Saturday, December 15, 2012

Chill Factor

We're trying to decide on the fridge we're going to buy for the new house, and I'd really like to hear what everyone chose and why.  Especially those of you who are already moved in and using the fridge in question!  I know I've seen a lot of people going with Samsung, but I used to work in the TV repair business and that brand was a nightmare for getting things fixed or replaced...so I'm hesitant to buy a fridge from them.  Old bad blood, I guess.  Maybe I should just be over it by now?  :)

These are the top 10 rated french-door bottom-freezer water-dispenser refrigerators on Consumer Reports' website.  We need a black one, so a couple of these might not actually be an option for us.

LG LFX28991[ST]
Whirlpool Gold GX5FHTXV[Q]
Samsung RFG298HD[RS] (Lowe's)
Samsung RF323TEDB[SR]
Kenmore Elite 7106[2]
LG LFX28979[ST]
LG LFX31925[ST]
Kenmore Elite 7103[2]
Samsung RF266AE[WP]
Kenmore 7201[2]

Give me your thoughts, friends!  And as always, if you've done a post on it you can just post a link rather than repeat yourself.  ;)

17 comments:

  1. We got the samsung French Door Refrigerator
    RFG238AARS
    It's counter depth so it fits in the space nicely since we don't have that much space between where the fridge goes and the island. It's inside space is a little small, but so far works well ....if you bought the ge profile appliances , the fridge matches nicely with them.

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    1. My husband really wants the counter depth style...I'm concerned about there being not enough space. We all have different beverages we like to drink, I like to have a lot of fresh ingredients on hand for cooking and snacking, and since we can't really have a TALLER fridge, I worry that we would max out our space quickly. Is it just the two of you? I'm sure our boys will start eating us out of house and home very soon!

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    2. Yes..just the two of us and we were concerned if and when we have children it wouldn't be enough room either...but we have family coming in for this weekend and are feeding ten people ..so we shopped and thought it would never fit..but it did !! And it's pretty amazing lol! It doesn't look like there is a lot of room. ..but it has two huge drawers and then one slim flatter drawer that runs the whole width of the fridge and with the three drawers ..they fit sooo much!... The counter depth does look really nice too because it doesn't stick out so far!..the freezer also has lots of room.. We fit two frozen pizza..6 lbs chicken...20 frozen veggie bags...6 meats.. Three ice creams and variety of other things right now and it still has room!!....so far so good with this fridge! It's only been a month..I'm keeping my fingers crossed.. We don't have a water line yet so I can't comment on the water ice maker.

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  2. Start checking delivery options right away. We were checking Lowe's and HD today and the earliest delivery we could get was 12/28

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    1. Yes, we're keeping that in mind. We just took so long deciding our appliance game plan that now we have to live with what we can get! Our situation is complicated by the fact that we HAVE to have fridge/washer/dryer in our old house because we're renting it out, so it was a matter of figuring out whether to buy nice new for us or cheap new for them.

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  3. We have a black Kenmore Elite 7205. It's the same as the ones on the list above, only a little larger--31 cu ft. We like it so much that we decided to get it in stainless for the new house. The freezer is very roomy--with three separate drawers and a door that tilts and pulls out. We are a family of five and have yet to run out of space in the fridge...even at Thanksgiving. I highly recommend that you purchase a warranty on any fridge you buy. Those icemakers and high-tech in-door ice/water dispensers can have issues. We haven't had to use it on the Kenmore, but we did on the last GE refrigerator. Happy shopping!

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    1. That's a good tip, thanks! I have to say that most of the bad reviews I've seen have been about the ice maker more so than the actual fridge. Consumer Reports seems to back that up in their brand reliability chart.

      I just wish Kenmore was more than just at Sears...I don't think we can get no-interest financing at Sears. :(

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  4. We went with the Samsung French door refrigerator (Model RF4287HARS)... the reviews all seemed to be good and we caught it at a really good discount.

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    1. That one seems pretty popular! I'll definitely have to look at that one in a store, although I'm not sure how I feel about that extra drawer. I will have to ponder.

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    2. I would have preferred for the refrigerator to not have that extra drawer, but it had better reviews than one refrigerators without the drawer and I couldn't beat the $1300 off.

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  5. We went with the same Samsung with Apps as Maria (Building a Ryan Homes Avalon) who is using it with a family of 4-5 people and she raves highly about it and I can't wait to use it in our new home. We purchased the 4 year plan because as Ravenna120 mentioned the warranty will cover the new technology plus I intend to have our geeky uncle install the wifi to the fridge since he is an expert at IT. Here is what others had to say from my blog post about the refrigerator that they chose for their new home: http://ricknadase.blogspot.com/2012_09_01_archive.html

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    1. Thanks for the link! There's a lot of good info in those comments. I think I'd steer away from the Apps, too.

      http://ricknadase.blogspot.com/2012/09/which-refrigerator-did-you-buy-and-why.html

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  6. We ended up getting the LG LFX31925ST when HD had their Veteran's Day sale - the black friday price wasn't going to change, so we got it just in case they sold out on black friday. Their warranty can't be beat by Sears, Lowe's, etc. either. Here is how to get the most honest, unbiased opinion about appliances - go to Home Depot, talk to their sales person - HD is the only store that doesn't pay their employees based on commission. Sears will try to sell you the most expensive appliances they have, and will say they are the best, because that is how they make their money, same with Lowe's.

    I have been a Samsung shopper since the beginning, until my ex (who works at Lowe's) told me not to buy a Samsung fridge since they have had a lot of people complaining due to the ice maker leaking all over their floors. I just couldn't risk it with a new house. DH wanted a Samsung because he wanted the screen that would display words all over it, I told him to buy some post-it pads LOL

    I also liked that the LG didn't take up a lot of space in the fridge with the ice maker, it's in the door, so that creates more space where the milk and taller bottles would be stored. A lot of Kenmore fridges are made by LG. Ask the Sears guy to show you how to tell if it is an actual Kenmore or a LG.




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  7. We got the Whirlpool WRF989SDAM/WRF990SLAM (Lowe's, they're identical) and so far so good. They have some unique options outside of black / white / stainless. It's called black ice and white ice. Basically they put the stainless handles on the colored fridge. We picked it over some others because the normal depth and the door open depth was less than the Samsung models with comparable space and our distance between that and the island isn't that big. Good luck!

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  8. Hey! Like a couple of others we are going with the LG LFX31925ST. It has some pretty good reviews on several websites. I like several things about it. It has the door in door which means that when the boys want to grab a snack or we only need to get milk that we don't have to open te entire set of doors to do so. Also, I really like the 3 drawers plus the one larger one that it offers in the refrigerator portion. I am very conscious of food safety so this will enable me to keep my meats, poultry and cheese separated and still have a drawer for the fruits and veggies. I also really like the space in the freezer which has a separate pull out tray on top of the second drawer for things like flat pizza boxes. I don't know that the door in door model comes in counter depth though but the option without the door in door does (if I remember correctly!) When you are looking make sure you check on their price match guarantees. I think Both Lowes and HH Gregg will match te price and take an extra 10% off. But Lowes does not carry LG. Good luck!

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  9. We went looking around at fridges today, and I'm tending toward Kenmore also. FWIW... Kenmore is a brand of LG, so it's got the same behind-the-scene parts. I like the grab-n-go model, the double freezer model, and the next one down that is like the grab-n-go too. The main characteristics that speak to me are:

    - Icemaker is in the door, takes up little space, and is easy to pull out for access to all of it (good for mixing drinks, or making extra for parties)
    - The bottom drawer in the top section actually opens all of the way without the doors getting in the way
    - LED lighting is HOT
    - Double tray slides (for tall containers)
    - Two crispers, not three (three we decided was a waste of space)
    - Sleek brushed steal control panel
    - Love the door handle design

    Also, I am not one to ever buy extended warranties, but I just might get the "protection plan" with Sears for a refrigerator. After reading about people's fridge failing and the horror of getting it fixed (or not fixed) dealing with run-arounds and what not, it doesn't seem too bad. I couldn't go without a refrigerator for even a couple days (doomsday scenario or camping excluded), so Sears + Kenmore looks like my best deal. Also, currently they are having a 15% off buy with Sears card. I can't open up a line of credit w/o jeopardizing my deal with NVR, but if you know someone with a Sears card you could borrow theirs to get the deal.

    Good luck!

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