I completely agree with Heather Rosales. I too purchased a Viking built-in all-refrigerator in 2010 against my better judgment. My first problem was that I took delivery of a unit with a bent compressor, so I had to fight to get a replacement unit. In retrospect, I suspect that they replaced it with a refurbished unit because since then I have had ongoing issues. Almost all of my friends make jokes about my fridge issues because they have been following the saga. I had one or two warranty visits to address temperature issues during the coverage period. The warranty was also a problem because I purchased the unit almost a year prior to it being installed due to a renovation that needed custom cabinets that went on way too long. So, I lost a year of warranty time. Since then I have spent over $1600 in service fees (with an authorized service company to try to get it not to deep freeze all my food. I was given multiple reasons for why it was not working properly all of them completely hypothetical while each theory costing me money. The most recent episode involves the same authorized dealer deciding it needed a new door seal/gasket which took almost 3 weeks to deliver due to it being supposedly back ordered @ $700 cost. I am not sure if the seal was or was not the issue because the seal doesn't keep the door closed at all! There is absolutely no suction whatsoever in the door. In fact, the door looks open all the time now. Now they installed some type of temperature measurement device to monitor the temperature for the next 3 days. This experiment seems futile to me if the door doesn't close properly. It would be like trying to test air conditioning with all the windows and doors open. I am going on 26 days without a functioning refrigerator this time around. The other thing to be aware of it the quality of the crispers. They break very easily and the cost to replace them makes it impossible to replace. Of the 5 crispers, 4 are broken. I was quoted $700+ to replace 2 of them. Even the service company doesn't recommend replacing them due to the cost. I have had two other homes where I inherited Sub-zeros and I NEVER had one issue with those units. One of them was ancient but it was a beast; never failing me. I called Viking Range LLC and they don't seem to be interested in assisting. They have a customer care team that provides the token empathic statements but they don't seem willing to do more. In Canada, I noticed that even the authorized distributors listed on the Viking site don't actually carry Viking products despite being listed as Canadian distributors. This is a very telling sign! I would be happy to just trash this unit and caulk it up to a super bad consumer purchase but not only would I have to spend money to replace the unit, it will also require a new custom panel and custom trim work. STAY AWAY FROM VIKING!

Hi, am new to this site and am amazed at the number of ongoing posts and opinions about appliances. I am in the middle of needing to replace an Electrolux Wave Touch dual fuel range I purchased in 2009. I was away from my home for professional reasons for 2-1/2 years and when I returned, I noticed that the display was missing parts of letters and numbers. I call my local appliance store and found out it was still under the extended warranty and they sent a tech out to replace it the next day. When I tried to use the oven, I noticed it never reached 350 degrees, called the store back and at the next service call, they told me I needed a new relay board. Comes in a few days later, he puts it, goes phiiiiiit, arcs, then goes out. Still no oven. He calls Electrolux and they told him he has a bad board and they will send out another one. Week later a different tech comes out, replaces the board, and the same thing happens after turning on the oven. Electrolux then says to replace both the relay board and the control board. At the next visit, Electrolux tells the tech to remove a resister on the relay board, he does that, connects it, and still no oven. The engineer at Electrolux then tells the tech there was a software update on the control board and that they would have to replace the relay board again. The store at this point is refusing, and hopefully the third party warranty company has enough documentation to replace this unit. I have informed the store that I do not want another range, instead would prefer a pro-style all gas range. I used to have the bottom of the line semi open burner Viking and really liked that, despite having very heavy grates to clean. The store also recommended a 30-inch American Range Cuisine unit. I am thinking because the higher output, I am now wanting a propane open burner range, that the American Range Performa range may be a good option. If there is anyone out there who has had experience with the American Range units, I would really appreciate your thoughts.

The problem with explaining how refrigerators and freezers work is that an even barely sufficient explanation requires knowledge of rudimentary thermodynamics. An insufficient explanation might go like this: Electricity drives a motor that pumps a fluid through the refrigeration plumbing. This fluid, which typically is a gas at room temperature and pressure, has the property that when compressed it gets hot, and when expanded, it gets cold. (This is true of all gases per the Ideal Gas Law.) If the cold gas (now a liquid) is put into contact with a warm surface and allowed to expand to its gaseous form, it absorbs a lot of heat from the surface. When this gas is further pumped and compressed, and then subjected to a surface cooler than it is, it gives up its heat and condenses back to a liquid that is warmer than the exterior ambient. However, when later in the loop expended back to a gas, it gets colder than the interior air and can thus cool it. The expansion part occurs in an expander, and the condensation part occurs in a condenser. The condenser in your refrigerator, like the condenser in your car air conditioning, is a radiator that moves heat to the air. The expander in your refrigerator, like the expander in your car air conditioning (usually buried in ducting and less easy to see) is a radiator operating in reverse by absorbing heat from the air passing through it. The efficiency of this heat transfer loop is mainly determined by three processes: the efficiency of the thermodynamic cycle being used by the system, the motor electrical to work efficiency, and losses from friction moving the gas around. The thermodynamic process prohibits attempts to get something from nothing, or even break even (no perpetual motion machines; no free work). In principle, two separate systems, one for the refrigerator and one for the freezer can be sized and optimized for each such that the total power used in some standard environment is not greater than that used from a freezer only single system that controls the rate of cold air moved to a refrigerator. It could with careful tuning be more efficient. Analyzing such systems is fairly complex and specialized, and designing and building prototype optimal ones (for aerospace applications say) can cost millions of dollars. For residential units, some standardization is expected in selection of compressors, condensers, and expanders such that the last erg of energy savings is not going to be met. One expects for residential units that the efficiency will be as noted on the sticker for some environment, and the buyer has to determine whether differences in electricity cost, differences in purchase cost, and differences in other features make the purchase worthwhile. kas

I got a Whirlpool 33 inch wide bottom load freezer /fridge at my new build about 2 months ago. My GC plugged it in immediately, since it was horrendously hot and he wanted to keep some cool water available (and his diabetes meds safely chilled). I was up there earlier today and the item has now been moved to its permanent location. It has been running for two months, and yes, I said, go run it.... even though it is not remotely containing enough items (and nothing at all in the freezer compartment) -- when I was there today it was so silent I had to open both doors to see that it was actually chilling and freezing in the respective compartments. I was at my build for about 2 hours and when it kicked "on" -- no apparent sounds! (Oh, yes, now that it is properly situated, I'm bringing up a bunch of frozen goods next visit so it can do its thing energy-efficiently -- and so I can defrost and shut down my stand-alone freezer I have back here at my original home... )