Refrigerator brands and longevity


 

JKalchik

TVWBB Gold Member
Well, I spoke too soon a year or two ago.... The Samsung french door refrigerator we bought 5 years is officially on it's way out the door, due to Samsung's designs and design failures. Short story is that the icemaker is still frosting over, and the refrigerator compartment circulation fan is getting bound up by frost. Samsung customer service made noises about making good on it, but when push came to shove, it was too bad so sad. We've already spent 15-20% of the original purchase price, I'm not sinking one more thin dime into it, it looks like at least that much more in current repairs and I'd still have a <BEEEP> <BEEEP> <BEEEP>.

So, time for a replacement. Looking at Bosch, Whirlpool/Kitchenaid (pretty sure those come off the same line,) what else should I be looking at? Maytag (same as Whirlpool?) LG.... sounds like there's a significant issue with their compressors.

Counter depth french door, no ice or water through the door (interior dispensers would probably be fine.) There's an interference with the island to be worried about and it can't be more than counter depth.
 
Sorry to hear you had issues with your French door Samsung. That's what we have and it's been rolling for about 8 years now.

Before this I had a fridgedaire side by side. That thing was a tank and ran flawless and without a single maintenance issue for about 11 years. I sold my house and it stayed with it. Now, the one thing about the fridgedaire is that they are notorious for loud compressors, but I got used to it. Some people have complained about it, though.
 
Seems like the standard specification now is for major appliances to last 5-7 years. Just past the extended warranty and parts availability.
 
Whirlpool makes these brands

Major Brands

Now days most of this stuff seems disposable and does not last. Even had a dishwasher caught fire (Whirlpool). I do have a Kenmore upright freezer that has been running for 30 years.
 
I just bought a Whirlpool side-by-side, that is replacing a Whirlpool side-by-side that ran for 19 years and is now running in the garage. Only problems in 19 years was with the ice maker and I became pretty good at making those repairs.

Fella who delivered the new Whirlpool, said I might get 9 or 10 years from this new one, that they don't build them as they once did. It does have the feel of being more cheaply made.

But also, I stay away from bells and whistles. I don't need wifi on my refrigerator. Or some stupid app that doesn't ever work. Or some new French design that is just a marketing ploy. I like to keep it simple.

I do think this new fridge will be more energy efficient.

And this is my third Whirlpool, I bought my first one in 1984.
 
Seems like the standard specification now is for major appliances to last 5-7 years. Just past the extended warranty and parts availability.

From a bean counter's perspective, yes. We want to sell you a new one.... every time we turn around. All about the money. No reason to spend money to build it beyond warranty periods, and a lot of reasons not to.

Years ago (okay, DECADES,) there was a great Broom Hilda comic where she brought her car in for service. "Under warranty?" "Yes, until noon today." "STAND BACK!!!! <boom>."
 
I needed to replace my appliances this last month and took a stroll through one of the bigger service places and asked what brand had the least problems.
The first thing out of their mouths was “Run from Samsung!!!” But, they claim that the refrigerator that has the fewest service calls was Frigidaire. So, I took their advice, the fridge and range were delivered last Saturday. Now, only time will tell if it was a good choice.
 
I would steer clear of anything from Frigidaire/Electrolux. I went round and round with them over a fridge purchase. They insisted I kept my home too cold for the unit to function correctly. I ended up losing about $200 worth of food because it would freeze things in the fridge and melt things in the freezer. Thanks to Best Buy doing the stand up thing they took the POJ back and exchanged it for an equivalent whirlpool. Flawless. GE is another brand to avoid. All their stuff is made in China by Haier. After the runaround from LG on the range I bought a couple years ago...................will never buy an LG anything again. They treated me like a criminal when my LG phone broke and needed repairs, same with the stove. Needed a new washer about 18 mos ago and bought another Samsung. It didn't last long (only about 10 years) but was flawless for those years and I think part of the failure was my fault for keeping my water softener salt tank next to it. I read about the salt attacking the metal support for the drum.
I would stick with Bosch or Whirlpool. Anyway that's been my experience. The last 4 Frigidaire appliances all were junk, my Electrolux dishwasher also pretty much junk as well
 
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I needed to replace my appliances this last month and took a stroll through one of the bigger service places and asked what brand had the least problems.
The first thing out of their mouths was “Run from Samsung!!!” But, they claim that the refrigerator that has the fewest service calls was Frigidaire. So, I took their advice, the fridge and range were delivered last Saturday. Now, only time will tell if it was a good choice.
I think you'll be sorry but hope you won't. Look above for my past experiences with Frigidaire/Electrolux. Just AWFUL products total junk
 
I used to work part time at Sears in the tool dept. and yes I now have a lot of Craftsmen tools. But the service guys came through our dept. all the time and I asked them what were the best appliances they all said there wasn't a whole lot of difference between the major brands and the life expectancy of refrigerators was down to 5-8 years at best.
We have a four year old Frigidaire and it sounds like a diesel truck with bad bearings when it's running and the ice maker jams up every day. When it's not running it moans a lot.
Although it does keep the food cold so it's here for it's life span.

To Larry's point about LG we had an LG range and the knobs kept falling off, they had plastic inserts that kept cracking. It was under warranty so I called Sears and they sent a tech out. He agreed and ordered five new ones to replace them he did it with his lap top. He got a puzzled look on his face and said I can't believe this. The cost of the knobs was $100 a piece total $500 for five plastic knobs. They did that three times in three years under warranty. When the warranty expired I went down to the local appliance store and bought five new knobs with steel inserts from another brand for $32. End of problem.
 
Yeah I know Larry but, these were in my limited budget, if Sears had not gone belly up around here, I’d have gone Kenmore again, the last one lad worked beautifully for almost 20 years. If this lasts 5 I suppose I will have to deal with that again. I don’t care about bells and whistles like ice makers or water through the door, I’m a basic piece of equipment guy. Less geegaws and jimcracks to break just not necessary, if it keeps beer cold and ice cream firm, I’ll be just fine.
 
Yeah I know Larry but, these were in my limited budget, if Sears had not gone belly up around here, I’d have gone Kenmore again, the last one lad worked beautifully for almost 20 years. If this lasts 5 I suppose I will have to deal with that again. I don’t care about bells and whistles like ice makers or water through the door, I’m a basic piece of equipment guy. Less geegaws and jimcracks to break just not necessary, if it keeps beer cold and ice cream firm, I’ll be just fine.

Kenmore was just a badging... you might actually have a model that would have been the Kenmore you would have bought anyway. lol
 
I have never read a positive review and recommendation for an LG or Samsung appliance.

The LG washer & dryer set we bought 13 years is still running, I did perform a little PM on the dryer a couple of years back. There are people who are happy with them. I'd like to find the vendor with the fewest [current] issue. As near as I can tell, we're just going to have to budget $400-500 per year just in refrigeration costs. Shoot, the el cheapo Whirlpool fridge we bought in the rental 13 years is still running strong as well, and the exact same model died for a buddy of mine in something like 4 years.
 
We have a 22 year old side by side. Hate the design of it but it runs fine. Really hard to find things in the freezer part. So until it quits we live with it. It was in the house when we moved here over 5 years ago. Its a Sears Kenmore brand. Also, our oven GE brand, is the original oven that was in the house when it was built in 1978. Its a small wall unit. As long as it stays working it will stay in the house too. A lot of people would have changed the appliances when they bought the house. You know those kind of people who have to have the latest of everything. That's why I have smart pockets instead of deep pockets. If it aint broke don't fix it.
 
That was us, Russ. House came with a side by side 10 years ago, we just lived with it until the refrigeration gave up the ghost. For the most part, replace when dead. About the only real change prior to failure was a gas range instead of a ceramic top electric.
 
Watch until the end... LOL


Lol. That's funny. Although not to ruin a good story, the actual fix is about $40 and 20 minutes of labor. I have that same washer and I'm not even a fix it guy and was able to do it. 4 tension rods, one in each corner. Lift the top up, tilt the basin to unhook each rod and pull them out, replace each rod. Done. I bought the tension rods aftermarket because Samsung wanted $50 per.... I paid around $40ish to get it back and working again. Now, mine didn't start having the problem until about 6 years of use, but we'll see how long the aftermarket tension rods last.
 
We have a 22 year old side by side. Hate the design of it but it runs fine. Really hard to find things in the freezer part. So until it quits we live with it. It was in the house when we moved here over 5 years ago. Its a Sears Kenmore brand. Also, our oven GE brand, is the original oven that was in the house when it was built in 1978. Its a small wall unit. As long as it stays working it will stay in the house too. A lot of people would have changed the appliances when they bought the house. You know those kind of people who have to have the latest of everything. That's why I have smart pockets instead of deep pockets. If it aint broke don't fix it.

That's a fantastic policy.... as long as your wife agrees. lol
 

 

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