Our old fridge is on its last legs, and our home warranty company has given us about $1700 towards the purchase of a new one.
By spending an additional $1000-$1500 or so, we can get a really good one.
However, that begs the question as to what “really good” means. The online reviews are truly all over the place, and some brands/models which are rated very highly by some sites are trashed by others. I have the most recent Consumer Reports fridge buying guide, and it picks LG for the tops in French door refrigerators. The problem is that many other sites slam LG. Aaargh!
So, we remain confused. We don’t need super-fancy stuff like wi-fi and display screens and don’t necessarily need an external water/ice-dispenser given that this appears to be a vulnerability for break-downs.
Does anyone have any thoughts as to a solid brand that has low repair incidence and works well? Alternatively, if there is any such thing as a definitive trustworthy site for fridge reviews that would be greatly appreciated.
All french door refrigerators have a fatal design flaw - the french door. Where the two doors meet is by design a weak point, with frequent failure of the door seals.
Consider instead a large bottom freezer single door refrigerator/freezer. There’s a top-rated 22 cubic ft Whirlpool at Lowes that’s $1700. You can even get a HUGE 25.5 cu ft LG for the same price, but I’m under the impression that LG is not as reliable. Our 20 yr old enormous GE bottom freezer refrigerator is still going strong - best refrigerator we’ve ever bought.
Thanks very much for this, @parentologist . We’ve never had a French door fridge, but my wife has her heart set on one.
I’ve researched this a bit, and, apparently, French door fridges are the best-selling configuration, or so I thought I read.
One question on the French door seals that displays my ignorance: why is the seal issue any worse on a French door unit than on a side-by-side unit?
Also, I am curious about your view on LG. I had commonly heard that LG and Samsung were not reliable, but the Consumer Reports buying guide surprised me by rating 34 inch and wider French Door LGs as the best. Any guidance on where to rule in or rule out brands?
Also, we need a counter-depth unit, which limits our choice.
We have a french door fridge and we will be replacing it whenever what we order actually comes in.
A couple of things to remember…appliances aren’t made like the old ones…they last about 7 years give or take.
@parentologist in our case, that large door of a bottom fridge not French door won’t fit to open where we place our counter depth fridge. The French doors are half the depth when open. So that is what we will get. The only other option for us is a side by side, but I do not like the narrowness of the fridge area.
@mynameiswhatever we have narrowed our choices to Kitchen Aid, and Whirlpool. We need counter depth, 36 inches wide, 72 inches or less tall. We don’t want a through the door water and ice dispenser.
I was afraid that counter depth was the issue. The problem with the French door is that there is no sturdy, fixed central pillar to hold the other side of the seal. Instead, the two seals meet with no strong fixed base, so they are a weak point, prone to failure. At least this is what my spouse and I found out when we researched French door fridges maybe about 15 years ago, which is I think when we bought that behemoth of a GE bottom freezer, USED! And it’s still going strong. I think it’s a Profile line. Our Amana/Whirlpool and Kenmore giant bottom-freezer fridges each lasted less than ten years, maybe as few as 7.
I have had this one since January after a pretty long delay after the order last September. So far, so good. I like the cleaner look of the interior dispenser and the full-width drawer for meat, fish and deli stuff. We replaced a big bottom freezer with a single door that was too wide and kept banging into the counter. This fits and works so much better. The capacity of the other was bigger since it was not counter depth but it ended up being fine, although I wish the freezer held a bit more ice cream…
I have a 22 cubic foot french door refrigerator and I think of it as small. It was in our house when we bought it and I despise it with every fiber of my being. We can’t get a bigger one, because it is counter depth (hence the 22 cubic ft). My kid has a 25 cubic foot which i think of as average. Theirs is noticeably more convenient storage wise. We are remodeling our house soon and I will be opting for a 28 cubic ft, which fits my description of huge. Its the same width and height as some smaller ones, but a 3 inches deeper, so we will have the right space for it planned, so it does not stick out too far.
LG gets a bad wrap because apparently its hard to get parts and factory repairs done. After a lot of research, I recently bought an LG washer and dryer, and got Best Buy’s extended warranty with it. They will then be the one’s to hassle with the repairs should we need them.
As an aside, we got the w/d new at a Best Buy outlet…scratch and dent models…and the price was 40% of the Costco and Best Buy price that day. The damage sides are unnoticeable installed. If you have a BB outlet, you might check there. Ours has a ton of refrigerators. And you don’t have to order and wait months to get one. Also, Best Buy was negotiable on the 3 year extended warranty.
Good heavens! 7 years? Wow…the one we are replacing is at least 17 years old (Jenn-Air) and we were told by a technician that it could easily last another 15 years. The problem is that the parts are hard to come by. Maybe we should just fix it? I didn’t think that appliance life had sunk to this low level!
I know what parentologist is talking about in terms of the middle where the doors meet. I was expecting one side to flap open when you closed the other side. Ours has a rigid, hinged panel on the left door that clicks into a groove at the top, while it is closing, to hold it closed and the right door closes over the outside of the panel. There is a gasket around the top, bottom, and outsides of the doors but the inside doesn’t have that.
I love our french door fridge. We have a Bosch 800 series. I think it’s a 21 cu. ft. I got it without the water dispenser because it took up too much space.
That said, the freezer capacity is small. I have a second fridge/freezer in the basement. Without it I don’t think it would work for us.
We are looking at the Bosch 800 series for sure. The thing is that I cannot find any really good reviews for it, except at big box stores like HD, Best Buy, and Lowes. It doesn’t seem to be reviewed much.
I am also not sure whether I like the idea of two compressors. That’s just one more thing to go wrong.
But, thanks so much for this, as this is definitely one we are looking at.
I have the same Kitchenaid as @helpingmom40 or maybe an older model as mine is 4 years old. So far, no issues, but like others have mentioned, the french door fridge has limited freezer space. As we are in a townhome without room in the garage for another freezer, I have to be selective about what I want in there!
My SIL has the same identical fridge in the Bosch; the only difference is some trim work, otherwise you can not tell them apart!
We just took delivery today of a new side by side LG.
We had a French door from IKEA (which I think was made by Whirlpool). It lasted about 12 years, but we probably should have replaced it sooner. The freezer on the bottom would freeze up and then the air couldn’t get up to cool the fridge part. We’d have to take a hair dryer to the vents in the freezer to thaw it and then it would leak on the floor. The french doors were fine and no problem at all. It was the freezer that was the fatal flaw for that one.
I recommend Kitchenaid French door. I e had 2 over the last 30 years. I personally prefer counter depth because I cannot stand refrigerators that stick out from the cabinetry. Unless you have a special built on side panel system for the refrigerator or design the cabinetry so that a full size looks built into the cabinet properly
I have a kenmore French door refrigerator that I think is 5 years old now. I love the look of this refrigerator, I really do.
But the seal on the door has broken. There is a correct way to open the door and you must open the right side before the left. When we first got it, you couldn’t open the left side without opening the right. After time the seals broke down and now aren’t working great. It’s still staying cold and I haven’t noticed my electricity bill going up.
Additionally, the drawer on the freezer isn’t pulling out as well as it it when new. Some of the plastic gears which slide out are not as smooth. It still works though.
I do not have ice in the door. It was an extra $1000 and I decided I was happy to get my own ice and water. My mil has ice and water in hers and has already had it repaired even though she got her French Door after I did.
Saying all that, I don’t know what else I would have bought. I love the look and it does update your kitchen. Maybe if I could put a very fancy sub zero or something like that.
I have a kitchenaid built-in, counter depth, side-by-side and it’s lasted longer than I expected it too (going on close to 20 years). I like the look of the French door, and the fact that at least some have a drawer as wide as the entire thing so you can put bigger things in it. We’ve been happy with all of our Kitchen-aid appliances, even the dishwasher that caught on fire (yes, that really happened).
Unfortunately for us, built in refrigerators cost a ridiculous amount. When ours dies we will likely go with whatever “name” brand built-in is on sale and will look OK in our kitchen, with preference given to KA if price is close. (I have a guy at the scratch and dent place keeping an eye out for one for me now).
I did notice that they have some counter depth fridges at Costco, if that helps. I think one was Kitchen Aid.
I love everything about my 8 year old counter depth Jenn-Air French door refrigerator. I especially like the wide drawer. We have ice and water in the door. It takes up some interior room but it’s not like we have six people living here. The size of the refrigerator is entirely adequate. And it’s good looking with cross hatched design on the handles.
We have an LG French door fridge and I love it. In-door ice and water, two-half width drawers and one full-width. Counter-depth. Ice in the freezer as well.
It replaced a GE profile side-by-side that I loathed. Always limited to small pans and storage because the shelves were so narrow.
Our second home has a Jenn-Air FD, probably the same one another poster has, probably 8-10 years old, with the textured handles. Still works great.
We were fortunate to have to buy pre-pandemic as refrigerators were hard to come by. Maybe still are.