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Thread: Refrigerators

  1. #11
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by razz View Post
    Steve, I did have a bottom freezer chosen but the energy efficiency was not a great as the top freezer plus the mesh basket of the bottom freezer was inch spacing which meant that things would fall through. I bought a Kenore basic top freezer and your experience is now making glad that I did change to the top freezer model. One always wonders after the fact/
    My wonder after the fact was whether I should just have gambled that we could fix the 14-year-old KitchenAid I had and liked. In retrospect, even a $500-600 repair would have resulted in a better fridge than I have now. On the other hand, it's hard to go without a fridge for long (unlike almost any other major appliance) and there's the cost of the food in it to reckon with.

    I get that no manufacturer wants to support a product forever. I've read in some appliance forums on-line, though, that some manufacturers are no longer carrying parts for even 5-year-old products. It's hard not to be cynical about the entire experience.
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

  2. #12
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rogar View Post
    My neighbor had his delivered by one of the box stores and required the fridge door to be removed. The delivery men would not remove the door and left it outside.
    Another tip: don't believe the best price/service always comes from a big box store. Model for model, the cheapest places to buy major appliances in the Twin Cities consistently are independents, not the home improvement centers or Sears or Best Buy. We bought a fridge that was for sale the same weekend at Best Buy, Sears, and the indie at which we purchased ours (same model number). Free delivery and we got them to throw in a maintenance agreement to cover the compressor/basic innards for 10 years. The price at all three places was within $5 of each other.
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

  3. #13
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    I currently have a freezer on the bottom model and am anxiously awaiting its demise! My biggest issue with freezer on the bottom is that foods and liquid fall onto the seal and door of the freezer. The constant wiping has already cracked the freezer seal and, any more, it seems impossible to keep clean. I also agree with the spacing issues and the sliding basket in the freezer. My next fridge will definitely be smaller and either a side-by-side or freezer on top.
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  4. #14
    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SteveinMN View Post
    My wonder after the fact was whether I should just have gambled that we could fix the 14-year-old KitchenAid I had and liked. In retrospect, even a $500-600 repair would have resulted in a better fridge than I have now. On the other hand, it's hard to go without a fridge for long (unlike almost any other major appliance) and there's the cost of the food in it to reckon with.

    I get that no manufacturer wants to support a product forever. I've read in some appliance forums on-line, though, that some manufacturers are no longer carrying parts for even 5-year-old products. It's hard not to be cynical about the entire experience.
    I have a friend who still mourns her 30+ year old refrigerator that was working perfectly when it was taken away, replaced by a new model that matched other appliances they were buying. Why is it, one wonders, that we have forgotten how to make reliable appliances?

  5. #15
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    I have this one, it's a good fridge:

    http://www.sears.com/kenmore-19-cu-f...3&blockType=G3

    would be small for a family of course, but before that I had a really small (but full height) fridge, which I have many times said is a very bad idea, really small fridges are build like C-R-A-P, and this bigger fridge in the link above, uses no more energy than the small one with it's constant leaking water did before!!!
    Trees don't grow on money

  6. #16
    Yppej
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    Two people have mentioned Kenmores. I hope Sears doesn't go bankrupt before I need to replace the fridge.

  7. #17
    Senior Member razz's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yppej View Post
    Two people have mentioned Kenmores. I hope Sears doesn't go bankrupt before I need to replace the fridge.
    Sears Canada is having major issues so be forewarned. I have a Kenmore sewing machine and needed more bobbins. Sears "parts" no longer has any so I was given another contact # who advised that my sewing machine was made by Janome and I need Janome parts. They were easy to get. I would think this might be true for all Kenmore products - made by a well-known manufacturer
    As Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”

  8. #18
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JaneV2.0 View Post
    Why is it, one wonders, that we have forgotten how to make reliable appliances?
    We haven't forgotten.

    Part of it is that most items are no longer "overbuilt". The compressor in that old Kelvinator was way oversized for the task it had to perform. Who cared if it wasted a lot of electricity in the process? Electricity was cheap. The compressor in that new GE is built to specs and runs at far higher capacity and more often.

    Part of it is that people don't want to pay inflation-adjusted costs for appliances. The refrigerator that cost $600 30 years ago costs double that now just because of inflation, never mind fancy metal finishes or extra doors or glass shelves.

    And part of it is that there's very little money in it. If a manufacturer and a dealer have a choice of seeing a customer every 30 years after the good old fridge breaks down or seeing them every 10 when the newer fridge goes belly up, which choice do you think they'll make? Especially when stockholders are breathing down their necks waiting for increased sales year after year. And the customer who won't buy a Frigidaire because their first one lasted 20 years and the most recent one lasted only 7 will be replaced by the customer who had a similar experience with their Maytag and won't buy another one. Everybody's happy -- except refrigerator buyers.

    Quote Originally Posted by razz
    my sewing machine was made by Janome and I need Janome parts. They were easy to get. I would think this might be true for all Kenmore products - made by a well-known manufacturer
    Sears makes nothing by themselves but a pile of debt. All Sears products are manufactured for them -- but to their specifications, which, sometimes are not as good as the manufacturer's so Sears can meet a certain price point.

    We had a Kenmore appliance that repair proved was built far inferior to the same model labeled with the manufacturer's name: thinner sheet metal for the cabinet, plastic gears instead of brass,... We paid less for the Kenmore version for good reason. Not to say that original-equipment-manufacturer (OEM) parts can't work in the Sears version -- just that they won't always and, sometimes, jerry-rigging will need to be involved.
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

  9. #19
    Senior Member HappyHiker's Avatar
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    We purchased a small frig in Almond to match other appliances and without any features such as ice-maker and water in the door. I like to shop frequently for fresh produce so it doesn't go bad and I have to throw it out. Food tends to get lost in large frig's and freezers...plus, with less gizmo's, we figured maybe it would last longer--and cost less. Happy with our little Almond frig.
    peaceful, easy feeling

  10. #20
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    .... and I pulled open the freezer drawer just before making dinner to find everything in it thawed. POS. Need to see if we're still in warranty...
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

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