!

Well, it seems that electronic controls have indeed made their way into top freezer fridges. I'm finding them in both Whirlpool and Frigidaire. So I may end up with a GE but the one that fits in my space is 29 1/2" wide (which is 3" narrower than what I have). Not ideal.

There are two almost identical models that I'm looking at (GTE18IGHWW and GTE18ITHWW). The only diffence is that one has smooth rounded doors and the other has smooth rounded doors. I'm really not sure what to make of that difference. My current fridge has a white textured finish and I have no complaint about it. The textured fridge is about $50 cheaper. I have no idea why it would be so much less expensive. Do more people prefer a smooth finish?

mabookreader: Whirlpool, Frigidaire, and GE all have both mechanical and electronic models. It's not about the brand, it's about the particular model you get.

JWVideo: From the Sears website, it looks like Kenmores are mostly Frigidaire, with a few LG and Whirlpool models mixed in.

Whirlpool and Frigidaire may have mechanical models, but I did not see any in the size (approx 18 - 20 cu') I'm looking at on their website. Under the heading of 'controls' both sites said electronic.

Are you aware of a mechanical model that you can recommend to me?

Well, looks like Kenmore has the same fridge that I currently have but with a new model number. The size is the same as what I currently have, so I'm leaning towards that model now (60212). I have no idea who actually makes this fridge.

One drawback is that one reviewer complained that it is very loud. The site refrigeratorinfo.com did not review this one. The Kenmore they have on that site that perfectly fits my criteria is no longer available. I have no idea where else to go to find out if this fridge is actually noisy or if one person just happened to get a noisy fridge.

The drawback to buying a Kenmore is that I'd have to buy it at Sears. There are a bazillion and two complaints about dealing with Sears on the internet and very little positive. I haven't bought anything from Sears in over a decade. I didn't have a problem with my current fridge (until recently) so I never had to call Sears with a problem.

I wouldn't put too much thought into it. In 2006, I bought "the cheapest one available" at a local appliance store. I believe its a frigidaire - Nothing fancy. Mechanical controls. Its now 2015 and this thing is still going strong, running every day in and out. I am surprised to be honest, since I realized when I was buying it that I may need to throw it away in 3-5 years, and here we are almost 10 years later and its still going. I suspect this isn't one you should look for a lot of bells and whistles. Keep it simple.

Kenmore 60212 is a Whirlpool (full model # is 106.60212410).

Looks like a good pick since it has mechanical controls, which Whirlpool doesn't seem to in that size, and should fit in place of your old one.

That said, I think it would really behoove you to consider repair of your current fridge more seriously. This doesn't sound like a major problem, and even if you end up calling a tech out, I think it would still make more financial sense. What kind of noise is the fan making?