Most Reliable Modern Refrigerator?

So, my heuristic for appliances:

Find a vendor that targets customers who lose money if the appliance fails, and is unable to be quickly repaired.

So far, this has been a good way to locate Vulcan Ranges, SpeedQueen washers/dryers, and True refrigerators.

Now...there are drawbacks to this approach. Many of these brands don't target the price-point, convenience features, or aesthetic that consumer brands do. But, if the price is right, you may find something reliable you can live with.

https://true-residential.com/

Neighbor used a propane run refrigerator for some 30+ years. When it failed, tried to replace it with similar model. Unfornateluy, the company had gone out of business some 15+ years prior. No spare parts were available. BTW company went out of business as the result of limited repeat customers.

My fridge advice is KISS - nothing in the door - no water dispenser (this is called a faucet), no ice dispenser (this is called a scoop). I like my current fridge as it also allows you to bypass the built in water filter by simply inserting a plug.

I wouldn't buy a Samsung anything given my experiences. That said... the LG washer and dryer I bought 12 years ago have been awesome and the LG fridge I bought a while back has been very good too. Enough that my partner pushed to buy a new LG dishwasher from Costco rather than springing for the Bosch that I wanted. FWIW: My mom has had an LG fridge for a few years now too and raves about it.

Just because the fridge is having a problem doesn’t necessarily mean you have to replace it - there are lots of resources for identifying problems and buying parts online. I had a relatively new fridge stop working, and it just needed a $35 part which was pretty easy to order and install.

When I was shopping for a refrigerator, I went to a local appliance center and talked to a person there. I learned a few things:

- In door water dispensers and ice makers are unreliable and will likely break.

- Availability of repair technicians and spare parts varies by brand and is region dependent.

- Different brands are good at different appliances. For instance, Bosch is well known for their dishwashers. Unfortunately I didn't find one in my budget that clearly stood out from the rest.

Never hurts to talk to someone at a local appliance center if you have one nearby.

Personally I relied a lot on the Yale appliance blog to help me learn what appliances to get. Long story short though, there's a non-negligible chance your appliance will fail, so plan for it. Make sure you know who to call, and that they're service reviews are good.

https://blog.yaleappliance.com/most-reliable-counter-depth-f...

SubZero is known for being the best in the industry. It's amazing how much longer food lasts. They are expensive though, so if it is in your budget, I would absolutely recommend.

(UK perspective.)

I'm a big fan of Miele. Their appliances are very solid, enduring and priced accordingly.

https://www.miele.co.uk

Since your last fridge was a Samsung, I might introduce a distinctly Korean heuristics for appliances: 백색가전은 LG. This translates to "LG for white appliances".

Now I don't know if LG is actually better nowadays, but it is one of those interesting marketing tactics that must have paid dividends for LG because it is still the first thing I think of when I think about buying white appliances.

Also, I don't actually recommend this heuristics. Just thought it could be an interesting data point :)

I've just started looking at appliances in general as we are planning some home renovations. Miele seems to be one of the few that are making products intended to last and be serviceable in the residential space. Premium pricing though.

I've had great experiences with Viking. Bosch is sometimes mentioned, but in my experience, it may be more maintenance friendly, but it breaks just as often (dishwasher and oven both needed major part replacements withing 7 years ownership).

I'm definitely interested in seeing what others have to say. I would like lasting quality, but not at the expense of efficiency and a small slice of modern features (ice dispenser being the main one), so vintage doesn't really meet my needs. I just know that I won't buy another appliance made by a large electronics brand like Samsung, LG, etc. Poor reliability + poor service ability paired with 'smart' features I have zero interest in.

yeah, they aren't made like in the 60s anymore; I wouldn't say 6-7 years isn't criminally unreliable, but it is incredibly disappointing and would be a big negative mark for considering the same manufacturer again.

On the plus side, in comparison to 60s fridges they're quite a bit more energy efficient.

I would avoid ultra bottom end fridges that do not have active fan cooling. I would go for lower end to middle of the road type budgets.

Try a different manufacturer. Whirlpool can be price competitive. To me, quality wise they seem not bad, but often can have mediocre OEM components that fail within the time range you experienced on your Samsung fridge. If it's a component that's easily replaceable (in this case, not compressor related) that's something I can tolerate.

To the OP, is it something that broke that would not be economically practical to get repaired by a professional?

Recently on HN:

https://www.failscout.co/

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30335314

I'm interested in a fridge that allows you to easily clean the coils.

I have a Samsung fridge that came with the house. The ice has built up twice in 6 months and needed to be left unplugged and open for it to thaw to prevent a loud noise.

Now it is leaky at one of the legs.

It is much larger than a traditional fridge and the coils are not visible. I believe they are behind a panel at the back (bottom) of the fridge.

Ideally the coils would be easily accessible so they can be cleaned periodically.

I am thinking about a new refrigerator. I spent the money to buy a Consumer Reports subscription, but their "reviews" did nothing to help me.

I’d suggest shopping the nearest scratch and dent for the models that fit your needs and spend a few minutes searching for reviews and issues on those specific models, then go with the best of the bunch.

From what I can tell these days even reputable brands have bad models and spotty quality. So I’d just try to spend as little as possible and screen for any stand out problems before buying.

Samsung fridges are terrible. We've had to repair ours twice in a few months and eventually threw it out. It was still under warranty, but fridges are something you generally don't want failing even if you get the money back.

Hitachi and LG have worked fine for us, but it's been less than 10 years.

I (briefly) had a Samsung fridge. Made weird noises. Impossible to clean without breaking stuff. Apparently designed by a team that had never seen a fridge before. Or perhaps by misanthropes who also hated all fridgekind.

Switched to a modest (no gimmick) Haier. Love it. Simple, quiet, easy to clean.

I have a bunch of Samsung stuff and have found that they are often overly ambitious with features that seem poorly tested, especially for reliability but that can be fixed by watching youtube. Granted your time may be better spent elsewhere.

if you don't need a smart fridge (which i wouldn't recommend anyway), i love GE's fridges. we have one. works great. i've also heard great stuff about whirlpool fridges.

note that the appliance industry is incestuous as fuck. it's basically a cabal of six selling stuff at all price points. see here: http://www.appliance411.com/purchase/make.shtml