I did the research for a full depth French door fridge--what I learned

10 months ago

My not quite 5 year old, top of the LG line fridge just failed--even replacing the compressor didn't fix it, and it didn't last another week after getting the new compressor. I already knew to stay away from Samsung, and now LG was added to my "don't even look at the brand" list. I needed a replacement that would fit a cutout for a 36" wide, standard depth fridge, and I didn't have the height for the new fancier fridges that require at least 72". The LG fridge that's being replaced is a french door that has all the bells and whistles, but I decided that I would be willing to forego some of those items if I could get a durable and reliable fridge.

I spend more hours than I care to admit online reading all sorts of info about fridges, reading buyers' reviews of lots of different fridges, and reading professional reviews from places like the Wirecutter and Reviewed. I also made lots of in-person visits to local independent stores, the big box stores, and outlet stores. I personally looked at a lot of fridges as I continued to narrow my choices down.

The Wirecutter now focuses on brand dependability overall rather than specific models, and I think this is a good approach. First of all, there is no brand/model without bad reviews and problems. The guy at the Best Buy outlet store (who sees all of the rejects/returns they get) said quality has gotten worse since the pandemic, and there is a lot of slipshod work. Speaking of the pandemic, there is still an appliance shortage due to that. Some of the models I might have considered won't be available for 3 months.

Model numbers are also continuously changing slightly. Today I called Kitchenaid to ask what the difference is between 2 models that seem basically identical to me. Their rep told me that they are exactly the same model except for the interior color of trim, so they changed the model number when the one with the new trim color was released two years after the other.

This is what I gleaned about the fridges of average consumer brands from my research, but what you hear might be different:

Samsung and LG have bad reliability, and some stores won't even carry the brands because many tech people won't work on them for warranty or other repairs. Getting parts in a timely manner can also be a huge problem. One salesguy told me that these 2 brands typically are at the forefront of introducing new features, and that can be one reason for all of the service issues. When you introduce new things, often they weren't quite ready for the market yet.

Because of their reputations for compressor failure and other problems, these 2 brands have the longest sealed system and compressor warrantees--10 years.

The Wirecutter says Frigidaire typically has lower customer satisfaction than other brands.

Several salespeople told me they own Café fridges because they are sturdy and attractive with nice features. GE is also the only major brand that has its own dedicated repairmen. GE, also the manufacturer of GE Profile and Café, gets mixed reviews on reliability. These brands were sold to Haier, a Chinese manufacturer, several years ago. Some sources say these fridges are quite reliable, and others question their reliability. I was also told that some people don't recommend them right now because many make knocking noises, and when service is called, purchasers are told that this is normal. Profile and Café are basically the same carcass with differing fit and finish; they are also better quality than standard GE models.

Whirlpool, Kitchen Aid and Jenn Aire (in order from more basic brand to more upscale) are all the same manufacturer. They are quite reliable brands, but you will get more mileage out of their higher end lines than the Whirlpool. Many of these are manufactured in the US.

Bosch is more of a brand that is between the standard consumer fridges (the ones I looked at) and the luxury models (the ones I didn't look at.) Cafe, Profile, Jennair and KA would also be close to Bosch in contention for more upscale type appliances that don't cost a small fortune like some of the more luxury and niche brands.

We all have our own priorities, need, space, budget, and desires when shopping for a fridge. I wanted a dependable fridge that is somewhat more upscale without being hugely expensive, so after learning about the various brands, I most seriously looked at Café, Profile, Kitchen Aid and Bosch models. I ended up buying a Bosch 500 model which is the one that will fit as a replacement in the more standard openings. We'll see how it performs.....

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julieste
Original Author

8 months ago

To the skeptics who don't quite think I am telling the whole story or who think I am unduly biased: I came home from being out of town to a 50+ degree fridge with the entire freezer compartment thawed. I did some basic research and found realms of online stories about LG's well-known compressor problems and subsequent settlement. I knew it had to be the compressor. I called LG and they put me through self-diagnostic tests before agreeing to send out a repairman. Then, of course, it was a wait to even be able to schedule an appointment.

The repairman came out, took one look, and declared this a compressor problem. He installed one of the new compressors and I patiently waited for the fridge to properly cool down. Within days it became apparent that the fridge still couldn't maintain an appropriate or stable temperature (I was using a fridge thermometer to monitor temps). I called back and again had to wait to get another appointment. The repairman came back and injected refrigerant telling me that sometimes when a new compressor is installed there is a small kink or plug in a hose that needs to be corrected/unblocked. I again waited a bit, giving the fridge time to reach proper temps in both compartments. It never happened. Freezer above 32, fridge in the 50 to 54 degree range. Much more back and forth with LG!

I bought a new fridge.

(And, the fridge prior to this LG had also been a french door LG. We finally replaced that one because we were sick of the monthly process where we had to disassemble the thing and chip out the 1" thick layer of ice that had developed near the freezer section due to a drainage line that wouldn't remain clear without us manually taking care of it. When we went fridge shopping that time, we told ourselves we wouldn't buy another LG. But, we were dazzled by all of the fancy features on the LG line and fell for them again. I wasn't going to do that this time around.)

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Comments (16)

wdccruise
10 months ago
"Profile and Café are basically the same carcass with differing fit and finish; they are also better quality than standard GE models."

"Whirlpool, Kitchen Aid and Jenn Aire...are all the same manufacturer. They are quite reliable brands, but you will get more mileage out of their higher end lines than the Whirlpool."

You have provided no data that demonstrate that either of these statements is true. The following, for example, have identical specifications and differ only in appearance.
- Whirlpool WRF954CIHZ ($2970)
- KitchenAid KRFC704FPS ($3700)
- Jenn-Air JFFCC72EHL ($5700)
julieste
Original Author
10 months ago
This is what I gleaned about the fridges of average consumer brands from my research, but what you hear might be different:

@wdccruise Perhaps you missed the above statement in my post. Do I really need to provide a list of works cited? All I offered is a summation of what I learned in my research.

And, you know as well as I do that differences in appearance between a manufacturer's low end to high end models can include cheaper, lower quality materials to finish off the appliance, with better finishing materials on the higher end line (think basic wire mesh freezer bins like some I saw on some Whirlpool models vs the heavier, specialized, divided freezer bins on the KA models.)
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wdccruise
10 months ago
"...differences in appearance between a manufacturer's low end to high end models can include cheaper, lower quality materials to finish off the appliance."

If you have data that demonstrate significant differences among the three Whirlpool Corp. appliances linked above, please provide them.

" basic wire mesh freezer bins like some I saw on some Whirlpool models vs the heavier, specialized, divided freezer bins on the KA models."

Earlier you wrote, "you will get more mileage out of their higher end lines [KitchenAid and Jenn-Air] than the Whirlpool." Divided freezer bins has nothing to do with "more mileage". You are confusing features with greater reliability and longer life. You wrote, "Several salespeople told me they own Café fridges because they are sturdy and attractive with nice features." That's not research.
Louise Smith
10 months ago
julieste: Thank you for giving us your opinion based on your reading and conversations with various people. It's always helpful to have someone else's insight. I too have a Bosch refrigerator, although I have the 800 model with no exterior water or ice.
3katz4me
10 months ago
Good luck with the Bosch. Like you say, every brand has some bad reviews. I did similar to what you describe about seven years ago when I needed to buy a new fridge. I chose LG - so far so good. These days I figure we're lucky if an appliance lasts ten years. Unfortuately my wonderful Bosch dishwasher croaked recently (also seven years old) but $500 and five visits by the appliance repair person got it running again. I seriously considered just buying a new one but they no longer make a model like the one I have and in spite of the failure there wasn't another brand I'd consider. Had very pricey Miele in the past and that was a big disappointment.
ellaphant
8 months ago
last modified: 8 months ago
Julieste's summary fits with what I found independently. In case someone is looking for this information going forward, I'd also add that KitchenAid, GE Profile and Cafe have some standard depth models with dual cooling systems. Other brands have left that market (Bosch discontinued the 800 series full depth refrigerator), and I didn't find anything considered premium in this market segment.
Brett
8 months ago
It's interesting that you did all this research because of your 5-year-old LG refrigerator problems, but didn't happen to read about the LG class action settlement regarding said refrigerators. Per the Yale Appliance blog:

"In 2019, they settled a class-action lawsuit based on their new linear compressor not cooling.

Theoretically, the linear compressor should be more reliable because of fewer working parts and strike points.

Give them credit for improving the design and not starting over."

https://blog.yaleappliance.com/most-reliable-counter-depth-french-door-refrigerators

Yale Appliances is a high volume appliance retailer and servicer in Boston and they keep statistics on service calls (which is why I regard them as a reliable source on appliance quality). LG is 2nd most reliable brand in 2023.
julieste
Original Author
8 months ago
@Brett

Perhaps you didn't notice how I started out this posting. " My not quite 5 year old, top of the LG line fridge just failed--even replacing the compressor didn't fix it, and it didn't last another week after getting the new compressor." They put in one of the new compressors; it still didn't fix the problem.

Although I eventually did get some money from LG for the defective fridge, I spent several months dealing with their customer service department trying to get this resolved. No way would I put myself in the position of potentially having to deal with them again.
wdccruise
8 months ago
"My not quite 5 year old, top of the LG line fridge just failed--even replacing the compressor didn't fix it, and it didn't last another week after getting the new compressor." They put in one of the new compressors; it still didn't fix the problem."

You say LG replaced the compressor but "it didn't last another week" implying that the replacement did fix the (undisclosed) problem for a while. But then you repeat that it didn't fix the (undisclosed) problem but it's unclear whether the problem reoccurred after a week or was never solved, and whether the (undisclosed) problem has anything to do with the compressor at all.
blubird
8 months ago
I'm not julieste, but I could have written the same story. I have a home warranty who sent a repair person, who, just like julieste's, looked at the fridge and declared it was a compressor problem.

Fast forward through a lot of repair company nonsense (not the home warranty, they were wonderful) and repair person comes to install new compressor. he spent a lot of time welding, filing, welding, and filing. he then declared we should be working fine and should stabilize temps within 24 hours. . I was skeptical because of what I was hearing, but OK After an hour or so and the fridge temp was still a balmy 78 and i knew that it was still dead, so I put in another call to the repair company. I also called in and paid for another repair person to come and look and the first thing he said was was, “Oh, my god, what a mess.“ I didn't want him to fix it, just to confirm what I thought.

A week or so later, boss of the first appliance repair place comes and takes a look and I could tell by his face the repair guy messed up. Now maybe if the repair guy was competent, the fridge might have been fixed, but I had already read about the horror stories of the failed replaced compressors. I did receive a very generous cash settlement from the home warranty company and bought a GE.

In my research I had found that LG along with several other brands are still using that style linear compressor with high failure rates, as it was explained to me by 2 repair persons and several appliance retailers. So julieste is certainly not alone.
julieste thanked blubird
tracie_erin
8 months ago
Thank you for the breakdown. It aligns with my own research and experience. We replaced a Samsung fridge a few years ago with a Whirlpool and have been very happy with it.
Brett
8 months ago
@julieste Are you positive it was one of the new (i.e., post-redesign) compressors or a "new" compressor (i.e. specified replacement part for your model of LG refrigerator that was still the old design compressor)? It isn't clear if you asked that question of the technician doing the replacement and then if the tech gave a definitive answer.

We ran into a similar problem with our top of the line Jenn-Air double wall oven. If the electronics got too hot (like when you ran the cleaning cycle on the oven, LOL), the board would burn out (a $900 part). We went through a couple of those under warranty, and then, Jenn-Air support informs us they had redesigned the part and sent us the new one for our local service person to install (part # wasn't even listed in their system). That seems to have solved the problem. Hilariously, then then sent us another one (left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing), so now we have a spare.
julieste
Original Author
8 months ago
@brett

The repair guy actually had several new compressors in his truck because he was one of the very, very few LG authorized repair people in the large metro area I live in. He replaced so many of these that he just carried them all of the time rather than having to wait to order one. LG told me that this was the repair service they used when fridges have compressor issues.

He told me that he hadn't had any problems/issues with these new replacement compressors. That leads me to believe that he installed the new version in my fridge. Maybe I was just unlucky and got the random bad new compressor.

My experience also was that there aren't many repair people who are willing to service LG fridges, and their numbers are diminishing.
Fori
8 months ago
Yikes. Thanks for the reports! I'm just glad someone is still making full-depth fridges! I feel like my 25-year old KA is living on borrowed time. Family members with the exact same fridge as mine in a Whirlpool model have finally had to replace theirs this year.
3katz4me
8 months ago
This is tangential and not directly fridge related but I thought about it today with the dehumidifier recall. I bought two dehumidifiers - exactly the same brand/model. One croaked a little after the one-year warranty period. I expected the second one to drop dead any day after that. It's now been about five years and the second one is still going strong. I don't understand why this happens but perhaps parts are different, assembly slightly off-kilter - who knows. Whatever it is, I think it's what leads to some people having a great experience with a particular brand and others having a horrible experience. You can do all the research you want but every brand has problems and you have no way of knowing if you're going to get one of the problems or not - kind of like my Bosch dishwasher. Great brand for dishwashers - I never expected to need a major repair before any of the other appliances I bought at the same time.

I did the research for a full depth French door fridge--what I learned

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I did the research for a full depth French door fridge--what I learned

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