Fridge Wisdom

[Jeff]

So yeah, I'm buyin a house. Well, when the previous 'owner's' moved out they took the refrigerator but they left everything else. I was wondering if anyone in MM has recently purchased a fridge that they like or have one that has been good they could tell me about. All my other appliances are black GE. So I want something in either stainless with black trim or just strait black. I would really like to do a french door, the kind with the two doors for the fridge and the pull out on the bottom for the freezer...but they are freakin 1500+ So my latest plan was to get a cheaper (sub $800) side by side and then get a small like $300 chest freezer for the basement. Thoughts, opinions? Any brand to stay away from?

[Goodspeed]

Get this chest freezer, with hot asians included

[HAULN-SS]

I've never heard of any brand of refridgerator being bad. I think they've pretty much got them figured out, and any one you buy will probably last you 15 years.

[Ginger]

Stainless/Brushed appliances are a bitch to keep clean. They print and smudge up very easily; you need to buy/use "product" to clean them. This sucks compared to the "look, I can clean my fridge once every 3 years with a wet sponge" method. In that 3 year period most people will not recognize that a black, regular surface fridge was dirty. By contrast, one of my best friends moved into his own places about a month and a half ago. He promptly bought a brushed ss fridge. I was there two days ago and it needed cleaning. Badly. We started to clean it and it was tiring.

/my thoughts.

[WRXtranceformed]

Seconded on the stainless. White and black appliances are starting to come back in. I have black ones and they're money... easy to clean and look good. It's a LOT harder to hide scratches and imperfections on stainless too, think about it that way from a resale standpoint.

Whirlpool / Kitchenaid make good stuff, I have a brand new GE fridge the previous owners bought and left that's pretty money. If you've got the water supply lines for it, def get a fridge that has the water / ice dispenser. Sooooo money.

Otherwise check Craigslist man, you can find hella crazy deals on appliances there... you just have to pick and choose amongst the garbage.

[ViPER1313]

Side by side's are not nearly as efficient as top-freezer/bottom fridge energy or space wise. Avoid the stainless. The only real difference in fridges as you move up in price is the noise they make and the energy they use. Cheap builder line fridges are audible when they cycle on and off - a higher end model (don't look to me for good brands) should be silent when running.

[Jake]

FWIW, my parents have a side-by-side by JennAir and kinda hate it. It's never wide enough to be convenient. I have no idea efficiency-wise but space has always been an issue. Oh, and we have ice/water on the freezer door, but the button sticks unless you hold your cup up there just right, so we often end up with ice on the floor.

And our JennAir oven needed the entire button/display panel replaced a few months ago. I'd stay away from them if I were you.

[Apoc]

+1 for GE Profile or Frigidaire

+1 for -1 on Stainless

[Jeff]

I would love to get GE to match the shit I have, but GE is expensive. At least at lowes they don't carry any lower line GE, mostly profile stuff. I'm gonna do black (so I never have to go back) so thats decided. So, with that, I'll intall a poll. Oh and I do have a water line, and I would really like a water/ice dispense.

[WRXtranceformed]

Good call, it's definitely worth it to get a fridge with the water / ice dispenser. I'm being serious about Craigslist man, people sell fridges, washers, dryers etc on there super cheap all the time because they move into a new house that already has one. I've looked at a bunch of basically brand new washer/dryer sets for like $200 total.

[Ole]

I have always owned Sears Kenmore appliances, mainly because I have never had a problem with them. I end up selling the washers and dryers for newer models with better features. I currently have the "Pro" series Stainless and it is not that much of a problem to keep clean. My old stainless is now my garage fridge. The old garage fridge is at RP Performance's garage at Summit Point. I can't kill those things.

I second the checking on Craigslist.