French door fridge: Whirlpool vs GE vs Samsung vs ?
trescool
5 years ago
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Anne Duke
5 years agoRelated Discussions
Preferences on GE vs. Whirlpool vs. Kitchenaid??
Comments (9)I can't speak to the quality of the individual appliances you're considering, but I will mention that, if you care about how you spend your money and what your money says about you, there are better choices than GE. GE just recently "decided" to keep its appliance division after years of shopping it around (no takers). I've been around long enough to know that no one makes big investments in something they plan/hope to sell. Maybe GE broke that rule, but based on what else I've learned about them, I have my doubts. GE has a documented history of being a bit -- um, disrespectful -- to customers and employees. In the mid-80s GE sold a series of refrigerators on which the compressors failed prematurely; GE did not step up to the plate to address the issue. Many customers with GE dishwashers dating back even just ten years or so found that, if the DWs started leaking, the most likely culprit was a small part that could only be replaced as part of a larger $250 assembly. GE also had/has a corporate staffing policy in which 10-20% of their employees were to be appraised annually as barely capable of doing their jobs and, with that rating, were encouraged to leave the company. I work at a company that was run by a GE alumnus and that rule lasted about a year before it was abandoned. GE's behavior, sadly, is not atypical. I'm sure there are other companies that do some of those things and I'm sure Whirlpool has made its share of questionable decisions. But I decided I didn't want to reward with my money any company that does that....See Moresamsung 4 door rf4287hars vs samsung rfg2997aars vs?
Comments (5)Hi Mark, I have the RFG2997AARS. I can't give a review of its long term reliability because we've only had it since just before Christmas. Like you, I have four young children, ages 6-11. We had a side by side for 14 years and I never liked the design. I did quite a bit of research on the mid-range fridges and decided that I liked the layout of the Samsung the best. In terms of features, I definitely wanted water on the door. I would have preferred not having an exterior ice machine, in order to get water on the door I had to have the ice too. My kids drink mainly water, so the exterior water was important to me - I didn't want my fridge being constantly opened so that they could get a drink of water. One thing to mention about the water dispenser (and I'd read this in reviews b/f buying). It is fine for filling glasses, but it can be tricky with water bottles. Regular size water bottles are okay, but you have to make sure you get the mouth of the bottle under the spout. Taller water bottles that don't fit into that space on the door won't really work b/c they won't fit properly under the spout. This has not really been an issue with me, despite having four active sports-playing kids and needing to constantly fill bottles. I only have a few that don't fit so I just fill a cup then pour into the water bottle. (Again, not an issue with regular sized bottles, just oversize/tall bottles). I personally do not think the water/ice dispenser takes up too much room. I was concerned initially while researching, but I was gaining so much space moving up to this fridge from my SxS that I haven't noticed the ice maker being a space hog at all! In fact, I have TONS of room in my fridge. I thought at first that I might be annoyed by lack of storage space on the doors for condiments and such, but I still have plenty of room. They have even fitted shelving around the dispenser on the left door - I can fit smaller items on those shelves and it works. The drawers are plenty big for fruits and veggies. The Cool Select pantry I love - we have a variety of cheese that I keep on one side, then I use the other side for meats like turkey, pancetta, prosciutto, bacon. This drawer has helped keep my fridge so much better organized than my last fridge. Some complain about losing things in the freezer drawer. I have not had that issue. I can actually find things more easily than in my old SxS which was so narrow I was constantly having to move things around to fit them. I keep the things we use the most (frozen waffles, frozen bread, etc) in the top basket and then store lesser used things like frozen meats on the bottom compartment. There is a nice narrow compartment on top just inside the door that I use to store smaller things like freezer packs for my kids lunches, butter, etc. Someone mentioned noise. My fridge is EXTREMELY quiet. The only noise I ever hear, and it's infrequent, is the ice dropping when a new tray is made. That is loud and can be quite jarring if you are sitting around in a quiet house (not often here with four kids!). Made my dog jump the first time he heard it, but it doesn't happen frequently. The fridge itself makes no noise - my old fridge hummed when it was running. I didn't notice it while it was running as I'd grown accustomed to it, but when it stopped I'd notice the quiet! This one is not like that! Other comments: I wondered if having to sometimes open TWO doors instead of one to access the fridge would bother me. I think this is personal preference. It doesn't bother me at all. I tend to know where things are that I use frequently and can just open the door on the side where it is located. Occasionally I do have to open both doors to look for something, but I don't find that a pain. This morning I had both hands full and had to open both doors b/c the things I was putting away were on opposite side of the fridge - wasn't an inconvenience even with full hands. IN HINDSIGHT: I might possibly have gone with the second exterior drawer. I contemplated it, it was more expensive, but wasn't sure it was worth the expense. In hindsight, perhaps it was. I access the deli drawer frequently and you do have to open both fridge doors in order to open the pantry door. Not a big deal and I can easily live with it, but it might have been nicer to just have it be an exterior drawer. The produce drawers do not have to have both doors open in order to access though, just the pantry door b/c it's wide and cannot be pulled out unless both doors are open. Overall, I LOVE this fridge. Again, I can't speak for its reliability since we haven't had it long, but in terms of features/functions, it has been great for our family of six. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer!...See Moreneed large side-by-side fridge: ge vs. whirlpool vs. samsung?
Comments (2)I don't see anybody jumping in, so maybe I can help get a conversation started for you. GE had pretty significant reliability and parts problems with its fridges when it started contracting out (outsourcing), but it has brought much of its production back to the US a few years ago. CR's survey data shows that GE is now no less (and no more) reliable than most other brands of SxS models. In our area, GE also cut back on the number of dealers it works with and seems to be concentrating on the highest-volume retailers and big-box stores. Some friends bought one of the large new GE SxS models a month or so ago -- I think it is the one rated for 29 cut. ft. -- and say they are very pleased with its features and capacity. Something to else to bear in mind is that rated capacity is often overstated. Supposedly 25 to 28 cu. ft. SxS fridges sometimes turn out to have no more than 18 cu. ft. of actual capacity. Capacity is affected by the size of the through-the-door ice and water dispensers and some of the larger capacity models have two ice makers. If memory serves, CR rated the Whirlpool and Samsung SxS models as having more usable capacity than other brands with similar capacity claims. Samsung models have separate evaporators for the freezer and fridge compartments. Not the same as having completely separate compressors and cooling systems (ala Sub Zero) but still something of a marketing leg up because of the theoretical advantages. When I was fridge shopping, it seemed that the jury was still out on whether the separate evaporators made much practical difference. Doesn't the biggest Samsung SxS have an external display screen that connects to the internet or you smart phone or displays photos or something? Strikes me one more thing to fail. cascade to other circuitry and interfere with the primary functions. FWIW, some friend have had a Samsung 26 cu. ft. SxS (no screens) for three years with no problems. They make heavy use of the external dispensers. This post was edited by JWVideo on Sun, Jul 6, 14 at 15:48...See MoreFinal Round: French Door KitchenAid vs GE Profile!
Comments (8)We have the GE Profile FD and love it. It was our third new fridge in 6 weeks, as we went through two Bosch SxS models, neither of which would cool. The GE's been great...no issues at all, and because of the previous problems, I keep a fridge thermometer in it all the time...it holds its temp perfectly. We've had it for two months (admittedly, not long) and I'd give it 4.5 stars. DH insisted we had to have water in the door, so that ruled out lots of FD models. My only (small) complaint is the water well that catches drips in the door is quite small, and it sometimes overruns onto the floor when it's full and we swing the door open. But that's a small problem and infrequent. Would definitely buy it again......See More
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