I saw a nice counter depth Kitchenaid recently that impressed me.

We have the full-depth version of this, bought earlier this year. It's slightly noisy at times, but other than that I love both the look and the functionality of it.

I have a French door, bottom freezer GE that is counter depth. Filtered water dispenser inside and ice maker in the freezer. I like it.

My only one, that I just reached out from the table to touch, died a while ago - I'm too embarrassed to admit how long.

My landlord has one in the nearby shop that I've been using, hauling some things over by hand in a small cooler, and when I need more things, in a larger cooler, often in the car, due to complaints from this old guy's back.

Quite a few of the things that I need are O.K. in the back porch, in this on-freezing weather.

Landlord has checked out requirements and prices of used ones, as this house may be unused when I leave, likely when I can no longer drive a car.

In the meantime, a friend who recently upgraded her fridge, substantially due to quite a few small rust spots on hers, says that I can have it, so we're about to collect it.

My old one is some dissatisfied that we're proposing no pension.

Says that's unfair, as this old fart, who's been here only 14 years, less time than it has, has been on gov't. pension for 25 years.

ole joyfuelled

Watchme, that might be the one I was looking at in Lowe’s recently. I seem to recall being impressed with one in particular that had ice and water dispensed inside somehow. I really do consider a water dispenser a must have as I drink a lot of water and like the convenience. And I am the same way...I want to poke around everything inside before I buy one. I would even like to hear it too but that isn’t always possible.

edited to corrected the dang autocorrect...Iceland? yall know I meant ice and water, right?

When I did some refrigerator research what I found is that the french door style has the worst ratings for needing repairs. I've been very happy with the bottom drawer freezer style.

Our counter depth Samsung French style is 5 years old and works well. No water dispenser or proprietary filter in the ice maker. We prefer under-counter filtered water for drinking, coffee, cooking and ice making connection.

The freezer compartment isn't user friendly so we inventory the contents with an inventory app.

When it's time to replace, we'll probably choose a Whirlpool with similar features. According to Yale appliance study, Whirlpool has the lowest repair record per # of units sold.

Appliance brands study

We have a Frigidaire Professional, counter depth French door, stainless steel. It's 5 1/2 years old. I bought it because I liked the handles on it! My DH thought I was wacko, but since the average life expectancy of any refrigerator today is 7 years, Why not just buy one you like the looks of. The handles matched my oven. It has a special finish on it and fingerprints do not show. I did not get the water on the door for three reasons. First of all the unit took up half the top left side. There's not much room in a counter-depth to begin with and I wasn't willing to give up that much space. Second, reading reviews, the water came out more like at room temp, not cold....and the third reason, I personally don't care for the look. Instead, I bought a PURE filtered water container. They are tall and narrow with a water spout on the bottom. They take up much less room in the refrigerator. We've been pleased with it so far. It will be interesting to see if it goes much beyond the 7 years. :-)))

I have a 4-door style Samsung refrigerator and absolutely love it! Nothing gets lost as all the freezer drawers and surfaces slide out, and it's so easy to find things. The bottom right section can switch between being a freezer or fridge.

Counter depths I've tried and liked: Kitchenaid, GE, Frigidaire/least amount of money spent, I own two

The most disappointing thing about buying "modern" appliances is they are predicted to last 5-7 years. All the government energy efficient standards cause their systems to burn out. So the upside is if you choose something you don't care for in the end, no worries you will get to repeat the purchase before long. The neighbor's fancy $4000 unit lasted just over five years but the back up in the basement that her mom got when mom first got married in the 50s, is still going!!

We've never owned anything but GE. Our current one is 10 years old with no issues (bought for a kitchen reno) and our previous one is now probably 25 years old and was moved to the laundry room post reno, again with never an issue. I am so glad we kept the old fridge. The one previous to that came with the house and was also a GE and the compressor went after 20 years, I wanted a freezer on the bottom so we did replace it. It;s the one now in the laundry room.

my fridge is of legal age now... I like it but do wish I had more freezer space. It's a very basic one - no ice maker or water unit. I hope it never dies! but about every 6 months I check out options online. there isn't much out there that I like and could afford. I like the bisque and the options for that are very few. and small - it's just me and I don't have much space. This one is 18 cf. I could go a little bit larger but there just isn't much in that range.

chi - I really, really like that fridge but it's probably to large and too much for me to spend.

I guess we should be happy we got a little over 11 years out of our Jenn Air. Yes, it seems ridiculous most appliances, especially refrigerators, aren’t predicted to last longer. I too recall the days when we had older ones we just rotated to ‘beer fridge’ status in a garage or basement. The last 3 we have owned all went out due to compressor failures and were old enough to warrant replacement. Until this one’s ice maker started acting up a few weeks ago, we had never had any of the ice or water dispensers fail before the compressors.

We are about to pull the trigger on a KitchenAid on sale at Lowe‘s which is in stock and can be delivered on Sunday. (We live in a rural area with only once a week delivery and they made an exception because our ‘day’, Monday, was already booked.) With DH’s military discount, quite a savings. It has the inside water dispenser and ice in the freezer which will take some getting used to, but I’m ok with that. It was almost $1000 cheaper than the LG I could have bought. Since there are just two of us, this one is fine.

Chi, how long have you had your Samsung? I was looking at fridges in Lowes the other day and saw a beautiful Samsung with a dark gray finish. The prettiest fridge I've ever seen. I then looked at the reviews on line when I got home and they weren't great. I have an old fridge that came with the house when I bought it. The ice maker hasn't worked in years, not really wanting an ice maker anyway but seems like all the nice ones have them. A lot of the issues on reviews were ice maker problems, leaking, not working after a short time. I'm looking now because I want to redo my kitchen next year.

Kathsgrdn, we've had it about 18 months with no issues.

We redid our kitchen last year, and we had a perfectly good, pretty new french door refrigerator but didn't store it properly when we moved out and it molded up! That was a painful replacement but I'm really happy with this one.

Save money on power efficiencies ...

... with a fridge that lasts half as long?

No thanks.

Imagine the use of precious fuel, and resulting pollution, that goes with digging and transporting iron ore, then smelting and shaping, hauling iron to fridge builder, and the prep costs of plastics, to make the fridge, then haul to store, later to home.

When it dies, a lot of hauling, and energy and polluting while remanufacturing to recycle ... then redistribute.

Build a quality product in the first place, O.K?

Of what use is the extra money these years ...

... if the earth may well become so polluted that your grandkids can scarcely breathe??

ole joyful

My sister has an LG counter depth model and her compressor just went out a week ago right after the warranty that came with it had expired and she lost everything food wise. Thankfully, Home Depot’s extended warranty was her saving grace and they responded pretty quick otherwise she’d be out fridge shopping as well.

I realize this is a little off topic, but she also just bought an LG stove and had to call for service on that (even before it’s first use) because it was leaking gas. When she called LG about it, she said that their customer service left a lot to be desired as well.

IMO when it comes to the appliances of today, that old saying, “they don’t make ‘em like they used to” rings very true. Between new energy efficient regulations and efforts to meet profit demands, I think there is going to be a bigger risk of problems regardless of the brand you choose. They may have been a waste of money before, but now the extended warranties are something to really consider.

I agree about LG not being very good. The circuit board had to be replaced after 3 years in my convection oven.

Kathsgrdn...I love my French door Samsung frig.....but it's not counter depth. It has ice in the lower drawer, not in the door. It's 4 years old now. Grey stainless steel is VERY pretty!

We have a white counter depth French door KitchenAid. Water dispenser inside the ‘fridge, ice maker in the freezer. The only sound we ever hear from it is when the water is refilling the ice maker, or if a door is left ajar and the warning beeper goes off. Tomorrow I can look up the model number and how much we paid. We got it maybe 5 years ago... No problems with it whatsoever.

That’s the first ‘fridge I’ve purchased since I bought a Sears Coldspot in July 1971. Only one repair ever on it, and it’s still going strong. I did have it re-enameled before moving into this house in 1990. It has an inside water dispenser, and ice maker is in the freezer. The freezer is on top on that one.

Nicole, we love our Samsung french door fridge as well. Ours has the ice in the lower drawer too as well as a simple water dispenser on the inside of the fridge. knocking on wood as I print this but we’ve had ours for about 10 years and never an isssue.

Sadly, I can’t say the same about our Samsung stove, it’s 3.5 years old and I’m not happy with the way the oven cooks at all. :c(

Lukki.....my Wolf convection oven is the BEST oven I've ever cooked in! The "L" series

That’s a purdy stove Nichole, you’re lucky, I would love to have a Wolf but our budget wasn’t big enough for it. I trusted that the Samsung stove would work just as well as our fridge does, but I guess stoves (ovens in particular) are not Samsung’s forte. Never again...

Lukki....got it used. I don't spend money if I can find it "like new".....I won't buy a used refrigerator tho....

Your compressor should last more than 11 years. Failures could be the thermostatic control or leaked refrigerant. The thermostat is the easiest part to replace; A refrigerant leak is had to find, and if that is the problem, its probably the best to apply the cost of repair toward a new refrigerator.

GE sold their appliance business to Haier in 2016. New GE appliances in stores today are GE in name only.

https://pressroom.geappliances.com/news/ge-completes-sale-of-appliances-business-to-haier

Actually although Haier owns GE most large GE appliances are still being manufactured in America. This is an interesting look at the company's history.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/cnainsider/how-china-fridge-factory-haier-prevailed-over-general-electric-10861934

Wow the brand names and changes have my head spinning. I remember from years ago (like the late 80's through maybe 10 years ago or so) that GE had really fallen in quality and I would never consider them. I see more recently that it seems to have a good name again. Other brands that were the old reliables are now brands I would stay away from (hello Kenmore but more for the shaky status of Sears).

I really do prefer to buy American made, but even that I don't know anymore what is what.

I think maybe I will start another thread to ask about this.

I was once a devotee of GE appliances, mainly because my parents owned a small-town appliance and furniture store when I was growing up. That is what we had always and of course when I married I could get a good deal on anything I needed. They sold the business when they were ready to retire, and of course we now know GE isn’t what it used to be, although some GE products are very good mid-range lines. Their stoves, from what I read, are still very good. Other appliances are about the same, and I think you have to do your research and not be stuck in the ‘suite of appliances’ mode to get the best fit or performance for your needs.

Unfortunately many ‘repair or replace’ studies have shown that the replacement time is much shorter than it used to be with large appliances, TVs, etc.

A year ago I purchased This GE French Door Counter Depth Refrigerator It's too soon to say how long it will last......but I like it....so far. I got the hot water dispenser, not the Keurig. My other GE frig. is 9 years old, not counter depth.