AudioCircle
Community => Non-audio hobbies and interests => Home Improvements and Renovations => Topic started by: LesterSleepsIn on 29 Jan 2019, 09:44 pm
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Our 26 y/o refrigerator is almost kaput. Has anyone recently bought a new - and quiet - refrigerator?
My thanks in advance,
Lester
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Hey Lester,
We purchased our new fridge one year ago. We were looking for quiet, large and (to us) good looking, the finish is called black stainless. We went with an LG LNXS30866D. It ha a good ratings from owners and consumer magazines.
You don't mention a budget and it was pricey but after a year of ownership I can say that we are very pleased we got it. LG fridges generally get good reviews in every size, configuration and budget.
Good luck with your search.
https://www.lg.com/us/refrigerators/lg-LNXS30866D-door-in-door
Cheers,
Scott
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Sub Zero: it is forever.
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+1 Sub Zero
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This is the inside of my three-year old LG Linear Compressor refrigerator
taken about 10 minutes ago. Yes, that is a sheet of ice on the bottom.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189692&size=xlarge)
It is without question the worst appliance purchase of my entire life. This unit has been serviced 3 times for ice build-up under the slide-out tray and LG can't fix it. It builds-up in the back, melts partially during a so-called defrost cycle, then re-freezes under the slide-out tray. When the ice get close to the front of the drawer it warms and drips on the floor. We are going to replace it in a couple of weeks with a GE Monogram. This was my first LG purchase and I won't buy another LG product as long as I live...
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My wife and I have had a Kenmore Elite now for 3 years with no problems. Keep in mind that new fridges have about an average 10 year lifespan, since CFCs have been phased out and are no longer used. In addition to cooling, they also act as a lubricant for the motor. As we were told by the salesman.
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You should probably put a price range. Subzero is expensive, but then it's easy to buy a $3,000 fridge these days (though subzero is way above this).
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I don’t know what they’re like now, but in my experience +1 on Kenmore Elite. Ours is 17 years old, was moved half way across the country a few years ago and still keeps on properly cooling. Recently a few plastic parts have cracked but given the age I’m still satisfied.
We have 2 LG refrigerators (each about 10 years old) in rentals and while they haven’t failed, they both have had way too many plastic parts break.
*edited to remove advice I received about a particular brand that I had no first hand experience with.*
Good luck, Brett
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I bought a 14.7 cu.ft. an LG LBNC15221V Bottom Freezer Counter Depth Refrigerator June of '17. It has performed well and is as quiet as the replaced Kitchen Aid. When researching I found that that main problem, across all brands, seemed to center around the filtering and function of the automatic ice makers, so I bought a model that didn't have that "feature". If you don't need a large capacity and can forgo the automatic ice maker you should consider this LG. It's rather inexpensive as well.
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Hey Lester,
We bought a new 24.1 cf Samsung RSG257 refrigerator 4 years ago. It is a side by side counter depth with excellent features. It listed at about $1800, but we got it for $1500 on sale. It is real quiet and has LED lights inside that light the interior like a night football game. The ice maker quit working and a couple broken drawers sealed the deal on the previous fridge. Still use that one in the basement for extra capacity, however. One thing we do now from the ice maker experience--we try to never use the crushed ice feature because it tends to cause a significant jam in the mechanism. The ice maker on the Samsung is the only thing that makes a wise at all and is still so quiet except when the try of ice empties into the bin. With the 3" thick doors, you don't hear the ice drop near as much as our average priced fridge caused. The function of the new fridge has been awesome. The fridge door allows so much stuff to be put into it including one shelf that even allows a 3 separate gallon of milk or whatever. There are 5-6 shelves in the door alone. We thought we might miss the extra storage capacity of our full size fridge we had. We have 6 adult kids, many of whom have lived with us at different times. We host most of the family get togethers. That ice maker NEVER runs out of ice and everyone uses it continually. The bin occasionally gets down to 1/2 full on those occasions. It also NEVER overflows the bin and starts dropping ice inside the freezer.
The freezer, being a side by side, is smaller but still holds most frozen pizzas without having to put them in at an angle. We do vacuum out the underside of the unit once a year to keep it reasonably clean. Sorry for the length of these, but we love this appliance.
Bob
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I got a demo of an LG French Door, Door in Door Fridge at Home Depot the other day and it seemed fabulous. I cant remember the model number but it was their top of the line models. Tons of cool features (pun intended!).
This one didn't have all the digital bells and whistles which is one reason why I liked it. Most of the wifi/smart stuff seems a bit before its time to me and more trouble than useful. Next gen should be ready for prime time but I don't think its there yet.
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I bought a 14.7 cu.ft. an LG LBNC15221V Bottom Freezer Counter Depth Refrigerator June of '17. It has performed well and is as quiet as the replaced Kitchen Aid. When researching I found that that main problem, across all brands, seemed to center around the filtering and function of the automatic ice makers, so I bought a model that didn't have that "feature". If you don't need a large capacity and can forgo the automatic ice maker you should consider this LG. It's rather inexpensive as well.
Mine doesn't have an icemaker either, but guess what - it's still built into the fridge, just not hooked up. So guess what's going bad on my fridge right now? Yeah, my icemaker parts. Even though I have no icemaker, haha.
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We're about 6 months into a new Samsung RF28HDEDBSR. It's a bit pricey. No issues so far. I really like the door in door feature. It's dead quiet also....except when the ice drops.
https://www.samsung.com/us/home-appliances/refrigerators/3-door-french-door/36-wide-28-cu-ft-capacity-3-door-french-door-food-showcase-refrigerator-stainless-steel-rf28hdedbsr-aa/
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About 10 years into a GE Profile medium sized fridge. Now used as a beverage fridge full time in the basement. Zero issues - other than the bottom mount freezer door would always open when folks shut the fridge door. Due to current use, that freezer door is duct taped shut, and the freezer turned off.
About 4-5 years into a counter depth Kitchenaid stainless.
Had the ice issue noted above - was a faulty P trap, replaced (my $ of course) and works great since. Have also replaced (my cost still!) the icemaker at one point.
Kitchenaid was WAY more $ than the GE. Always nice when smaller costs more...
Such is vanity I suppose.
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sadly what ever you buy today won't last 26 years and no matter what the subzero crowds says, they, for the money spent are only marginally better. It's the age we live in !
As for LG, I know more people that hate them vs. love them. Friend is on his third compressor in so many years ! Remember, it wasn't that long ago when LG was nothing but 'Goldstar', that South Korean brand of garbage !
My parents 41 year old Gibson still runs in the garage keeping the beer and wine cold !
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sadly what ever you buy today won't last 26 years and no matter what the subzero crowds says, they, for the money spent are only marginally better. It's the age we live in !
As for LG, I know more people that hate them vs. love them. Friend is on his third compressor in so many years !
My parents 41 year old Gibson still runs in the garage keeping the beer and wine cold !
Can I come visit your parents?
Thanks for all the replies. Our budget is $4000 tops so subzeroes would be beyond us anyway. There’s just the two of us now, my wife and I. I read some scathing reviews on all models suggested so far, the LG reviewers spewed some considerable vitriol but the Samsung reviews were worse (lord have mercy, just what I needed - new curse words). Many of the problems seemed to be related to the indoor ice maker, which we don’t need. And quite frankly no, Mr Best Buy salesman, we don’t need acces to the intenet and what we would do with that I have no idea. What we do need is a fridge that’s quiet, energy efficient and dependable. Still looking.
Maybe I should just have the existing fridge serviced and reconditioned? How would I determine how energy efficient it is and how can I improve it?
Cheers,
Lester
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As a follow up to my previous comment we bought the LG after extensive reading of online reviews. According to Consumer Reports LG has a somewhat better repair record than some other brands. We got the model that is French Door style without the ice maker on the outside. We also purchased an extended warranty which will cover an added 4 years. So far we’ve had no problems after 1 year.
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After looking at reviews, it was apparent that the expensive refrigerators were no better than the basic units. So I bought whatever was on sale at Lowe's Depot with the biggest capacity and lacking an icemaker (our water is too hard). I expect the unit to burn out in less than 10 years, but I can replace it often for a few hundred bucks. The best option for a reasonably quiet unit at the time was a Whirlpool. Two years later, so far so good. All the $1K and up units are rated no better.
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About 5 1/2 yrs ago we bought a JennAir refrigerator with French Doors and the freezer section on the bottom. The filtered water dispenser is on the inside of the refrigerator and doesn’t take up nearly as much room as the other brands we saw. It’s been pretty quiet and reliable, although we did have 1 recent repair. Don’t know if it’s true but 2 or 3 repair people warned us against Samsung because they said it’s hard to get parts for them.
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consumeraffairs.com is just one of the resources I’ve used for finding reviews of refrigerators.
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/samsung_refrigerator.html
Cheers,
Lester
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About 5 1/2 yrs ago we bought a JennAir refrigerator with French Doors and the freezer section on the bottom. The filtered water dispenser is on the inside of the refrigerator and doesn’t take up nearly as much room as the other brands we saw. It’s been pretty quiet and reliable, although we did have 1 recent repair. Don’t know if it’s true but 2 or 3 repair people warned us against Samsung because they said it’s hard to get parts for them.
Samsung appliances have had horrible reputations in general. They seem to be really paying $$$ to be showcased in several appliance sections etc... I would not touch these even with a pole.
Whirlpool appliances seem to be well made... I have had an LG side by side refrigerator with ice maker and water dispenser installed about 7 years ago and it has not given me much of an issue asides from me having to remove the ice maker and deal with distorted blocks of ice....it all has to do with ice compartment doors not closing fully and allowing air to come and melt some of the ice stopping the auger in the icemaker. Easy to clean and service.
The best refrigerators I believe are those older GE two door refrigerators with a separate top door for the freezer as well as the bottom refrigerator unit. Those are somewhat inefficient but are almost always bullet proof and in case of a repair...easy to service. They cost around $430-520 and only come in two colors, white and black and still reliably made in the US. I have had one for about 12 years.
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I bought my first new refrigerator 12 years ago, a basic white Frigidaire for $500, a scratched and dent special. The previous fridge in my rented house died and I need one the same day. Then 10 years ago I bought a house, gutted it and rebuilt it like new, now that Frigidaire was beginning to look dated in my new kitchen but it refused to die.
Wirecutter, the NY Times review supplement, has a recent article "The Best Refrigerator Brands of 2022".
"Most refrigerators work fine. And fridges come in so many different looks and layouts that we can’t pick the “best” ones. But based on a survey of more than 5,000 Wirecutter readers and an AI-assisted analysis of 28,000 customer reviews, we can give you guidance on how to find the fridge that’s right for you."
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/the-best-refrigerator/ (https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/the-best-refrigerator/)
Wirecutter is subscription based, here is a chart for people who can't access the article, there is a lot more and worth the subscription fee.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=238367&size=large)
I passed the article onto a friend who was looking for a fridge. I wasn't planning to buy a fridge but read the article out of curiosity. Well, we all know what happened next.
LG has a brand new model that exactly fits my small space, it is counter top depth and only 15 cu. ft. but is big enough for me. Huge bottom freezer and super quiet, can't hear it running at all. Of all the brands, there are only 2 models that are counter depth and fit my space, luckily one is the top rated LG. The other is Haier but I didn't want the LED temperature display in the middle of the door. I read bottom freezer fridges are quieter too.
At 27.37" wide and 67.75" high it fits in a standard 30" opening, and at 23.375" (less door) the fridge doesn't stick into the kitchen. Total depth is 27.37" and with no handles it's a slick design. My house has an open floor plan and for all practical purposes this fridge it totally silent at my listening chair.
Ordered it last Thursday and Melissa at Home Depot got me the previous days sale price of $1,168 (https://www.homedepot.com/p/LG-Electronics-14-7-cu-ft-Bottom-Freezer-Refrigerator-with-Door-Cooling-Multi-Air-Flow-and-Reversible-Door-in-Platinum-Silver-LBNC15231V/309480550?cm_mmc=ecc-_-MA_DELIVERY_DONE-_-V1_M1_CB-_-Product_URL&ecc_ord=H0486-348211&em_id=9618a605cdff8ac23ade51822c59f9a00a7e89170b0ada928f237c649cba062c). Unfortunately the price has since gone up and it's backordered but with everything going on in the world I doubt the price will go down anytime soon.
Link: LG LBNC15231V (https://www.lg.com/us/refrigerators/lg-LBNC15231V-bottom-freezer-refrigerator)
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=238366&size=xlarge)
I built the white oak cabinet and chopping block too.
Wayne