Need Refrigerator Advice

The wife wants to buy a new refrigerator, specifically one with french doors and a bottom freezer in textured black. There are lots of these but so far I have only found the textured black in an Amana model. Any tip appreciated. Thanks.

PS Anybody got any links to refrigerator reliability data? My googling has been unsuccessful so far.

Reply to
dmacq
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Lou

Reply to
LouB

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epinions has great reviews, but, if it's not reviewed you're SOL.

Reply to
ng_reader

epinions has great reviews?

They must have changed, then. Used to be that the most common washing machine in the US would not have any reviews. And then the reviews that were there looked like they were written by English majors, and always gave a glowing review of the product. I have never seen a negative review on epinions.

I wonder why that is ................

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

re: reliability: Consumer Reports is your friend...

Reply to
Butch Haynes

Go to your local library for all the scoop

Reply to
LouB

Amana is usually very good. I bought one because it had the thickest walls for insulation. You should take a look at Consumer Reports for repair data, but only use it as a guideline.

Reply to
Phisherman

I've posted a negative review a couple years ago and it's still there. I've also seen many reviews that did not appear to be written by English majors. The main failing I've seen is that for a lot of stuff there is only one or two reviews and that's not really enough to be sure of anything.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

Objective data says that compared to other brands, Amana rates middle to low in reliability-- according to current CR reliability data.

For refrigerators with ice makers, the percent needing repairs ranged from a low of 7% (Whirlpool) to a high of 22% (GE). 17% of Amanas with ice makers needed repair.

For refrigerators without ice makers, the repair rate ranged from a low of

5% to a high of 15%. 12% of the Amanas needed repair.
Reply to
Butch Haynes

Just a comment.

Friends rented a unit while their house was completely rebuilt and enlarged. It had black kitchen appliances.

Lady said it showed fingerprints almost a badly as stainless steel and made the kitchen area darker.

FWIW we reverted to white many years ago after flirting with green (first house) the 'Harvest gold' =3D yellow! (Second house). Reason; one can always find white appliances either used or new on demand i.e. within one day and within a few miles. And having working kitchen equipment is one of life's daily chores happily out of the way and not worth spending extra time on.

The friends referred to in their refurbished home now have all white kitchen appliances including double oven, large fridge, dishwasher etc. in a bright airy kitchen with large window area.

Just a thought/opinion.

PS. The one item that my daughter has had trouble with has been the 'Ice maker' of her side by side fridge - freezer. Not sure based on her experience I would bother with the extra water connection that is needed. Guess it makes it harder to move fridge out for cleaning/ maintenance?

Reply to
stan

Be advised. The amana, frigidare, and maytag are all identical made by the same manufacturer. We bought the maytag 'cause the wife wanted the slick (not dirt holding texture) on the doors and the maytag was the only one like that. When i say 'identical' there are variations on the configuration inside. (drawers, pop can holders, deli tray, etc) but the mechanics are the same.

Reply to
Steve Barker

Hi, My house is like that. Everything in kitchen is white including cabinets. Walls are egg shell white. We have so many large windows, when we ordered window covering, they did not believe there were so many windows. It is airy, bright, just like living inside a green house. House plants thrives. Yet we have two 4 season sun room as well bringing outside to inside. We never bother with ice maker. Drinking ice cold anything is bad for your health.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Who is the mfg?

Reply to
LouB

I believe they are all maytag based. if you go to the amana website for those 'friges, the copyright at the bottom is Maytag's.

Reply to
Steve Barker

Not really. You should have a large copper loop or coil in the back to allow the refrigerator to be moved, when needed. Protect the floor with a sheet of ply before you move it.

Reply to
Phisherman

Forget about ratings. All current refrigerators are equally prone to repairs. This is evidenced by the fact that you cannot buy a refrigerator with an warranty in excess of one year.

The only way out is to buy a five year warranty in addition to the factory warranty. Costs maybe $ 100 but is worth it.

We bought a Jennair French Door 3 years ago(2,000 bucks). The compressor had to be replaced after two years and it broke down again in the following year. We were glad we had an extended warranty. Otherwise the repairs would have cost us $ 900.

They don't make them like they used to, any more, and you better believe it. Refrigerators used to run for 20 years.

The same holds true for all kitchen appliances. Right now we are waiting for a new display for our 2 year old GE Double Oven.

Our new dishwasher broke down twice, so far.

Reply to
Walter R.

Indeed... our Whirlpool's over 30 years old now, but I'm reluctant to replace it simply on energy-saving grounds; it does exactly what we expect of it, and the time a new one has to last to pay for itself was in the order of a decade. In today's society I really don't have that much faith in a modern one either lasting that long or there being parts available for it should I ever need them.

Of course the Whirlpool will die with something terminal one day, which could be at any time, and then I won't have a choice - but I'll just keep running it until it does.

See above...

cheers

Jules

Reply to
Jules

On Thu 24 Sep 2009 05:43:30p, Jules told us...

refrigerator

We have my grandmother's "monitor top" GE refrigerator, built in the 1930s, running in our pantry. It has never needed a repair.

Our kitchen appliances are Whirlpool and black. The refrigerator is a top freezer model, chosen after living with 3 different side-by-side units that we thoroughly disliked. This fridge maintains a completely even temperature throughout the box. The doors aren't black, however. They look like brushed stainless steel, but I believe are actually brushed aluminum under an acrylic coating. Very easy to clean. We chose black because ou cabinets are bleached birch and we have an entire wall of windows and good interior lighting. The room is not at all dark.

Reply to
Wayne Boatwright

Tony Hwang wrote in news:VdLum.143241$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe18.iad:

So is going outside I suppose. And the infomercial shyster says were all full of shit and need to be cleansed out. Guess that means no more eating cause it's bad for your health.

Reply to
Red Green

"Walter R." wrote in news:h9gud3$tlt$ snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org:

13 year old Roper (aka Whirlpool) side by side frig.

So two nights ago I go in the kitchen to turn out the evening light. Something smells like it's burning. Soon I hear a crackling coming from the frig area and target it as coming from underneath where sound can exit the front vent. Unplug and pull out frig. Remove cardbord access cover on bottom. PeeeeUuuuu. Plug in quickly and immediately hear crackling along with black smoke and actually tiny flaming coming from under plastic cover on the side of the compressor. Quickly unplug and remove cover.

I find this:

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I know jack about appliance repair and just wing things. Some Googling of diagrams I find this is a compressor relay. Nasty failure if you ask me. Along with relay under this plastic cover is an "Overload" device as they call it.

No time for Internet orders if I can help it. Overnighting would offset any savings anyway. Next morning I'm lucky that the local appliance parts shop has the kit which contains everything under the cover including the cover. Guess someone along the lines figured new cover would also be needed when it burns. Same price as online. Surprising!

I ask the guy there what this overload device is for considering I had a small flame and melting part. Said he thought it protects the compressor. Not sure what that means but maybe like an AC so it doesn't cycle on-off- on too quickly with power glitches or something. I'm like oh great...saves the compressor...which will burn up in the house fire.

I don't think this is the first time this failed. There was a wire routing retainer piece that came with the new cover and is mated to fit in the cover guide. Guide was on old and new one but piece was missing in old one. PITA to get in properly routed and locked when reassembled. Probably why whoever replaced it left it off be it a tech or hack.

So for a bad situation it turned out best it could actually. If I had gone to bed 10 min later I might woke up to smoke alarms, a fire or never woke again. Repair cost was minimal. Part was available locally. No food lost.

Checked for product recalls on the Internet with no hits.

Reply to
Red Green

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