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Tell me what features you want/like in a fridge.
We'll need a new fridge at the next house. Our current fridge (not taking with us) is just a standard top freezer, Kenmore, I think around 19 cu ft (It's not marked anywhere on the serial label or manual and I couldn't find any specs online so thats just a guess...) It's fine, I have no complaints. Doesn't have a water or working ice dispenser (there was no water line ran and we just never ran one). I'm not sure if there is a water line ran for the fridge in the next house.
What else is there to a fridge these days? Any particular brand better than another? Any brands I should totally avoid?
And a question about sizing, I measured the height and width of the opening when we had our second showing there, but forgot to measure the depth. Am I safe just buying something counter depth? (FWIW we're moving over a holiday weekend so I wanted to order ahead so I could schedule delivery on moving day so we wouldn't be without a fridge for a long period of time. I plan on paying cash...)
I don't think i'm really into the whole bottom freezer configuration. IL's and my parents both have one and I feel like they only really use stuff on the very top regularly and the stuff on the bottom just sits in there and gets old. lol
Re: Tell me what features you want/like in a fridge.
Hi, I'm new here on the nest but I wanted to add to this post....
I am still renting (I've been lurking on this board and the Buying a Home board for awhile since we are looking to buy soon). However I actually am pretty observant about the fridges people have and what I like.
My favorite so far is the fridge on top with side-by-side doors. I like this because in a smaller space, its really easy to not have the huge swing out door on the fridge. I agree that I'm not crazy about freezer on the bottom, but the side by side (Freezer on one side, fridge on the other) are known for not being as energy efficient and also can be a poor use of space.
I think LG is generally considered to have the best fridges (at least according to people I know and Good Housekeeping).
Our house came with a french door bottom freezer giant fridge and it's great. I love the water/ice in the door which we didn't have before. There is also an "alarm" that you can set, I assume for people with kids if they don't want the kids in the fridge. Not sure how necessary it is, but it might be nice to have.
I actually love the bottom freezer because it allows me to compartmentalize and not have frozen stuff come tumbling down on me.
FYI on ordering ahead, we tried that with our washer and dryer from Home Depot. We paid for it 4 weeks before we moved in so it would be delivered that weekend. Two days before, they called to say that the dryer was backordered and that neither appliance would be delivered for another FOUR weeks. We couldn't live without laundry for a month and had to scramble to find another set. I would see if you could get them to guarantee delivery for your specific date since obviously a fridge is essential.
Are you close to Philly? The place we ended up getting our dryer from last minute was GREAT and does price matching. They're family owned/operated and had the best service i've ever experienced.
Main things for us were in door ice/water and fit into the space.
We ended up with a kenmore elite 33" wide, but still 25 cu feet.
Wives Unscripted
Samsung, French Door (Bottom Freezer), Ice Maker, Water Filter, Door Alarm
The water dispenser was an added $700 so we opted to not get that, we have well water and a full home sediment filter so I was fine with sink water.
I wouldn't buy counter depth without going back to measure depth and deciding that's what will really fit best. There are some tradeoffs with counter depth that are worth it in some instances, but are reasons to make sure you really need counter depth. Namely, they're more expensive, and they hold a lot less.
I really like our french door fridge (which is counter depth). We have a 2nd hand me down fridge from my parents in the basement to make up for the reduced capacity. There are only 2 of us, but we need it when we host on holidays. The french door style works really well for us. I like having the fridge on top, since that's what I go into more often.
I think counter depth is worth it in our kitchen. You can see how much more the regular depth sticks out. But I don't think the drawbacks would be for everyone.
Counter depth:
Regular depth:
PS, wow, my kitchen used to look like that!?
We have a whirlpool gold French door and I love it. I like havig a "wide" fridge portion so I can fit large pans in there like cookie sheets without shoving the door closed.
I actually use the bottom freezer pretty well. There are 2 slide out baskets where I keep smaller things and then under that still stores quite a but of food.
We did get the water/ice dispenser in the door as well and use that all the time. One thing we did not think of when designing our kitchen remodel and ordering appliances is the door clearance required for the fridge. The left side is against a wall so we can't open the door all the way toget the ice maker bucket out. Oops! We did scoot down the cabinets to so we can get thins in and out but we just don't have total opening space for the left door. So measure this and how deep your fridge needs to be before ordering
Definitely go back and measure the depth! We double checked right before we ordered our fridge and I'm happy we did.
We ordered from Lowes a month before we closed on the house. We had the delivery date set for the day after closing and it worked out great.
I didn't get the bottom freezer (french doors) because we went to the store with my 2 year old and he was able to open the bottom drawer fairly easily. He doesn't have the leverage to open the regular doors yet.
I like the icemaker inside the door. It may not hold as much ice, but it's enough for us. Having more space to store food in the main part of the freezer is well worth it.
Counter depth is nice, but I couldn't bring myself to pay more for it.
I'd get the most cu ft that can fit in the space.
Personally I love having the freezer on the bottom. I don't go into the freezer that much and it's much nicer than always bending over to get in the crisper drawers or to get stuff out of the back of the bottom shelf. Everything you need is just right there in front of you.
The only thing I don't like is fridges with those really wide but really narrow drawers (are they only on bottom freezers?) I don't get that, and I don't feel like I have a lot that would fit in there.
When we were shopping, my requirements were a french door bottom freezer and filtered water inside the fridge (not in the door). In door is much more expensive and it takes up a lot of valuable door storage space. Ours has the filtered water inside the fridge, so you open up the door and it's on the inside wall of the fridge. We never use ice so I didn't care if I have to go into the freezer for ice on occasion.
I have grown to love that it makes a ding if I leave the door open too long. The french door fridges can sometimes look closed but not actually be all the way closed.
Go back and get the depth counter depth fridges are generally more expensive then regular depth.
We have a Samsung French door with an ice maker and water filter, neither is in the door. We just prefer the look with a plain door. I love the French door style it's much easier to store pizza or veggie trays. Plus I think it's much easier to see the food it the freezer.
I have had bottom freezer fridges most of my life, and prefer them to the others. My mom had an amazing one when I was growing up, with a pedal to step on to open the freezer and adjustable lazy susan shelves. Of course, it was pink with turquoise interior and copper shelves, but it's function made up for the color.lol Now my mom has a side by side, and I hate it. I'm mostly there at holidays, and there isn't enough room for large pans and everything is hard to access. She has to have an additional freezer, just to hold a big turkey and pizzas.
I don't use the freezer for too much more than my dog's raw food, so I really appreciate having everything I do use daily, the stuff in the fridge, closer to eye level and easier to access. I would prefer french door though.... in part because the doors don't eat up as much space when they are open.
When we get a new fridge (our current one is 18 yrs old and on its last legs), I am really looking forward to easier access for the freezer. Our freezer just has one drawer, so it is hard to access the shelf without getting down there. Not that big of a deal, but right now I am having vertigo issues, so bending down is not a good thing. ;p
We are in the process of selecting new appliances for a home we just purchased (closed last month).
We have narrowed it down to a Kitchen Aid fridge. It has the following feature we like;
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