Yes...always buy the warranty these days. Also, check with your credit card company. Some will extend the warranty for another 1-2 years at no charge. We bought the 5-yr warranty with our new washer/dryer, and our credit card company extended it for two more years.

Had an old fridge that did that just before it died entirely. Don't even recall the brand. There are things that you can do to increase/decrease the life span of your appliances, including any refrigerator.

There are coils in the back of the refrigerator that need room to release heat so there needs to be space between those coils and the wall behind the refrigerator.

There also needs to be several inches of unimpeded space above the refrigerator for that heat from the coils to have somewhere to go.

If your refrigerator is adjacent to anything that produces heat (ovens, stove, water heater, in sunlight from window),

If the coils on the back of your refrigerator or the motor are smothered in dust,

If your freezer is so full and/or items stacked in such a way that the air flow vents are blocked,

If you have a waterline for an automatic ice maker clogged with sediment (as in from well water) that might make the ice maker not work efficiently,

If the line that drains the automatic defrost of the refrigerator is pinched or otherwise clogged/blocked preventing moisture from being removed (rather than leaving water in the unit to refreeze requiring manual defrost),

Any of these things can affect the performance and life of your refrigerator.

I have a Kitchen Aid side by side counter depth fridge that I purchased in 2006. Over the past 12 years, the ice make was replaced twice in the 5 year warranty, then extended that warranty for 2 years and the ice maker was replaced under it. Then two years ago I had to buy the ice maker from Amazon ($120) and replaced it myself. So that's a total of 5 ice makers (original + 4 replaments) in 12 years. But the new one seems better built.

But other than that, I've had zero issues with anything else with the unit. Teps stay set and cools well. I do hear the auto defrost come on a few times a week and can feel the heat in the area that separates the freezer from the fridge.

Bit since this unit is Bisque color (which all of my appliances we're back then), I've gradually replaced the microwave and dishwasher with stanlese, still need to do that with the bisque fridge and range.

I have see the Samsung 4 Door fridge unit, which is like a French Door on top, and with two freezer doors on the bottom. Or a standard French Door with one freezer drawer on the bottom. Those look nice, and I like the smudge proof stainless (like on my Miele Dishwasher).

But the "quality" of Samsung is concerning from what I've read. Their appliances seems to focus so much on the "tech features" that they have issues with the basic stuff.

JudyG Designs,

Just bringing to attention that the picture you posted is an LG wall unit (air conditioner), not a Samsung. :-)

My 3 year old GE electric stove-- the handle on the oven door pulled out of it's socket when I tried to open the oven. Had to have an entire new door installed. 5 year old GE refrigerator -- ice builds up on feeder to the icemaker. 2 year old Samsung dishwasher -- the touch panel does not respond when I touch it and it takes several tries to set the washer on. Maytag washer and drier -- 32 years old -- parts repaired over the years--parts always available -- and going strong! Tells you that anymore, appliances are not built like they used to be.

Pam P, hold on to that Maytag washer as long as you can! A new Maytag will never see 32 years.

"Pam P. - Tells you that anymore, appliances are not built like they used to be."

Of course they aren't. We bought a mid-line topload Whirlpool in 1976 for $369. A few online "inflation calculators" advise that's equivalent to $1,618 to $1,639 today. There are high-end models at that price range but one can also go to those big-box stores today and get a toploader for $400 to $550. Manufacturers can't hold those price levels and maintain the same quality of materials as 40 years ago.

Of our current appliances: Frigidair washer/drier (repairs to both), Bluestar rangetop (repairs), JennAir fridge (repairs), Bosch dishwasher (repairs - one due to slight faulty internal wire fire), Samsung counter micro (no issues in 2 years), Thermador dual convection ovens (no issues in 12 years), Vent-a-hood (no issues). I think that covers it. Oh, no issues with the cheap 10 year old stand up freezer - something like a GE. Just reiterating the point that all brands high to low have issues.

an appliance salesman pointed out that while some brands have a lot of bad reviews, one should keep in mind that the statistics don't show how many of that appliance were sold. so if joe's appliance factory makes 10 washers, and 8 people say they suck, thats far different than if bob's appliance factory made 10,000 washers and 20 of them sucked. it would be misleading to say bob makes the worst washer.

there are in fact huge differences in the numbers of models of various brands sold in this country. knowing that brand z has more complaints than brand x really tells you very little.

Would it be better to buy a fridge without an ice maker and then my a separate ice maker? We had an LG French door for 12 years with no issues. Water in the door ice maker in bottom freezer drawer. Now we are looking into which new fridge to purchase for our new home and everything I read is terrible. I wanted to get ice maker in the door this time as the one in bottom freezer was a pain. Hesitant to purchase any at all.

only people with complaints write reviews. all the happy people are busy doing something else.

if you are in the US, see if your town library subscribes to the online version of consumer reports. (its expensive to subscribe yourself). they review a lot more models than get reported in the print version, and talk a lot more above various details.

i actually do that at my residence. at the summer house, we go through so much ice and guests arent likely to refill the trays.

I live in the former hometown of Maytag which shut its doors and was bought out by Whirlpool. My washer and drier were made here and there are still parts made and available for the repairman. The last visit to repair my drier? He replaced all the parts for me and said it should last another 23 years! Lucked out there. I personally do not buy Whirlpool which now owns JenAir, Amana, Speed Queen and one other brand. That decision has to do with Whirlpool leaving our workforce high and dry which had a major economic effect on our town.

I read a report on how manufacturers have to meet a price point set by the box stores so they can undercut the small business owner. Walmart was the example. The conclusion of the report was that you are not getting the same product from Walmart/box store as you would from a small business owner who doesn't have that kind of purchasing power. That is a reason I don't buy appliances from box stores.

It costs Samsung more to make their fridges than they sell them to the distributor for. They wanted to get a slice of the market, that's why they do it. I guess they think it's just tough noogies for the customer.

Whirlpool *does not* own Speed Queen.

There's no appreciable structural difference between a given brand at a big-box store vs. an independent dealer. Big-box stores have buying power to order models with a specific mix of features (and different model numbers which poses the challenge for price-matching) but they're produced on the same factory line as the other units.

dadoes, they put different model numbers on them at big-box retailers' request, specifically so the customer can't "price match" them.

A quick search showed Speed Queen is owned by Alliance Laundry Systems, LLC.

I have a Samsung washing machine I bought in 2016 and I haven't had any problems with it.

Our daughter has had her Samsung washer/dryer for 8 years now with no problems. Her washer certainly has done better than the Whirlpool I mentioned. When I was shopping for a a new washer, a couple sales people told me to expect 5-10 years from most washing machines today. Feel lucky if you get to 7 years.

IMO The Koreans make superb small appliances BUT their "majors" aren't yet ready for prime time...yet. Part of the issue stems from their mind set concerning low energy usage. When renting an apartment in either Country, it is very hard to find one with an oven. Why? Because the electrical panel is 50 amps total (or less). An oven requires a 30 amp breaker. See where I'm coming from? Most US homes have 100 amp service, most built after 2000 have 200 amp service.

At the time of the Maytag sale to Whirlpool, Speed Queen was one of the brands they owned. No doubt, it was spun off.

pink_peony: It's really not that difficult to refill ice trays. Because complications with ice trays appeared to be the problem with a failure of the automatic defrost function on both my own fridge and my mom's, I chose to not have an icemaker added to my newest fridge. Instead, I have a single ten tray stack of Rubbermaid ice trays on one side of my freezer and a bin in the door of my freezer that holds ice from five trays at a time. When the bin gets empty, I simply dump and refill five trays.

wait,,i know this answer! happened w/ours. it's a cheap fix. the issue is the copper thing that hangs down into the tube thing isn't long enough to keep it from freezing. the copper thing loops over the heating element, copper conducts the heat, and as it sits in the tube thing (where the water backs up and freezes) it keeps it from doing so by melting it. why they didn't make a longer copper thing, I don't know.

this is what they give you (see the hole w/ ice? )

this is what you need to fix it

what you will see when you take off the entire back panel

if you look it up on youtube, they walk you through the steps. you can make a copper thing yourself or order one on eBay for 9 bucks or so. it does work. and I'm sorry I don't know all the proper names for copper thing but it's the 'condensation drain' just search "copper element to defrost condensation and something (a lot) should pop up. the bad part is you have to remove everything and take off the back, inner panel.

I don’t have room in my freezer for ice trays!

We didn't have room for ice trays either, but decided to buy a freezer for the basement from Best Buy -- $150.00 -- now there's plenty of room and the freezer in the refrigerator runs much more efficiently.

Pam P.

Where are you getting your information? Maytag never owned Speed Queen. Speed Queen was not involved in that sale. Previous connections to Speed Queen include McGraw-Edison and Raytheon (of Amana microwave oven fame). Alliance Laundry Systems owns the brand since 1998. Whirlpool got several brand names via the Maytag purchase in 2006 but Speed Queen was not one of them. If Alliance has owned Speed Queen since 1998 and Whirlpool bought Maytag in 2006, how could Maytag have owned Speed Queen in 2006?

If your fridge is not level it can cause all sorts of problems with the auto defrost and other items.

True melbel53, and independent appliance repair companies in my area charge so much that you're better off just buying a brand new unit.

Beth H.,

I did the same fix with a small copper wire on my grandmother's vertical self-defrost freezer years ago. She bought a freezer from a local independent dealer. It was either a Magic Chef or a no-name, manufactured by Woods (which makes the majority of chest and vertical freezers under various brands). It had continual problems with the defrost drain freezing and water flooding inside. I managed to get the dealer to replace it with a Maytag-branded freezer that was the same design, also manufactured by Woods. It defrosted OK for a while then sporadically began having the same problem. I figured there's no point in bringing the issue to the dealer again and fixed it myself with the copper wire trick. No further trouble.

A problem for consumers is the 1 year warranty just about every manufacturer now gets away with. Except the Whirlpool units IKEA sells. 5 year warranty required by IKEA. But I'd still not buy anything Whirlpool.

dadoes: You are wrong. Pam P is right.

A. Appliance manufacturers make special lines for independent dealers. The independents may sell lines that the big box stores do, but not the other way around. You can't buy washer or dryer lines from big box stores that come apart to get down to tight cellars; you can only get them through independents.

B. Many (most?) independents are members of buying cooperatives. The one I buy from is in a cooperative that buys over $1 Billion of appliances a year. That means that they have similar buying power to the big box stores. Their prices are lower (much less overhead) and their service is better. The only downside is that you need to have a good idea of what you want and you may have to wait a couple of days.

C. Both of the above hold true for local hardware stores. Valspar makes a line of paints available only through independents (Consumer Reports notes the different sources for different lines through their reviews). Their cooperatives/distributors mean that they can get any part you need that you can get at a big box store, but there might be a wait for delivery.

D. LG makes OLED TVs for the big box stores and independents. The big box ones are $50 cheaper, but it come with a limited-feature remote compared to the ones sold at independents..

I've worked for an independent Whirlpool dealer, they got their stock direct from a Whirlpool distribution center in Houston ... main-line products. The owner drove there himself to fetch stock every couple weeks. I highly doubt that an appliance bought at Home Depot or Lowe's disassembles differently than one bought from Joe Blow's Appliances. One need only look up parts diagrams for the various models to see that the construction and breakdown is the same.

It's odd when people repeat in a follow-up post what someone else already said and present it as a disagreement. I said that manufacturers may produce items with different feature-sets, and different model numbers for big-box stores which prevents price-matching with independents (in both directions).

Appliances used to last and the prevailing wisdom was don't buy the extended warranty. I asked an appliance repairman a few years ago about it and he agreed, they used to last. He said he'd buy the extended warranty now.

This also happens with my GE........

I think buying the extended warranty is a must these days. They might not be great but better than nothing. As I mentioned previously, check with your credit card company for a free extension (1-2 yrs.) on the warranty.

Ahhh...the world of appliances...so much fun!

i sort of wonder which came first.... short life span appliances, or a society that tosses working appliances because they are the wrong color or dont have the latest features. i, for one, would be willing to pay more for an appliance that was dumb if it came without electronics.

BethH thank you for posting the fix. My mothers Maytag does the same thing.

I personally think that companies should have a mindset like the makers of the Kelvinator (the refrigerator that didn't die).

Kelvinator's origins date to 1914. It was once part of Nash Motor Company, then American Motors which sold it in 1968. Kelvinator became part of White Consolidated Industries which also bought Frigidaire (from General Motors), Gibson, and Westinghouse appliance divisions. Electrolux bought WCI in 1986.

Samsung is a foreign company that will never stand behind their products. Dare you have a problem, if you do it is your fault no matter what you say. They pass the buck (the problem) onto companies they sell to, like Walmart, so Walmart or whomever takes the loss. I'm guessing that is the deal. 'You can sell Samsung, only if no strings are attached back to Samsung". And who gets the shaft, the customer. Because good luck dealing with Walmart either. All of these companies, but especially Samsung since it has never been American, make it impossible should anything go wrong. And considering the shipment trail, a lot can, and does go wrong. Samsung is a sleezy company selling cheap Asian products. I can't wait until tariffs go through the roof and they go under. DO NOT buy Samsung unless you are into gambling with your money, and you don't mind losing it. Any American working for or with this company should be ashamed at what they are doing to fellow Americans. Yep, I am stick with an expensive 70" tv that is cracked. It's my fault, of course since, according to Samsung, I handled it too rough. Like I would spend the money for such an item and be careless. I have several large TVs, so I know how to handle them. But it is my word against theirs. So, guess who eats the cost. So much for the holiday gift to my BF. Criminals like Samsung need another Class Action Lawsuit before they will pay a dime to the customers they screwed over. I was just a trash can for their damaged goods, and I am sure I was not the only one.

This is a 4 year old post but I agree that Samsung appliances are cheap garbage. I didn't choose mine (a fridge and electric range), they came with the house and were brand new when we moved in. They work ok but their performance is lackluster at best. The fridge has the most boneheaded and poorly designed layout I've ever seen. Worse, they started looking scuffed, saggy and generally worn out after only a year -- and we are not hard on our stuff.

Samsung is a foreign company that will never stand behind their products. Dare you have a problem, if you do it is your fault no matter what you say. They pass the buck (the problem) onto companies they sell to, like Walmart, so Walmart or whomever takes the loss. I'm guessing that is the deal. 'You can sell Samsung, only if no strings are attached back to Samsung". And who gets the shaft, the customer. Because good luck dealing with Walmart either. All of these companies, but especially Samsung since it has never been American, make it impossible should anything go wrong. And considering the shipment trail, a lot can, and does go wrong. Samsung is a sleezy company selling cheap Asian products. I can't wait until tariffs go through the roof and they go under. DO NOT buy Samsung unless you are into gambling with your money, and you don't mind losing it. Any American working for or with this company should be ashamed at what they are doing to fellow Americans. Yep, I am stick with an expensive 70" tv that is cracked. It's my fault, of course since, according to Samsung, I handled it too rough. Like I would spend the money for such an item and be careless. I have several large TVs, so I know how to handle them. But it is my word against theirs. So, guess who eats the cost. So much for the holiday gift to my BF. Criminals like Samsung need another Class Action Lawsuit before they will pay a dime to the customers they screwed over. I was just a trash can for their damaged goods, and I am sure I was not the only one.

Samsung front load washer and matching dryer 11 years old Feb 2023. When I was looking for new units and researching I had heard all the negatives of Samsung, so I bought the 5 yr warranty and had plastic door latch on washer replaced under warranty and heating element replaced on dryer under warranty and knock on wood no issues since. I guess I have been lucky. Best thing to do is not overthink and buy the features you like. The Samsung pair was only picked because of the color :O

@Virginia Theresa did you mean to copy and paste the same exact post twenty minutes apart?