We are looking to buy a new refrigerator and the only two that meed our requirements are either LG or Samsung. French door, max 33" wide. Both models are nice and loaded with features, but the one difference in the compressor warranty. Samsung is 5 years, LG is 10 years on the Inverter Linear compressor.
Anyone have experience with them?
Yes, we did look at all the US made brands and they are very limited in the 33' Wide models,
We have an LG (Sears Branded) from a couple of years ago. The compressor is... quiet. Highly recommended for that reason alone.
In our case the unit is a standard single door for the refrig and another for the freezer - with the freezer near the floor. Much more civilized.
We chose the unit for that design feature not knowing the compressor specifics. Were pleasantly surprised.
Of course they stopped selling that model soon after we got it..
Two years ago with our kitchen remodel we replaced all the appliances with SS ones. The frdge is a Samsung side by side. All is well except the compressor makes an annoying noise. I've complained to Samsung and their response was "they have to make some noise!". Well, this is the first fridge where it ever bothered me. I live with it but I pesonally would shy away for that reason alone.
Good luck.
SWMBO had her heart set on the new "four door" Samsung as it's the only product that addresses how *we* want to use our refrigerator.
Just prior to purchasing, the Samsung front load washing machine exhibited a "door latch mechanism" failure -- after ~18 months of VERY light use (just two of us, here, and neither of us are known to be "clothes hogs"!)
[At the time, I actually queried the washing machine to determine how many "loads" we'd run through it! All that high tech stuff works both ways :> ]On examining the mechanism, it was clear that it *would* fail in exactly the manner that it *did* fail; plastic parts under a fair bit of stress with the stresses on the mechanism focused on the flimsy tabs connecting the half-shells together.
I was prepared to replace the part at my expense (just out of warranty). But, their web site showed *two* different parts for this model -- one having the P/N of the FAILED unit in my hands and the other a different P/N. Sure, I could buy the "identical" unit and be safe with the purchase. But, if the other part was "new and improved", I'd be silly NOT to buy it, instead!
But, they couldn't resolve this issue for me: "What's the difference between the two parts and why are they *both* listed (same "purpose") for this model??"
Eventually, they sent a technician out to effect the repair for us (free). But, he brought exactly the same replacement part as the part we'd already observed *fail* -- not leaving us with much reassurance that the problem wouldn't repeat.
We conveyed this experience to the friend who had recommended the washer/dryer in the first place -- as an "FYI". Her reply? "Oh, we've already replaced the washer *and* dryer!"
Disheartening.
So, we're very hesitant to make a "significant" purchase in the fancy refrigerator and, instead, hope other vendors pick up on the design and offer competing products.
Good luck with whatever your decision!
I have a samsung 25cf side by side costco special from about 5 years ago. Seems pretty quiet and the only thing that's gone wrong is the ice tray for the ice maker somehow got jammed and broke. It was a $6 part and about 10 minutes worth of work to replace. The water filter it comes with is VERY pricey so I just took it out (fortunately you can remove it and run without it) and put an inline one in the water line. The ice maker makes enough ice for the two of us but when we still had two kids at home it really struggled to keep up. It's ice makers has about half the capacity of the Whirlpool? or Fridgedaire? we had before. I think they made the ice maker smaller to make more room in the freezer. The ice jams in the feed thing that turns about once every week or two... never had that problem with the previous regfrig. It seems like a tiny bit of water always manages to drip down from the tray when it fills causing the cubes in the bin to get frozen together and jam.
6 years ago we bought a WP side by side for our new home. We really should have bought the French door model, however, at that time they were really pricey. The side by side doors were really not the best choice as they always seemed to be in the way. The only real problem with the WP was the ice maker. It was built into the freezer door and would always get clogged with ice. We usually use the crushed ice. It was so bad that during some periods we would have to clean it out about every 2 weeks. WP factory guy said that it's the customer's responsibility to keep it clean. Their repair guy that came out, said he would NEVER tell his customer that even though that's the official WP policy. My son said yeah that's like all the units built in the door. He even had a friend with a huge Subzero that did the same thing. Anyway, 6 months ago we finally replaced it with French door model from WP. We are very happy with it. The ice maker is in the fridge and the ice comes out through one of the fridge French doors. No clogage! Of course, the ice is really not crushed, but more chopped, but that's ok. And the doors are no longer a problem getting in the way as the side by side did. The prices have come down quite a bit so it made the purchase less painful. We should have done it when we 1st built the house. Oh yeah, WP is made in the USA.
I have the opposite problem with a Frigidare Gallery. They shortened the arm on wire bar that senses when the ice basket is full, resulting in the basket filling higher than previous models. Suspect that was to increase the amount of ice available. The only problem is that the ice level now fills above the access door. When you open the door to turn off the production of ice, it all spills out on the floor.
You wonder if the designers try to live with their designs.
We have a side by side. While better than top freezer, I like the idea of the bottom better. French door better yet.
It seems to be a recurring comment.
A downside to the bottom freezers is they employ an open-weave *basket* to hold the frozen items. So, opening the "drawer" lets all the cold air "fall out" (including the air surrounding the frozen items -- i.e., the freezer loses all its "cold". By contrast, a freezer *chest* leaves all the cold air trapped in the bottom of the "box".
A drawer could have a bottom "surface" instead of the wire basket approach. But, AFAICT, all have gone the open-weave approach.
We liked the 4 door unit so we could move things to "convenient heights" (thinking in terms of how much we want to *bend* to lift things that we may want to access, often -- regardless of whether they are coming out of the *freezer* or *refrigerator* (i.e., you want a freezer AND refrigerator on top and bottom -- without the side-by-side *forced* requirement.)
We have one of these wide models in our cafeteria. Handy to be able to walk into it.
Or, perhaps, you meant 32 inches, not 33 feet wide?
I did not see any basket weave in these, but there has to be places for air to move around.
The downside is the bottom of the freezer is very low, but a sliding drawer in it allows the most used stuff to be on top. We have an 18 cu. ft. freezer plus another fridge so freezer space in the kitchen is of minimal need for us.
We like the idea of the wide and easily accessed refrigerator space. Well, it looks good, I'll have to get back to you after a couple of months of use.
Visited a couple of dealers today. Both recommended the Samsung so that is what we went with. Best price and service is from a small local, family owned dealer. $100 less that Home Depot, $4400 less than a large dealer in the big city.
Is there a *solid* bottom to the freezer "drawer"? Or, is it, instead, a "chicken-wire" sort of arrangement?
Said another way, if you empty the drawer and open it, can you see the floor *beneath* the drawer?
The freezer in our kitchen typically has ice and "frozen water half-bottles" (i.e., half full with ice so you can add water and take it on a hike minutes later -- knowing it will stay cold for most of your hike).
In Winter, SWMBO keeps frozen blueberries (which she eats with her daily breakfast). Other times of year, they are *fresh* and kept in the refrigerator section.
There are also many "cold packs" that we transfer to the two coolers we carry on our weekly shopping sprees (otherwise, things don't fare well in 100+F car interiors!).
And, some fraction of a pound of butter (e.g., 2 or 3 sticks -- entire pounds are in the other freezer) and a bit of margarine (for pizzelles).
The freezer (in the garage) is maybe 15 feet away so easier to store the 7 months of "fresh" OJ, 4G of spaghetti sauce, steaks, salmon fillets, nut meats, majority of blueberries, ham steaks, chicken portions, etc. out there where they'll stay colder and see less exposure to the door being opened/closed.
The 4 door unit essentially gives you freezer, refrigerator and a "third space" that you can convert to freezer or chiller. There are some french door models now that have two "drawers" -- one of which can be set to a different temperature than refrigerator or freezer. But, the drawer form factor doesn't fit with most of the items we keep "cooled" (i.e., it wouldn't work for tall containers unless they were stored on their sides)
Remember that they have a lot of floor space devoted to these items so expect a fair "return" on that commitment!
Good luck with your selection!
You see the flat closed bottom. There may have been some vent slots but nothing like a weave.
We have a few of those too.
We have a few quarts. I use them for blueberry pancakes.
Wife uses margarine for pizzelles too. This time of year we make quite a few batches.
The temperature range is 28 to 45 on the drawer. OK for short term frozen, but not for keeping steaks for a year. My wife is looking forward to being able to put her cheesecakes in a pan in there.
That should be $400.
Thanks.
Ah, OK! Many that we looked at didn't have a solid bottom. I.e., if you spilled a liquid into the drawer, it went straight
*through* the drawer (imagine a bottle rupturing as it freezes).Additionally, this meant that opening the drawer (which is the *only* way to retrieve an item) caused all of the cold air in and around the drawer and its contents to immediately "fall out" through the open bottom.
A freezer with a front mounted *door* lets cold air spill out as well, though not as dramatically.
A freezer with a top-mounted *lid* suffers from none of this.
E.g., we have no qualms going in and out of the freezer (chest) located in the garage as we don't "lose much" each time we open the lid. OTOH, the freezer in the refrigerator dumps lots of cold air each time we fetch something. So, we don't leave things in there that want to *stay* cold, indefinitely.
(Also, the refrigerator's freezer self-defrosts; the chest is manual defrost -- which we do once a year just after Monsoon; as it is so dry here the rest of the year, there is very little frost accumulation *until* Monsoon drives the humidity up.)
We have a *lot*! I question SWMBO (I don't take water with me on my "walks" as they are only an hour) as to why we can't JUST have ONE OR TWO... but, there is some feminine logic at work that defies reason...
We buy 8 or 10 "2 pound" containers at a time. When "in season", SWMBO goes through them quite rapidly ("blue" doesn't seem like a normal color for something edible, IMO! Purple, maybe...). In the "off season", she coasts on what's left from the last big buy. Then, switches to Kirkland's frozen blueberries when the "fresh" get outrageously priced.
There's a fair bit of coordination that happens as we try to shift freezer space from citrus juices to spaghetti sauce to baking supplies to blueberries, etc. Sometimes we screw up and have too much of too many things at the same time.
E.g., I've been converting the baking *supplies* stored in there into baked *goods* for the holidays. Thereafter, the space will be needed for OJ.
I make ~6 doz at a time. It's hard finding places to store them to ensure they stay fresh. Take up a lot of space for very little
*weight* (ingredients).And, increasingly, we are noticing folks on ever more restrictive diets. So, instead of eating several in a sitting, they'll eat *one* and discipline themselves to avoid any more than that. This is especially true of the buttery goodies.
So, this year I shifted emphasis primarily to biscotti for the "old folks" and left the tastier goodies for the younger generation. Unfortunately, I only get ~28 biscotti out of a batch. As most folks seem very happy eating *two* at a sitting, that's just "14 doses".
By contrast, pecan sandies take only slightly longer to make and yield maybe 17 dozens. Some of the other cookies have even higher yields (but take considerably longer to make). E.g., cheesecake is 5 hours and can satisfy somewhere between *6* and *24* souls -- depending on how weary of the lipid counts they happen to be! :<
We'd like the extra space for various bottled items; OJ, lemon juice, soy sauce, sherry, milk, etc. And, the oversized containers that are so popular at Costco (too tall to fit on nominal shelf spacing). Thankfully, no "soda" drinkers to deal with!
Yeah, I sort of guessed that! :> OTOH, many of them are in the $5K region. "For a refrigerator? What the hell does it use, gold-plated AIR??"
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