<p>So when it rains, it pours. Old appliances are breaking left and right around here, and the most current offender is our 13+ year old side by side GE Profile refrigerator. Sigh…sticker shock has me reeling this morning, as the various models I’ve been researching run upwards of 1,700.00. </p>
<p>So, what do you all like/dislike about your new refrigerators. I’m leaning towards a bottom freezer model, French doors, bells and whistles not really needed (ie, hot water from door, auto fill water sensor, etc). Of course, if I can’t find a good deal, I may be calling Me. Repairman. No really enthused about that option either…</p>
<p>It stopped cooling properly, with the freezer temp hovering around 22, and fridge at 48-50. I emptied it, unplugged, mopped up the mess from the leaky water line (an annoying yet trivial problem…turned off waterline to fridge, and could limp along w/o this feature for awhile, if I could fix the cooling problem), and allowed it to warm up. I had heard that sometimes the inner workings get frozen over, and then fail to work properly. I just plugged it back in, and am hoping it cools down and stays cool…</p>
<p>And I am decidedly NOT handy. H is the handyman and he is out of town. Lucky me. Why do appliances wait until he is not around to break? ;-)</p>
<p>Most ppl throw baby out with the water, including me. Go through the videos, most likely it is a thermostat issue, perhaps a neighbor can help? :)</p>
<p>We had a 19 year old GE Profile side by side. It was working…but as my husband said…it was on the other side of the bell curve, and we didn’t want it to die full of food.</p>
<p>We got a French Door fridge. In our case it had to be counter depth and prices were in the $2700 range, so count your blessings if you don’t need counter depth.</p>
<p>We got another GE Profile. It was the LOWEST rated by consumer reports. For the most part, I like it. I will say, the door holder things are not well designed (although I think this was changed in the most recent update). Gallon containers fit, but you need to tilt them to put them in. I do like the freezer drawer on the bottom. I like that all the fresh food is at eye level. I like the drawers in it.</p>
<p>For us, it came down to the Kenmore Elite, and the GE Profile. I also looked at and liked Samsung. But remember, we needed counter depth which limited our options. We also wanted white…another limiting factor.</p>
<p>I actually like the fridge. My husband hates it. He liked the side by side.</p>
<p>Our 13 year old Whirlpool top freezer fridge died. Consumer Reports has suggestions about when it’s worth it to fix or replace different types of appliances based on their age, and we were firmly in “replace” territory. Got a Samsung bottom freezer french door fridge with an (unused) icemaker. LOVE it. We were limited because the fridge opening is narrow, but it’s been much easier to find things with the change in height. And we really like having two smaller narrower doors. </p>
<p>We have to remember to be careful that the freezer door closes snugly–too easy to leave it slightly unsealed resulting in a fine coat of frost over everything.</p>
<p>We bought a LG French door fridge, counter depth and yes, we paid a lot more for less cubic storage! Go figure.</p>
<p>The design allows easier access to both fresh food and freezer. The side by side is too chopped up for my liking. The full width storage is very appreciated for bigger than average stuff. </p>
<p>I recommend NOT getting the thru-the-door water/ice dispenser. More trouble than its worth. Ours still works, but I have to jiggle the ice sensor level bar from time to time to stop it from making excess ice. Other people I know had theirs stop working totally and refuse to have it fixed since the repair cost is ridiculously high. My sister bought one with ice maker on the top drawer of the freezer. Easy access, just scoop out ice manually. Wish I bought that model instead.</p>
<p>We have a medium-age French door fridge (maybe 8 years old). I love the Fdoors, except that you hve to be careful that they stick. sometimes they bounce open again–have been left overnight twice. :(.</p>
<p>As far as fixing–it started running warm two years ago–had the same sticker shock and was imagining having to replace it with a plain box. H went online, found videos and websites, diagnosed the problem as a fan issue, ordered the part online, and was able to fix it. He’s pretty handy, but knew nothing about refrigerator repair going into this.</p>
<p>We need counter depth too…at least I think we do. It needs to slide into an opening which has a counter on one side. I like my GE, but lately we’ve been replacing appliances with Samsung. Love our new washer…so we are tending towards a Samsung fridge. But honestly, price is going to be a big factor, as I am not sure how long we will remain in our current house. I’d hate to buy a top of the line fridge only to find that we can’t put it in our new place someday.</p>
<p>2,700. I am hoping the unplugging trick will work. Cannot afford this right now. Car is about to die as well. Yikes.</p>
<p>The full size French door will clear your counter. The counter depth model is only needed if you want an integrated look with the cabinets. For us, we need aisle clearance when the doors are opened so those few inches are crucial.</p>
<p>Thumper I’m going to be you soon - I need a counter depth and not enough headroom for a sub-zero. I like white appliances (except for my stove which is a bright blue color) My fridge is 23 years old and hanging on by a wing and a prayer and is/was a Kenmore Elite. I do find it odd that you pay “more” for “less space” with the counter depth fridges.</p>
<p>Another trend seems to be inside water dispenser, not through-the-door. I find that strange, and inconvenient. Opening the door every time you need water does not seem to be energy efficient. Allows for more storage space in the door though…</p>
<p>shellz, if no one is handy, it might be worth it to have it diagnosed. Mine behaved the same way you are describing and I feared the worst. Turned out to be a computer board and I paid less than $200 for the part and labor (which took only a few minutes). The servicer waived the trip/diagnosis charge because I had him do the work.</p>
<p>Thx everyone. H wants me to wait until he gets home. He’s handy, so if it can be repaired he will likely be able to fix it. But I question whether spending even 200 on an older appliance is the best move…it sure does sound a heck of a lot better tan 2,000.00 though. If it works, and extends the life by another couple years, I guess it make sense to repair!</p>
<p>I am my no means a repair expert, but I thought we were going to need to replace our counter depth “built in” (ka Ching$$)fridge a couple of years ago, but all we had to do was vacuum the coils, which are on the top of our unit. It’s worked since then, and we’ve vacuumed it a few more times. It did need to be off while we vacuumed it. I hope it’s something simple for you too.</p>
<p>If you are handy and if the parts to replace is just the thermostat AND you are willing to wait for mail order. The thermostat parts range from $10 for the thermo to $70 for a whole assembly. Probably even cheaper on Ebay or Amazon. The trick is to diagnose the problem accurately. If the problem is the compressor, you mind as well throw it out.</p>
<p>I am a fan of repairing as much and as long as you can. Our 14-yo Kenmore top loader washer did not spin a few years ago. Googled the problem, bought a $50 lid switch, followed youtube instructions and it’s still going strong. OTH, the 6-yo Dacor wall oven recently needed a $500 circuit board replaced. Took the repairman about 15 minutes!</p>
<p>With the new fancy electronic stuff, the DIY days may soon be over.</p>
<p>We had to throw the high end matching panel refrig out because the repair estimated $1500. OTOH, my newly bought house had an old refrig that has a few cosmetic issues, when it got warm, even I knew that is a thermo problem, I had it replaced.</p>
I am hoping the unplugging trick will work. Cannot afford this right now. Car is about to die as well. Yikes.</p>