[wtdedula]

Hello All;
I am planning to update (remodel) my kitchen in a few months and I need to replace an outdated refrigerator.

I have been looking at refrigerators for quite a while and am bewildered by the enormous choice of styles and features.

I have settled on a few features that I like ...

1) I think I'd like a bottom-freezer style
2) Ice and Water through the door (perferred) or an internal ice/water despenser.

These are the only two features that I'm fairly sure I want.

I have a couple of questions ...

1) Is there any brand that comes out on top as being the most reliable?
2) I've read that icemakers in general can be a source of problems and repairs. Other than that, is there any feature I should stay away from that breaks often and is costly to repair ?
3) Are there any desirable features I'd want to look for ?
4) Any additional buying advice ?

Thank you much. Tim

[bluedogz]

A few years ago, we ponied up for the Kenmore armoire style 36 inch fridge. The key features for us were the slide out shelves and the bottom freezer. I can tell you for a fact that this puppy will hold two Christmas dinners at the same time. My only complaint is that if I buy more than 1 gallon jug of milk, all of my door storage is eaten up. Forget it if there is a 2 L bottle of soda as well.

I think that LG also makes a less expensive version of this fridge now. When we bought ours, the Kenmore was the only choice.

[bluedogz]

Oh yeah,pay the couple of bucks for an online subscription to Consumer Reports. I think it might cost you $10 or $20 to get access to every review article they have ever written-pretty easy to save that much avoiding the purchase of a bum fridge.

[DoryD]

Originally Posted by wtdedula

Hello All;
I am planning to update (remodel) my kitchen in a few months and I need to replace an outdated refrigerator.

I have been looking at refrigerators for quite a while and am bewildered by the enormous choice of styles and features.

I have settled on a few features that I like ...

1) I think I'd like a bottom-freezer style
2) Ice and Water through the door (perferred) or an internal ice/water despenser.

These are the only two features that I'm fairly sure I want.

I have a couple of questions ...

1) Is there any brand that comes out on top as being the most reliable?
2) I've read that icemakers in general can be a source of problems and repairs. Other than that, is there any feature I should stay away from that breaks often and is costly to repair ?
3) Are there any desirable features I'd want to look for ?
4) Any additional buying advice ?

Thank you much. Tim

When I did my kitchen remodel I went through the same sort of dilemma. I finally settled on the Maytag 24.9 Cu Ft. Ice20 Bottom Freezer Refrigerator. It's enormous, with lots of storage, and it's one of the few bottom freezer models with ice and water on the door. I can fit 2 gallon containers on one door (in the separately temp controlled beverage center) and 1 gallon plus smaller beverages on the other door. It also has storage built into the doors for canned soda, and slide out shelves for ease of reaching stuff. The only down side is that the ice maker itself takes up a big chunk of space in the fridge, but I still have plenty of room between storage on the doors and in the depth of the fridge itself. I also like that it has a digital temp control on the door for both fridge and freezer, so I can set it to the way I like my milk and ice cream temped.

As for your concern about the icemaker, this is my 3rd fridge in 15 years with an icemaker and water in the door, and I've never had a problem with it breaking. Just keep your filters up to date (the water stops flowing as freely when the filter is getting old). Maytag makes this easy with a "Reset Filter" button on the door control panel that tells you when to order the new filter AND when to replace it.

Good luck on the renovation!

[KCZ]

Good advice about checking Consumer Reports.

I've had 2 Amanas with the bottom freezers. The freezer drawer handles are poorly designed and kept falling off both of them. While I liked the Amanas in general, I would not recommend them due to this problem.

[MikeLM]

We bought the Kenmore three-door fridge (made by Maytag) four years ago and are quite satisfied with it. The filtered-cold-water outlet is inside, and I'd prefer a door-front ice and water dispenser. Otherwise, it's been fine. The on-door dispensers are now available.

A couple of weeks ago, the icemaker quit working. After thinking about it for a while, we checked the freezer temp, and it turned out to be -10 degrees. One of us had bumped the temp control. Either the icemaker feed had frozen or it had shut off with a temp control sensor.

We set it up for 0 degrees and the ice maker came back. My martinis are cold again.

Mike