This 7 yr old refrigerator/freezer suddenly stopped cooling. The fan runs constantly and the lights are on in the unit. Since I don't hear the compressor does this mean it is shot? Hoping someone out there has an answer. We use this fridge as a beer/soft drink fridge in the basement. Thanks

5 years old? My Kenmore is 12 years old and going strong. And I gave away the older kenmore to a friend as a beer fridge 12 years ago (it was 'old' then) and it ran fine in his garage until last spring. But neither had ice makers, which are the first thing to go.

Thanks everyone definitely some food for thought. I will say that our handle on our FD freezer is loose b/c of how full it gets and how much we use it. Our fridge part has never been close to overflowing. I do love the french door fridge part. It's the freezer part driving me crazy. I went to look at them today, big mistake of taking my 2.5 year old. She loved how her sneakers made a noise and echoed when she ran around, which led her to becoming a maniac and sprinting around the large warehouse and screaming every time I picked her up b/c she wanted to make the noise. So embarrassing, she is usually fairly well behaved. So we had to cut the trip short as I carried my screaming child out, again so embarrassing. They did have the DCS range and refrigerator out. I ordered the DCS a while back when they had a great deal going so it was nice to see in person. The stainless is definitely a bit different so it probably makes sense to order the fridge in the same stainless (nothing like ordering appliances based on appearance). The have a sxs in our budget, the FD exceeds it. It is one of the few SxS that does not have water/ice in the door (what I prefer). Pretty sure we are going to do that. It was so nice to hear how many people hated the sxs because a lot of the reasons will not pertain to us or can be solved thought still will miss the FD fridge. My kid is still young so we don't really eat that much frozen pizza, when she gets bigger she can make a trip to the basement to pull it out of the freezer, LOL. As for tray storage/sheet cakes we will just have go into the basement and use the fridge down there. It seems like there is no perfect solution (other than a 48" one haha). If we hate it, it easy enough to switch out in a few years....

I have a much older ge side by side with probably that same plastic panel in the back of the freezer compartment. A few years ago I got tired of that buzzing sound every time something hit into that shield, so I wedged in a piece of styrofoam, just at the bottom edge, so that the shield couldn't be forced back. I might have glued it at the time, but I don't remember. The fridge is about 18 years old, and otherwise works perfectly. Hope yours lasts as long.