Hello all, My wife and I ordered a Maytag Ice2O FD fridge a month or so ago (for a very good price), but were never really thrilled with how the fridge looked - don't like the appearance of the ice/water dispenser. What we did like was the freezer drawers. We loved that the drawers are not wire baskets, and that they both come out when the freezer is opened. After hearing of many problems with the circuit boards on the Ice2O, we diceided to look into other brands. As our other appliances will be mostly GE, we were looking at some GE FD fridges. The PFSS6PKWSS seemed to be the best of the bunch, including the new models with 2 separate freezer drawers. We noticed that on some of the fridges, the deli drawer smacks right into the french doors if the doors are not completely open (which we will not be able to do due to a wall on one side of the fridge). The PFSS6PKWSS has a deli drawer that opens up with the french doors open 90 degrees, but my wife was upset that the shelves did not pull forward like on the Ice2O. We knew that Samsung makes the PFSS6PKWSS for GE, and found the Samsung RF267AARS at a Best Buy to look at. We verified that the interiors are exactly the same, except for clear plastic bins on the french doors (they are white on the GE). After pretty much deciding to stick with the Ice2O because of the pull-out shelves, we happened to tug on one of the Samsung fridge shelves and voila! It slid forward, a few inches farther than the Ice2O shelves even! I think we have decided to go ahead and cancel our Ice2O order, and go with the Samsung RF267AARS. So, you Samsung owners out there, how have the fridges been working, how quiet are they, and do you had any complaints about them? Thanks for any replies.

I have a Kenmore SS fridge, made by Whirlpool. It's three years old and has never even flinched at us. We chose it because it was ginormous and has a very bright interior. While looking at some models, you could tell that you'd need a flash light if you put any food in there. I just bought my home and it came with the original 1982 Jenn-Air drop-in range / oven. I don't care for the down-draft ventilation at all. Whoever thought that up was an oaf. Functionally, after 25 years, it's "fair". There's one thing that should be mentioned: "Brand" is no guarantee of quality or reliability anymore. (And you asked about reliability). Most manufacturers contract out the manufacture of their parts, so Company A in China makes the leaded water lines for your fridge and Company B makes the valves for the gas stove. Someone else puts them all together and calls them the brand of the day. The Brands merely "spec" the parts and the manufacturers produce to specs. And if the CEO wants a bigger bonus, they can allow lower-quality plastics, etc, in the middle of a production run. What a Brand does get you is specific kinds of service and support. Bosch may jump all over the chance to wow you on the rebound of a problem, yet the Jenn-Air group may not.

Are you still working on this? I have questions about more than the fridge. This is an awkward layout and there is enough space there that I think you must have better options. Have you looked at moving the dining room entry to the right? Shifting an opening is not a huge ordeal, even if that is a load bearing wall (not sure if it is but someone mentioned the possibility in an earlier post). I'll try to post something mocked up best my crude skills allow here. As I have it, I think that would be a 36" fridge and there is a pinch point. I'm not sure of the depth there, but with a counter depth, an 18" DW or some other tweaks with proper measurements, I think you could improve the function of the space. On the dining room side, any crown would remain or be replaced above the opening and a good contractor should be able to adjust the baseboards. Keep working the plan until you get the kinks out. I lived with two horrible kitchens (we're talking 2 burners and they aren't flat or heat that well, dying ovens, DW tiled in and praying it wouldn't die -- even though it was so loud I hated to run it) for ten years between the two of them until I was able to do my kitchen. I learned a lot along the way and had time to explore outside the box ideas, come back and go off in different directions. All that exploration really paid off in the end, and I plan to use it long enough to make up for any delays. Anyway, here's one rough idea in case you hadn't though of it.

It really is ALL about your cooking style, and how you think that might evolve over time - and when the very hungry teenager turn into their own visiting hungry families. We are only a fam of four - two younger kids, with a 36" range top, dual 30" ovens, and FD CD fridge. The CD FD fridge is fine but the freezer is too limited so we picked up a small upright freezer (it was an inexpensive 11 cubic Fridgidair) for the basement that is perfect for our needs. I hear many say that dual ovens is mostly a waste but we use the heck out of our dual convection ovens - mostly every weekend and heavily often. My one kitchen do-over would be to get a 48" BS range top with grill and 6 burners instead of just my 36" BS 6 burner range top. I don't do much griddleing and have a large all-clad electric I pull out when I do. But that's just a preference thing.