Refrigerator brand recommendation

[rlrobb]

We are looking for a new French-door style stainless steel refrigerator since our Maytag of 2 yrs turned out to be a lemon. We're trying to decide between LG and GE Profile since Amana, Maytag and Kitchenaid are all the same "family" and we don't want another lemon. Does anyone have any recommendations or warnings about LG or GE bottom-freezer refrigerators? Thanks.

[Beth]

Kitchenaid and Amana are good refrigerators. Keep in mind that Maytag was bought by Whirlpool/Kitchenaid while the Maytag name was ailing and after your fridge was made. Don't count Amana and Kithenaid out.

LG is good and I've heard a lot of people love theirs. I've seen some negative for every brand, but no one has acheived 100% perfection yet -- and figured out how to get them all shipped and installed that way. The only one that comes to mind with a lot of negatives is Maytag.

[aggie94]

We love our LG French-door bottom-mount refrigerator we bought almost two years ago and wouldn't hesitate to buy another.

[cchhbb]

I love my LG that was purchased nearly two years ago.

[Lauren]

I have a 10 mo French door Amana and love it! No problems here. what type of problems have people had with the Maytag? My other appliances are GE Profile, so I was thinking about getting the Profile refrigerator, but it isn't made as big as some other brands. Mine is 25 cubic feet.

[rlrobb]

Thanks for the info on the refrigerators. We are leaning towards the LG, so it's good to know that some of you have it and like it.

For anyone who was wondering, the problem we have with the Maytag is that the freezer defrosts entirely and everything melts about every other day. The temp alternates between 10 degrees and 30 degrees on a daily basis and is up to about 55 degrees when it defrosts entirely. This seems to be a common problem with this unit from what I can find out on the internet and what the Home Depot salesman has said. Can't repair it, because it always seems to be working when the repairman manages to get here and they can't find anything wrong. There has been some speculation that the problem is in the computer. Maytag customer service wasn't of any help either, they just suggested a repairman!

[tea4one]

Funny how they wouldn't try and at least replace the computer or look at the thermostat or something.

[rlrobb]

Yeah. I need a computer dignostic tool like with cars!

[tea4one]

What about the Kenmore Trio? I've seen them as big as 24.8 Cu.Ft. in the past but haven't checked recently.

[HealthyinMN]

We bought a new LG just over a month ago (http://desertculinary.blogspot.com/2006/08/just-couldnt-wait.html)

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5983/1265/400/Fridge2.jpg

It has been working great so far! I love the extra space and glad we opted for the one without the ice in the door. I do miss the ice crusher, but we both felt we lost too much room with it inside the refrigerator part.

[rlrobb]

We decided on the LG french door model over the GE profile because we wanted 25 cu ft. We got the ice-inside model though. I don't use the freezer for much other than chopped nuts and a few bags of ravioli and home-made pesto sauce, so losing space in the freezer wasn't an issue for us. It gets delivered Wednesday!

[aggie94]

When we bought our fridge, we only had two choices for a counter-depth model in black -- LG and Kenmore -- and neither of them had water/ice in the door. We only have 20.7 cu ft, but there are only two of us, and it is plenty of space. I really like how clean it looks at counter-depth, instead of sticking way far out past the kitchen counter and cabinet. We ended up choosing the LG because of small details that just made it seem a little higher end, like metal handles instead of plastic and hidden door hinges.

Hope you enjoy your new LG!

[HeidiD]

I'm resurrecting this thread because we are trying to decide on a new fridge. Our top 3 picks are LG, Amana and GE. We want 25 cu ft and because of our kitchen configuration, we need to get either a side-by-side (what we have now) or a french door model. Those of you with the french door models, are you still happy with them?

Our biggest frustration is not being able to find a model without an ice maker and/or water dispenser. We don't use ice very often so we don't care about an icemaker, it seems like one more thing that could break, and takes up valuable freezer space. We also don't need filtered water because we have a very expensive whole-house water filter system (350 gallon tank in our basement) already. Every place I've looked has told me the same thing -- it will cost me MORE to special order a fridge without these features!

Our current fridge is an Amana, 15 yrs old and has never needed service, so we feel good about the brand, but have liked the looks and features of the LG and GE models. I have been to Sears, Lowe's, Home Depot, Best Buy and a couple local appliance stores. Need to make a decision soon because our freezer is not keeping things as cold as it used to. I transferred a bunch of frozen meat and fish to my mom's freezer for temporary safe keeping.

Thanks for any input the all-knowing CLBB'ers can provide. :-)

Heidi

[TKay]

I don't have the french door model, so I can't speak to that configuration. I will say that we have the GE profile side-by-side with a water dispenser and ice maker. My only complaint is that the freezer is far too small for our needs. We have an old model in the garage that holds the rest of our stuff.
As far as the brand goes, we haven't had a single problem with it and have had it almost four years. Good luck.

[aggie94]

Heidi,

We still love our French-door LG. At the time we bought ours, they were not making them with in-door water dispensers, so we do not have a water dispenser at all (and would never use one anyway, since even filtered tap water here is disgusting). We could have gotten one without the ice maker in the freezer, but we opted for the icemaker and now wish we hadn't, as we also don't use that (for the same reason).

Those issues aside, we love our fridge.

[BakerJane]

We bought a GE Profile french door, freezer bottom, stainless steel fridge about a year ago and love it! We had the ice-maker installed but do not have a water dispenser. I find the space set-up inside the fridge and freezer very user friendly. I haven't had a problem keeping the stainless steel clean either, I use stainless steel wipes on the front about twice a month.

[Lauren]

Still loving my Amana FD. I like the look of the counter depth, for the reasons Eva mentioned, but as a family of four, we needed the bigger size. I don't have a 2nd fridge/freezer in the basement. We have filtered water inside the door, which we love, and an ice maker in the freezer.

[rlrobb]

We're still happy with our LG French Door model. It did not come with filtered water, but does have an ice maker which is easily turned off with a switch. In fact, ours is off most of the time as we rarely use ice unless company is coming over. I would be leary of getting the Amana as we had such trouble with our 2 year old Maytag (reason for purchasing the LG) and according to the Home Depot salesman, Amana and Maytag are currently manufactured by the same company.

[Lauren]

I would be leary of getting the Amana as we had such trouble with our 2 year old Maytag (reason for purchasing the LG) and according to the Home Depot salesman, Amana and Maytag are currently manufactured by the same company.

Did you have your trouble right away? I haven't had any issues with my 14 mo Amana. Perhaps they fixed the problem?

[rlrobb]

No, the problem started suddenly about 1 1/2 yrs after getting it with the freezer defrosting completely at least once a week and the refrigerator temp also fluctuating. The repairmen couldn't ever isolate the problem because, of course, it was always appearing to work fine when they finally got there! I googled our model and found that many other people have had the same problem, all at about 2 yrs after purchase. One theory is that the computer has a problem, which is nearly impossible to fix. We decided to cut our losses and just get a new fridge. Prior to this problematic Maytag, I had an Amana that worked well for 10 yrs but the companies have merged within the last few years (according to the salesman) so the reliability isn't the same anymore. If you do get another Amana, I would recommend getting the extended warranty just in case.

[HeidiD]

Heidi,

We still love our French-door LG.


Our fridge search is over and the LG french door model won out! We found a great deal on a last-year's model 25 cu ft french door unit for just $999. It's being delivered today "between 12 and 4 pm" and probably not a moment too soon ... I've been really worried about the old one just dying and leaving us in the lurch. Luckily here in New England, I can put all my frozen stuff on the back deck and it should be fine during the transition today.

Thanks to everyone for the recommendations :-)

Heidi