Many fridge has a cooling fan on the bottom cooling the condensing coil. Something is stuck near the fan, You may need to push the fridge out to get to the fan.

dcarch

Holidays seem to bring me new large appliances.

In July 2015 my 17 year old Whirlpool started to leave puddles on the floor from the ice maker. Repair our have been $500. So off I went and found an LG french door with water and ice on the outside. So much easier for me to keep it organized, no more mystery items in the back as I can clearly see into all shelves. And thanks to the 4th of July sales, it was half price. I love it.

Last November the old gas stove decided to give up the ghost. New one for Christmas here.

And last Monday, the dishwasher, aged 12, drowned when the water pump failed during the night. New one was installed on Tuesday morning.

Holidays are expensive!

Well, disaster averted, at least for now. I had found a youtube video showing what looked like our exact refrigerator & how someone had fixed what sounded like our problem. And indeed it was, sort of what dcarch suggested, ice had built up a on the fan. I had unplugged the fridge when the noise first started, thinking perhaps something something was iced up & that it would melt pretty fast. Just not as fast as I expected. Looks like the icemaker is trying to rust a bit, so I do need to start thinking about the fridge I want. Last year I thought was my year for the appliances, but I knew the fridge would be next.

I don't care for the side-by-side refrigerators, and my new one is a french door GE with a bottom freezer. I didn't want the water and ice in the door, having experienced the nearly constant puddles (and resulting slips) from Elery's fridge and from Ashley's. The ice maker is in the freezer itself and the water is inside the refrigerator, and that's the way I like it. I don't get crushed ice with it, but truly, I almost never use ice, I'd be just as well off with the old ice cube trays, and I don't drink our water, even after it's filtered twice. I get water at the farm and keep it in the fridge (right now the garage).

Anyway, I like the french doors, it's easy to find things, and I like the alarm that sounds if the door is left open. I also like the bottom freezer drawer, easier to get to things in the back, although now things just get lost at the bottom instead of the back.

I'm glad your fridge is an easy fix, though, so you have time to do your shopping!

Annie

I also much prefer the French door style - mine is Kitchenaid, and it has a bottom freezer drawer and then a refrigerator drawer above that, which I find particularly handy. I do have ice and water in the door, but that's because we use a lot of ice. Being from Texas, we are using to drinking almost everything with ice.

French doors - where did that come from? Not France LOL We manage with tiny fridges compared with your behemoths!

We switched over to a French door style fridge when we redid the kitchen last year. The good thing is that it has a smaller freezer, good in that we don't keep much beyond ice cream in it, opting for fresh rather than frozen food. The French doors make access much easier to get at things with the bonus of much more storage space in the two doors.

I didn't like my side by side. I just didn't feel like it had enough space although I'm sure the square footage was the same. I haven't had any issues with my new French door except sometimes the ice cubes don't break apart and will cause a clog. Easy enough to fix though.

I have an Amana bottom freezer drawer refrigerator (ice maker in the drawer not the outside door). Opening one door gives me a view of the whole contents, not just half were you have to open both doors anyway as the French door models are designed. Although, my DS and DIL have a 4 door French with the clear view little door for bottles on one side and a ice and water dispenser on the other door front I didn't like it, seldom used the dispensers and had to open all 3 doors to find something. I suppose if it is your refrigerator you'd remember where stuff was. However, the biggest drawback was that to open the full bottom crisper you had to open both doors wide to pull it out. I use my crisper's a lot and that would be a negative in my kitchen. OTOH Side by side refrigerator/freezers greatly reduce the available space in both. I couldn't slide in a cookie sheet to chill in the narrow freezer of my previous SXS, and being deeper than wide the refrigerator part meant everything was in the way back. I am much happier with my bottom freezer refrigerator with adjustable shelves that pull out to see the way back and can configure the shelves however suits me (example was defrosting a big turkey and still have all the other shelves adjusted for the other stuff). I also have an upright freezer in my kitchen which is wonderful because a bottom freezer has limited space, as does the SXS freezer's compartment. Out in my canning/baking kitchen I have a large deep freezer, and two refrigerator-only units. To do my real kitchen over I'd have an upright freezer and a refrigerator-only unit, maybe a small ice maker on one side and a wine cooler too. But, then I'd have to build a bigger house.....

We have been acquiring appliances lately, too. Last year, my IL bought us a french door fridge for Christmas. It was during the Black Friday sales time and they got a fantastic deal on a Samsung that also came with a $250 Lowe's gift card. On my old side-by-side, the water line dry rotted several years before and I found I preferred not having the water dispenser. With our hard water and kids that did not always pay attention, it seemed the door was always streaked. The new fridge just has an ice maker and I do like that. I just open the bottom drawer and scoop out what I need.

I have yet to figure out optimal placement of the shelves in the new fridge but still love it more than the side-by-side. There is actually enough room in it for large platters when needed. One of the things I like about having 2 doors is that not as much cold air escapes the fridge which is good because we do not cool the house in the summer and it keeps the fridge from working harder. Frequently used items have designated spaces so we do not need to open both doors to look for things all the time.

After the fridge last year, our dryer died. Over the summer, the freezer was not staying as cold. We replaced it before it died as completely to save us surprises. Next in line are the washing machine (in which we have replaced the pump) and the dishwasher (in which we have also replaced the pump).

Wow!!! your fridges sound amazing!!! Ours are a bit backwards compared to yours. We're starting to see giant fridgesin the shops but most people don't have kitchens big enough to take one. I suppose we shop more often so don't need it.

Islay, lol. It's an architecture term dating way back to a French style door...two equal doors opening side by side. But you know that. And we do have ginormous fridges. And freezers. We have such diverse climates and groceries not so close by. Summer gardens that feed us all winter.

My kitchen fridge is tall and slender, bottom freezer that has drawers. No room for a big French style. Bottom freezer is best in my opinion. Any style. Having all contents and fresh foods at eye level. My freezer drawers pull out easily to find and organize on the kitchen counter if needed. Ice is a half drawer that also can be pulled out easily. And from a filtered water line so it tastes good. We are not big ice users but in a warmer climate i may have made another choice.

My mother did it again and just bought a top freezer fridge. Always down on her knees in the crisper drawers searching for this and that veg. Things falling out of the top freezer if over stuffed during holidays.

Best to visit a decent appliance store and try them well ahead of choosing. Having to open both doors wide to get at an interior drawers would be a pain.

"A couple of history essay says that French doors were originally made from wood and wrought iron for added style. At first, individual glasses were embedded into the structure, which enables light to pass through unlike solid materials. French doors of today are made from a variety of materials like wood, PVC or aluminium. Whatever material a French door is made from, it does not lessen the fact that such door is practical and stylish."

Lots of good thoughts on this. I was at Best Buy this afternoon & thought I would check out the fridges. I definitely don't like the idea of having ice in the bottom drawer, I want it in the door. I do a lot of freezing fruits-various berries & often freeze on large trays. I use our big freezer in the next room, but would certainly be more convenient to use the bottom drawer. Certainly can't do that with a side by side. I like the idea of having my fridge stuffs at eye level-I'm always losing stuff in there. French door styles are more expensive than side by sides though, so I'm wondering if it will be worth the extra expense. I do know I'm not getting another Frigidaire-mine isn't the only one that has this problem by any means, I gather it is poor design that had not been corrected by 2013 anyway. Maybe by now, but don't think I will test it. I would go for a smaller fridge, but DH thinks we need the largest one available. Just the 2 of us now, & we have the big fridge/freezer, & a huge freezer. Trouble is, since we have them, we fill them up!