Fridge/Freezer Shopping

So, I hate my fridge. I feel dumb buying a new one when the current one is still perfectly functional, but I'm just running out of patience with the thing.

Currently we have a an Amana which only has the little half-freezer on the bottom, definitely not enough room.

I'm thinking I either need to get a side-by-side fridge/freezer or we need to get a separate freezer to put down into the basement for large batches of marinara sauce and chicken soup and all the other things I'm seemingly incapable of cooking in small quantities.



I will definitely not get a stainless steel fridge, thats for sure: it looks lovely, when its clean, which is, oh, you know, NEVER. Right now I'm glaring at a perfectly formed set of cat paws on the freezer door.

Anyone have a side by side fridge/freezer they like, with good storage room and well-arranged shelves? I'm not loyal to one particular brand, I'm pretty new to the whole buying major appliances thing.

I'm fond of my Whirlpool paired fridge/freezer. Don't know the model offhand, but I'm not sure how easy it is to get -- Abt fetched it for me when the model I'd ordered went out of stock, it isn't something they normally carry (they do have similar Frigidaire and Whirlpool models).

(sorry, no closeup)

They're not as tall or deep as the biggest as standalones fridges, but together they're 60" across, and as you can see from the photo, just a little deeper than cabinet depth. It's two separate units, with glass shelves internally, and pretty good organization on the fridge side with two crisper drawers and a meat drawer, an egg box, butter thing in the door, etc. The freezer doesn't come with an icemaker, but Abt installed one (there are standard fittings for adding it). Instead of crisper drawers, there's wire baskets.

Upsides: Lots cheaper than SubZero and the like (less than half!), available in white and black (I too hate stainless), attractive, durable and from a reliable manufacfturer (Consumer Reports regularly loathes the high-end brands' reliability).

Downsides: No water or ice through the door, no gallon-sized door shelves. Note that the manuals request several inches on left right and above for air space -- I'm a little shy of their requirements, since it wasn't stated anywhere before I got the units.

Whatever you do, avoid Frigidaire. Their appliances are consistently among the lowest lowest rated by Consumer Reports. More importantly, I have found that there is only one authorized warranty service provider in the area and they are truly horrible. I inherited the appliances (which were new) and would have just sold them if I knew.

bananasandwiches wrote:I will definitely not get a stainless steel fridge, thats for sure: it looks lovely, when its clean, which is, oh, you know, NEVER. Right now I'm glaring at a perfectly formed set of cat paws on the freezer door.

Have you tried a special stainless cleaner? I never have an issue keeping it clean with the appropriate cleaner. A little buffing off of any finger prints with a clean paper towel in the interim always does the trick. I've always found a white fridge with the white, porous plastic handles (which require periodic scouring) to be the hardest to keep clean.

aschie30 wrote:Have you tried a special stainless cleaner? I never have an issue keeping it clean with the appropriate cleaner. A little buffing off of any finger prints with a clean paper towel in the interim always does the trick. I've always found a white fridge with the white, porous plastic handles (which require periodic scouring) to be the hardest to keep clean.

The only thing stainless in my kitchen (above) is the cooktop and hood. They show every fingerprint, every grease spot. My old gas-on-glass GE cooktop was much better at hiding minor grime.

The new fridges pictured above have a smooth textured body and handles. I'd have preferred a pebbled texture (one of the reasons I avoided black is that the black pebbles look awful IMHO). The GE oven whose handle is in the right foreground, on the other hand, has that porous white plastic handle, and is a PITA to keep clean.

I have a Maytag French door bottom freezer (model #MFD2561KES) and I love love love it. It's 25 cu. ft. of kitchen nirvana! It's got gallon-sized door shelves, an internal filtered water dispenser, ice maker, and a door alarm (I will never have to throw away a fridge full of room temperature food again). I was even able to brine a 16 lb. turkey in it (in a rectangular 15 qt. container).

I have not had any trouble keeping the exterior clean. You can buy microfiber cloths (I have a Method Home one from Target) and special cleaners but even water on the microfiber will take care of fingerprints and smudges.

If there are any downsides to this fridge, I haven't discovered them yet.

http://www.maytag.com/mths/products/pro ... Cookie=Yes

HI,

When I consider purchasing an appliance, I first consult Consumer Reports. I now visit a forum which is as enthusiastic about kitchen appliance and remodeling as we are to food and restaurants. This forum is called the garden web, please note this link takes you to our Useful STuff board. There are many forums on a slew of domestic issues as well as gardening. I have even consulted it for laundry issues.

I have a kitchen on the cusp of being remodeled, though it is still time away since we need to rebuild our garage. My family does not follow the disposable generation where you buy today, upgrade later and toss the earlier generation. We buy to last, which means I carefully consider what I buy because I will be living with it for a long time.

I recently acquired a Northland all-refrigerator with the compressor on the top. The interior holds 24.2 cubic feet of storage. My prior Sub-Zero all-refrigerator, which I purchased 29 years ago has been dying a slow death for sometime.

While I might have considered another type of refrigerator, I was locked into fewer choices due to the current kitchen design. What I did want irrespectively was an all-refrigerator. Maybe it seems excessive for day to day use, though it can suddenly be cramped when I am canning or entertaining outside the winter months. Even with the larger space, there are comments, "That refrigerator is loaded already!" I have lots of condiments. When the extra shelves for the door arrive, they will free up space.

Just last week I was touring a home on the lake, which is about to be rehabbed. In the kitchen was a double door Viking commercial refrigerator with very deep shelves. Now that's a refrigerator!

Regards,