Fridge Recommendations - Semi-URGENT

How about a Subzero or a Wolf. They're the best. We've had a subzero for 20 yrs and it still works great. More expensive than other brands but you get what you pay for.

I don't know what brand to tell you to get, but I do want to share some advice once you get the new fridge. The newer refrigerators are computerized not mechanical anymore. Be sure to buy the highest power surge protector that you can find to plug it into. I just had to have a 4 to 5 year old fridge worked on because of that. I live in FL with lots of storms. Wish I had known earlier...

Don't know if you have done this, but might get you better function of your fridge to buy a little more time if you need. Do you ever move the fridge out and clean underneath, take off the bottom removable parts and clean the coils or fan??? These are dust/dirt magnets!
I am amazed at the people who don't know to do this and who have never done it in all the years they have had the refrigerator. I moved into a house years ago, fridge came with house, was an old model and I was told it didn't work well. As I had my own newer fridge, moved the old one.....we literally used scrapers to remove the built up dirt and pet hair stuck on the floor beneath, and filled an entire vacuum bag and part of another, there was so much dirt.
Moved the fridge to basement and it lasted another five years!
You have to clean under and behind refrigerators to control the dirt, amazing how much builds up in just a few months, really inhibits the function. And if one has pets, it's even worse! I don't have pets and am not a "clean freak", but do this about every six months. My current refrigerator is a Magic Chef, purchased in 1983, has been awesome, but ice maker no longer works and too old to get parts, everything else is fine.
These are of course very hard to reach areas, be sure to UNPLUG the fridge before doing this.

I have a Kenmore Elite, and LOVE it! We've had it 3-4 years? And never had a problem. The external ice and water in the door is a MUST in our house.

*Actually, Kenmore (but usually made by someone else) is our first choice in appliances in our 25 years together. In my opinion, and from my experience, that if and when service is needed, Sears service is outstanding!

Good Luck.

We have Kenmore Elite french door with bottom drawer freezer, with water dispenser in the door (no ice dispenser. Ice maker is in the bottom freezer). I have been very happy with it. I honestly don't love any refrigerator/freezer---they all equal yucky messes where food gets old or spilled, lol.

But this one has been great. We bought it 5 years ago and it hasn't had any repairs needed. No functioning issues. I think we've had one light bulb go out that needed to be replaced (lol). The only thing I really DON'T like about it (and I think a lot of refrigerators are going this way) is that it has a water filter built in that requires replacement periodically. And that adds up--the filter tubes are like $50 each. A light comes on to tell you when it needs to be replaced, or every 6 months (manufacturer's recommendation) which ever comes first. I have only bothered to replace ours twice in the 5 years we've had it, LOL. It ran for a long time with the "light on". Eventually it seemed like the water dispensing got slower, so I replaced it again.
And when I say 5 years: we bought it in Feb 2006 for installation in new construction in April 2006. We moved in the 24th of April that year.

Be sure to check out some of the features that you can get. I was just in Sears this week looking at a freezer for the garage, and took a peek at what's out now in the bottom drawer freezer line of refrig/freezers. None of the ones they had on display had the "tilt out drawer" for the freezer anymore. I really like that feature on mine. Also, my vegetable drawers have a clear storage space in the FRONT of them that is separate from the actual drawer that is great for small veggie items (already washed bell peppers that only half is left, package of raspberries, etc) so that you can SEE them in there and remember to use them. My husband uses one of the two veggie drawers to store a 12 pack of beer (bottles) lying on their side, HAHA. But there is so much storage space in this fridge that it doesn't cause any issues with my veggie storage!

So, I'd give the Kenmore Elite product a thumbs up... although I'm sure there have been changes since we bought ours compared to the one you are looking at.

I don't know about those numbers at the end of your brands, nor can I tell you first hand about any of them but what I have, but I have a Whirlpool Gold and LOVE IT. We got one of the biggest, if not the biggest at Lowes I think it was? Bought it February 2008 and have never had a service call or issue. It does have the freezer below and the double doors on top, an ice maker that is usually off because we don't use a lot, but nothing on the door (no water/ice dispenser)...that was a personal choice that had to do with young children in my home, lol. A lot more room all around! My husband is tall and like he said, you use the fridge a lot more than the freezer, so why not put the freezer lower and the stuff in the fridge higher so you can get to it easier. I went with that because I'm short and really don't care.....but what I noticed is that it is SO nice! Instead of all the food being crammed into a narrower space (even if taller, it's narrower), there's more room for both fridge and freezer to spread out and see easier. I liked it so much we bought a second fridge for the house when we were moving--we were renting the house out and of course we were providing the fridge, but I didn't want to be without "MY" whirlpool gold. It's really the only utility machine I've cared enough about to reccomend (dishwashers, washer/dryer, who cares so far).

I do not know about those, but I have the style you are talking about. I have the GE Cafe line fridge. It has a water dispenser on the inside and an ice maker inside. We have had it about two years and I love it. The set up inside is great and it has plenty of room for what I need.

Don't get the smooth black doors on the whirlpool. A washcloth scratches them and the doors cost around $800. Plus, the icemaker broke after a few months. The whirlpool we left at our other house needed 5 icemakers in 3 years.

Okay, here's my answer and it's not just because my husband works nights at Lowe's :-).

Go to Lowe's and go back into their area where they sell this stuff. See what they have. We got our French doors Whirlpool there, and we got it at a great deal for a few reasons. The fridge was on clearance to begin with. It was also the only one of its kind on the floor and in stock at all. And of course my husband got the employee discount, but even without that we got the thing for a steal. This fridge is wonderful and it's modern and even has the features for hooking up the ice machine. Temp settings and locks for the settings plus an alarm on it in case the doors are open for too long.

Whirlpool is a brand you can't go wrong with, so I recommend that if you can get it. But I suggest shopping Lowe's clearance and looking for "the last one they have" of something and seeing if you can get a discount based on that. They'll want to make room and get rid of it so they'll probably give you an additional % off.

About 10 yrs ago my Mom got an Amana with the freezer on the bottom and a regular door on top. We found out tht is you loead the refrig door too heavy it screws up the balance and hinge on the door. And over filling that door means a gallon of milk and a gallon of juice on the door and it's too heavy. I would never get a refrig/freezer with the freezer on the bottom.

We just got that same style fridge, but we went with Kitchen Aid (really like it!). I do have a Kenmore Elite dishwasher and we have had it for a little over a year with zero problems. I really like it. We would have done the rest of our kitchen in Kenmore Elite, but we got better prices on Kitchen Aid. We have never had Whirlpool Gold, but we did have 3 regular Whirlpool appliances before we recently remodeled our kitchen (microwave, oven, and dishwasher). I was less than impressed with the oven- it never cooked evenly on the stovetop or oven. The microwave was fine. The dishwasher was fixed MULTIPLE time before it finally quit. The dishwasher was 5 years old when it quit working and we replaced the oven and microwave at about 6 years old. I would not buy any type of Whirlpool again, in fact, that was the only requirement I had when we bought our new appliances.

Hi, we have a french door, freezer on bottom fridge with a water dispenser internal and the ice maker in the freezer. I love the look of this fridge, but don't like the fact that I have to open the fridge every time want water, and there's always a water drip from the dispenser on the bottom of the fridge. The freezer on bottom just doesn't seem to hold much. So, if you have stand alone freezer and only keep a few things in the fridge freezer then it's not so bad.

My response will be no help, because i am in the same debate. We want the same style of fridge. I am dying to know what everyone says.
I don't need mine today, but by the end of the month for sure.