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Refrigerators and more: SubZero? Dacor? Others?

last year

last modified: last year

I'm getting ready to commit to appliances for what I hope will be a long-lasting kitchen renovation!

In my hunt for a "true counter-depth" 36 inch French door refrigerator, my salesperson guided me to Dacor and Subzero for both refrigeration and cooking. I was about to commit to Dacor, partially due to price and a current 10% off promo, but then I read lots of worrisome reviews online.

And so I wonder, is the investment worth it to commit to SZ/Wolf? In the end, their fridge, range top, wall and speed oven will run me close to $10,000 more than Dacor. Should I consider Wolf for cooking and a different brand for the fridge -- or is the SZ product unbelievably head and shoulders above the rest?

I am total novice at this and would love to hear your voices of reason! Also, is there another brand, preferably American, that I'm failing to consider?

Comments (8)

Kim G
last year
last modified: last year
I love my subzero. It is very pricey but it has been an ecellent fridge/frieezer. I have a 36” fridge and 30” freezer. I just got home from a 2 week trip and the produce that was in there is still viable. It was there likely a week or so before we left. I did Miele ovens (wall/CSO/Speed) due to the chipping issue of Wolf. I have a wolf induction cooktop that has been geat. I am 7+ years into use on all. I am not familiar with current Dacor so I can’t comment on the compare. Different level of appliances and obviously price point.
Cq Bk
Original Author
last year
Thanks, Kim! Can you explain the chipping issue?
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I could certainly be wrong but from the sound of your post you sound like someone who has "aspired" to have a SubZero fridge not necessarily for a functional reason but to have the brand. It sounds as if you're going all out - two Miele dishwashers, etc. - so why not just go for the SZ? If you think about all the people who have been keeping their food chilled without investing in SZ, there has to be something people "value" about SZ other than it's functional ability to keep food chilled or frozen that would make them pay the premimum price. Could be appearance, appeal of saying you have the brand, etc. In any case if you want one and want to spend the $ go for it. It seems you can count on repairs with any brand these days - kind of like luxury auto brands. Just because you spend alot doesn't mean it will be trouble free.
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I've had a KA for a little over three years and I've been happy with it so far. I had nothing any more upscale than a basic Whirlpool fridge prior to this - Whirlpool brands have served me well - so this was more than adequate for me. Some good friends needed several repairs on their relatively new SZ fridge and went out of their way to recommend I not get one. Obviously lots of people are delighted with SZ but since people I actually know were not, that did influence my decision. I did want a built in with cabinet panels and KA was outrageously expensive enough - no way I was going to pay thousands more than that. For that I would expect flawless performance for at least 15 years and I just don't think they make appliances that way any more. What might have been great quality 20-30 years ago I really don't think is the same these days - SZ or otherwise.
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All I can say is, in our former home, a small ranch with a small kitchen (no eat-in area), we were young, with a very young child and on a very tight budget. The one thing I insisted on, when we could finally afford to make changes to the ancient kitchen, was a SZ fridge. We put in Formica counters, vynil floor, and a very basic range, with microwave above. The splurge, the one diamond in the room, payed us back many times over. During Hurricane Sandy, our neighborhood was without power for two weeks. All of our neighbors had to discard their food within 2 days. Our Sub Zero was still cold 10 days later. Even the ice was still firm! Why? Because SZ has the best insulated fridges in the business. In other words, I would pinch pennies everyplace else, in order to get a SZ. Btw, that old SZ was from 1990.
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I was looking ar Dacor Fridge. My research on Houzz, and other reviews leads me to a definite No.
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Kim G
last year
Just put Wolf Chipping in the Houzz discussions search bar - you will see multiple threads. Lawsuit filed with Wolf in 2015. I am sure you can also do a google search on the same topic and get many hits.
dan1888
last year
SZ for refrigeration is a good choice. I would choose the other appliances based on individual quality.
theotherjaye
last year
last modified: last year
We went with Sub Zero in our new house. Everything I’ve read indicates that it does a far, far better job of keeping food that pretty much anything else. I’ll second the ”chose on individual quality” approach for appliances. We wound up with Bosch for our induction cooktop and dishwasher (same models we had in our last house, actually) and Thermador for a double steam oven. I’ve heard not good things about Dacor and repairs - looked closely at their double steam oven as well, but the repair issue looked like a problem.
Helen
last year
If this is a high end home that you intend to live in for awhile then get Subzero. I don't think any other high end refrigerator is close to them in terms of both actual quality and reliablity PLUS resale in the event you actually have to move.

With the other appliances I would get whatever one is rated the best in the individual category. As I recall the Wolf ovens are problematic so you might want to rethink those.
PRO
Jeffrey R. Grenz, General Contractor
last year
Our Subzero refrigerator & freezer experiences over 30 years have been unblemished.
HU-256033398
9 months ago
You will want to compare the features and sizes between appliances besides the prices. We chose a Dacor built in fridge versus Thermidor or SZ because it had 1 to 2 more cubic feet of interior space, was less deep at 25" so is flush with our counters, had built-in water, did not have a separate detraxcting top panel (full door panels top to bottom), and on sale was almost half the price of the others at Best Buy. And if you sign up for Total Tech at Best Buy, you can actually extend the service warrany for up to 7 yesrs. No problems so far in the fisrt year. Good luck!

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