Parents looking for new fridge

[MikeMike]

Well, the old 20 year old fridge has bit the dust. My parents are looking for a new fridge, side by side, is what my dad would like... quality, and reliability is top... it does not have to have the water dispenser/ice dispenser as there is no water line to where our fridge is..

so with those as your qualifiers, start recommending them!

 

[MikeMike]

Anyone have experience with Amana Fridges? they look nice, and the french door style ones with the slide out bottom freezer might be useful for them as well...

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Haven't looked since we bought ours 5 years ago. Got a Frigidaire Gallery series for 1300 ish. Sidexside with door water and ice. I'd say just shop around and go with price/feature set. These days its hard to really know who makes what parts since everyone outsources and brands.

 

[MikeMike]

is there anyone who has experience with both the side by side, and the french door w/ freezer drawer? any drawbacks to the latter, as i feel my parents would benefit from the wider fridge.

 

[krylon]

Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
is there anyone who has experience with both the side by side, and the french door w/ freezer drawer? any drawbacks to the latter, as i feel my parents would benefit from the wider fridge.

I have an Amana with the french doors and bottom freezer. Definitely can't go wrong with one of those!

 

[nonameo]

Huge block of dry ice for the win.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
is there anyone who has experience with both the side by side, and the french door w/ freezer drawer? any drawbacks to the latter, as i feel my parents would benefit from the wider fridge.

I think a bottom freezer has less space than a top freezer because of the drawer. I'm not sure how top or bottom freezers compare to side by side.

 

[lxskllr]

A fridge is a fridge. Get a decent brand(you've heard of it before) which has the features, and size you need.

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
is there anyone who has experience with both the side by side, and the french door w/ freezer drawer? any drawbacks to the latter, as i feel my parents would benefit from the wider fridge.

I think a bottom freezer has less space than a top freezer because of the drawer. I'm not sure how top or bottom freezers compare to side by side.

Side x sides typically have smaller, condensed freezer space when compared to bottom or top mount freezers. This is especially true if the side by side has an ice maker as the ice maker is typically mounted in either the door of the freezer or the top left corner taking up a drastic amount of space.

Go with a decent brand (Kenmore, Whirlpool, Maytag) with the features your parents want. The best bet is to go to the local stores (Sears, Home Depot, Lowes) and let them pick out the fridge they want.

 

[ElFenix]

a friend has a very expensive bottom drawer freezer and i don't much like the fact that ice isn't dispensed. they are made with dispensers that take up room in the refrigerator part, though.

 

[MikeMike]

they dont have a water one now, and just use normal ice from trays... they also dont keep very much in the freezer other than extra meat when it is on sale, they shop every week for that weeks food, and will maybe keep, ice, ice cream, etc but they do keep a lot of left overs for the next day...

 

[dullard]

As said above, a fridge is a fridge. It is an insulated box with drawers and a compressor. Don't overthink it or overspend. There is no refrigerator perfect rule of thumb (as they all have exceptions), but here are some guidelines.

1) Side-by-side are the most convenient. But the massive wall between them eats a lot of space. I mean a lot of space. I went from a top/bottom fridge to a side-by-side that was 3" taller, 3" wider, and 2" deeper. The top/bottom fridge held more.

2) Shop by price and by energy costs. A $600-$800 fridge is usually quite a good one. You don't need to spend $2000+. Fridges use a massive amount of energy and an inexpensive one could cost you in the long term as the energy costs rise.

3) Some idiot invented the shortcut "fridge" when "refrigerator" has no "d".

4) Bottom freezers can put the main items (usually fridge items) at eye level. But, they tend to put the coldest part right near the hot compressor. Thus, they can be quite energy inefficient (but some are good). Be certain to check the energy tags if you want a bottom freezer.

5) Oh, and shop by size. It would really suck to wait for the delivery just to find out that it won't fit.

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: dullard

5) Oh, and shop by size. It would really suck to wait for the delivery just to find out that it won't fit.

When we bought a new fridge a few years back, it wouldn't fit though the door, so the delivery people took the doors off. So, measuring all the way to the handles would be a good 'safety'.

If your parents stuck with a 20 year old fridge, just get a solid white Kenmore at Sears. Good price and quality. I think the salesman said that Kenmores were rebadged models of a better brand.

 

[oiprocs]

Get a black one so you don't look as fat.

 

[Capt Caveman]

If your parents plan to keep this new one for 20 years, make sure to get an energy star rated fridge. I have a 26 cuft side by side Frigidaire and it costs me less than $50 a year in electricity.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

I think bottom freezers are stupid. Nothing like digging through stuff to find the thing you wanted that is on the bottom.

A side by side versus a top freezer though It's a tough call. We have a side by side and we can fit anything into the freezer side really. There must be some sort of standardization because frozen pizzas and some other things I have bought fit perfectly into side by sides.

Regarding price. Anything over $1000 is pointless unless it has some sort of feature that you need (need not want).

I think we spent $700 on ours 3 years ago. It was a GE that was on sale. Side By side. Nicer models have nicer features. For example, non of the shelves in ours are adjustable. After you have it for a month though, you realize that adjustable shelves on the freezer side are not a necessity. Just make sure the fridge side has adjustable shelves. That is handy since you can make short shelves for things like soda cans and pasta sauce. Thus maximizing space.