Quality replacement refrigerator?

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borgward

Joined
Sep 13, 2010
Messages
597
Location
Central Texas
Our 33 year old Kenmore refrigerator is going south. Shopping for replacement. Not french door type. 30 W X 28 D. Top Freezer. Leaning to LG or Whirlpool. What's good now and what's junk? Guessing Nothing will last 30 years now days. Our whole kitchen was Kenmore. Most of it was junk but the refrigerator stood the test of time.

Any of the brands repairable?

Better forum to post this to?
 
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Thread 'Input on "best" refrigerators on the market wanted'

Hi all, we are currently embroiled in a fairly serious home reno and are looking to replace the appliances in the kitchen. We've been browsing the box stores and found (too) many options. I know refrigerators aren't what they used to be as they simply don't last like our current almost 30 year old unit.. I don't want touch screens, wifi and all that jazz - just a reliable unit that keeps things cold. We have a few ideas on configurations, but what brands work well long term anymore? The kid at Lowes was saying that LG has been the best, but I don't value his opinion as high as others...
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borgward said:
Our 33 year old Kenmore refrigerator is going south. Shopping for replacement. Not french door type. 30 W X 28 D. Top Freezer. Leaning to LG or Whirlpool. What's good now and what's junk? Guessing Nothing will last 30 years now days. Our whole kitchen was Kenmore. Most of it was junk but the refrigerator stood the test of time.

Any of the brands repairable?

Better forum to post this to?
Click to expand...
Number one that new LG is not going to last 33 years!
 
walterjay said:
Get Whirlpool and purchase it through a Whirlpool dealer not a big box store. If you have problems with it you are likely to get better results from an independent dealer. Ask me how I know.
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Well, How do you know? I am guessing the Whirlpools at big box are substandard to ones sold by appliance dealers.
 
General Electric (GE) Cafe series (or Monarch).

Kenmore still lives, but I wouldn't recommend them. Back in the day, Whirlpool was a major manufacturer of Kenmore refrigerators. Definitely stay away from LG. Whirlpool and Maytag are the same parent company, but that doesn't mean they share the quality of parts.
 
borgward said:
I am guessing the Whirlpools at big box are substandard to ones sold by appliance dealers.
Click to expand...

The quality is the same, they will sometimes make a special model for a major retailer like Lowe's or HD that has a couple special features but the guts are the same.
 
borgward said:
Well, How do you know? I am guessing the Whirlpools at big box are substandard to ones sold by appliance dealers.
Click to expand...
Although major retailers can specify options, which will have unique model numbers making it more difficult to compare, the manufacturing process is pretty much the same. If service is needed, the Whirlpool service network doesn't care where a product was purchased, unless the retailer has a different contract outside of the WP network.
 
We had to replace control board of whirlpool oven a few years ago. No new parts available. Used panels were $200 to $300. Found https://fixyourboard.com/. They built a new one w/exchange for under $200. You can feel the switch detentes when you you press them. Very high quality. They are in Austin TX, so I was able to go there and pick it up.

I really hate control boards. One thing goes out and you have to replace the whole thing instead of buying a switch for 10 or 20 dollars.

A friend gave us a Whirlpool dryer over 40 years ago. I have been able to easily keep it running since then and it still performs well.
 
Avoid Samsung or LG. I heard that they are not easy to fix if broken.
Of course, I don't have first hand experience on them just reading and other's opinion.

When my 27 years Whirlpool broke down, I bought another Whirlpool.
I chose the one without door water and ice dispenser, just simple.
It is French door with bottom freezer.
Took a while to adjust but it was fine.
It seems to work fine so far about 5 years later.
 
"without door water and ice dispenser, just simple" That's what I am looking for but French door unit would be too big for our kitchen. Last year a friend sold his building and offered me a year old French Door unit for free. If I had been thinking I would have taken it and sold it.
VolkswagenFox21 said:
Another vote for Whirlpool. Our simple top freezer unit came with the house when it was built in 1996. Lasted until last year. Replaced it with a pretty much identical unit.
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After reading the https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/input-on-best-refrigerators-on-the-market-wanted.387302/ link I became aware of Linear compressors and the flammable R-600a isoButane.

That R-600a brings back memories. We were servicing the AC in a turn of the last century house. My dad placed a metal pan under the pet cock of the evaporator and opened it. Liquid fire came out. Looked like lava. That was a phosphoric refrigerant gas. Outlawed well before my time.

I told a friend who worked at Motorola about that. He told me they used the same stuff in their wafer fab equipment.
 
Whirlpool bought in ‘18 has needed new LED light module, new computer, and new icemaker which was backordered 3 or 4 months. It did stay cold during all that, but it cost me $500 in parts. 40 year old Whirlpool now out in garage has needed - a new light bulb.
 
Everything I read says to keep it simple. Failures of the water dispenser and ice maker account for more problems than all the other problems combined.

We have a 32" Maytag side by side (came with the house). The side by side approach doesn't work very well. Both sides are too narrow.

The cold water dispenser is nice to have but hardly essential. The ice maker doesn't work. It makes ice all right but the ice always tastes really bad. So we make ice with ice cube trays.

We're going to mile it out.
 
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