Which is the best refrigerator?

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Which is the best refrigerator?

  • Ddigital Inverter

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  • Linear Compressor

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I've got a Whirlpool washer/dryer and at my last house a Whirlpool (or related brand) fridge, dishwasher, and microwave. They were all fine. Currently I have a Samsung dishwasher and although it is amusing because it plays a little song when it finishes, it is confusing to operate and does not clean well.
 
Kitchens are typically designed with a gap in the counter, or a place along a wall, where the fridge is supposed to go.
I know what you mean. I built my own house and made the gap (height and width) to fit my fridge, I've replaced it once but had to carry measurements with me.
 
Not defending LG at all, but my LG fridge is the only thing that lasted between that, the washer / dryer and dishwasher (2014). There's a lawsuit for LG fridges, but mine isn't one.

As far as Whirlpool being made in America, they put them together in America, and put the sticker on in America. It's 100% China. I don't know about the fridge, but I have a Whirlpool Washer / Dryer and Maytag Dishwasher (2020) They are all worthless pieces of garbage.

Every major brand of appliance is garbage thanks to "Energy Star".
Whirlpool makes washers at a huge plant in Clyde, OH. They make almost all the parts for them there. It's only an hour or so from my home and I know a couple people that have worked there. I don't know that energy star has cheapened them but I do believe that companies have designed them to be made from a lot more plastic parts to keep the cost down and consequently they don't last 30 years any more. You sell more that way too.
 
One good thing at least is the mechanical components of these appliances are usually simple enough to DIY repair, and the parts aren't horribly expensive. In my experience the easiest thing to fix is a drying machine, followed perhaps by a dishwasher. I don't have much experience fixing the mechanical components of fridges or washing machines but I can't imagine they're crazy hard. So, if you're willing to spend ~$10 to $80 on parts and follow along to a Youtube video once every several years, the machines can last a long time.
 
I liked the old Whirlpool ( and Kenmore) washing machines. THe most common failure was the wig-wag or a water solenoid. Plus they did a good job of washing and rinsing. I had rather have clean clothes than save water.

I have a Whirlpool double oven that is 47 yrs old. I think I have replaced each element a couple of times. It has timer problems the buzzer has to have a rubber band to hold it off and the automatic timer (which I don't use) has a mind of its own and sometimes takes a week or more to get it to reset and hold. However I do not want an oven with circuit boards as they are prone to failure and expensive repair. I just need to open mine up do a bit of lead clipping and/or rewiring.
 
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Whirlpool makes washers at a huge plant in Clyde, OH. They make almost all the parts for them there. It's only an hour or so from my home and I know a couple people that have worked there. I don't know that energy star has cheapened them but I do believe that companies have designed them to be made from a lot more plastic parts to keep the cost down and consequently they don't last 30 years any more. You sell more that way too.

I almost refuse to believe that because in my mind I don't believe that Americans could make such absolute utter junk.
 
I liked the old Whirlpool ( and Kenmore) washing machines. THe most common failure was the wig-wag or a water solenoid. Plus they did a good job of washing and rinsing. I had rather have clean clothes than save water.

I have a Whirlpool double oven that is 47 yrs old. I think I have replaced each element a couple of times. It has timer problems the buzzer has to have a rubber band to hold it off and the automatic timer (which I don't use) has a mind of its own and sometimes takes a week or more to get it to reset and hold. However I do not want an oven with circuit boards as they are prone to failure and expensive repair. I just need to open mine up do a bit of lead clipping and/or rewiring.

i would keep that forever.
 
Flyover, I think they do make some non-standard types but they are incredibly expensive. Viking and SubZero make huge fridges in different styles but I've seen prices over $10k. One model we looked at was $15k. Waaay more than I would want to spend on the entire kitchen much less a single appliance.

I think my current fridge is a Kenmore but I'm not sure. Could be confusing it with the upright freezer. We have a 2nd fridge that I unplugged. I took everything out of it after the hurricane took power out but I never scrubbed all the flies out of it & it was our old fridge we were planning to discard eventually. I might see if I can get it down to the workshop to replace the old fridge down there. I don't think that old fridge is plugged in. It's ugly & brown (came that color) & used to belong to a late friend.
 
I almost refuse to believe that because in my mind I don't believe that Americans could make such absolute utter junk.
Oh, I can think of some examples where Americans tend to make absolute utter junk compared to other countries. Cars, hummus & felafel, film adaptations of Shakespeare plays...
 
I almost refuse to believe that because in my mind I don't believe that Americans could make such absolute utter junk.
I have a Viking wall oven made in Mississippi I believe. It's 5 years old now and has been nothing but trouble, my wife hates it. It wasn't cheap. I also have a Viking range bought at the same time. It's a little better but had trouble with that right out of the box. I doubt I would not buy Viking again. We have been really disappointed with their stuff.
 
I was thinking more about the washing machine thing...I've never had a washing machine fail to get my clothes clean, whether it was energy efficient or not. The only issue I've ever had with washing machines, be they old or new, foreign or domestic, is from being incorrectly loaded, to where they start thumping and jumping all over the place. (And of course, being the infallible saint that I am, I never was the one who loaded them unevenly, it was always someone else!)
 
The only issue I've ever had with washing machines, be they old or new, foreign or domestic, is from being incorrectly loaded, to where they start thumping and jumping all over the place.

That would be the top loader style with an agitator that can get unbalanced. Front loaders that tumble the clothes supposedly get them cleaner and are gentler on the clothes. Front loaders were popular in early 1900's but after doors popped open/seals leaked/houses/apartments got flooded they disappeared from the market. They weren't so bad when in the basement, but as washing machines moved up into the house and upper floors of apartment buildings, they became Machines Non Grata.
Now front loaders are back, especially in foreign brands, and as a newer novelty, much higher priced than conventional top loaders... and hopefully have new safeguards against flooding the home...
 
I have a Viking wall oven made in Mississippi I believe. It's 5 years old now and has been nothing but trouble, my wife hates it. It wasn't cheap. I also have a Viking range bought at the same time. It's a little better but had trouble with that right out of the box. I doubt I would not buy Viking again. We have been really disappointed with their stuff.

Never heard of Viking, but thanks for the tip...
 
Whirlpool makes washers at a huge plant in Clyde, OH. It's only an hour or so from my home...

I live about an hour west of Clyde. I bought two of the Whirlpool (under another brand name) 90+% efficiency furnaces for two different houses (at the same time) about, oh, 20-30 years ago. They've been totally dependable and really cut the heat bills down. I picked them because, at the time, they were the only brand with both heat exchangers made out of stainless steel. And also because they use readily available Honeywell controls instead of proprietary controls only available through one high priced source. I see on here that later models have a troublesome 'smart gas valve' with a printed circuit board on it and condensation drips on it damaging it. I also have a troublesome $350 'smart alternator' in my car now. So far, I've avoided the 'smart phones'. But have smart TV and TV projector.
 
Oh, I can think of some examples where Americans tend to make absolute utter junk compared to other countries. Cars, hummus & felafel, film adaptations of Shakespeare plays...

American made used to mean something, I remember the same dishwasher as a kid from when I could open my eyes until 5 or 6 years after I moved out of the folks house. I remember it taking about an hour for bone dry dishes, no such thing as "energy star" or chemical rinse aid. I rented forever and never paid attention, but as a new homeowner in 2014, I got a nice lesson from LG, GE, Samsung, and now Whirlpool / Maytag.

LG Washer and Dishwasher died, nothing catastrophic, just wouldn't work. It's not LG's belief that dishes can be dirty. Dishwasher wouldn't dry dishes.

LG Dryer settings never worked, always had to use the time dry function.

GE Dishwasher didn't dry with both heated dry functions selected. It was a lake inside. With both dry settings, it took 5 hours and 8 minutes to NOT DRY.

Samsung double oven / range still smells of the chemical coating after 3 years, won't heat to temp, will not heat within 75 degrees with oven divider in, won't light burners half of the time. Display needs replacing.

Maytag dryer smelled of chemicals for a month. Just for fun, I called tech support. Was told to check the vent for a dead rat. Kids... Had to have it replaced with a Whirlpool after the replacement Maytag also smelled of chemicals, albeit not nearly as bad as the first.

Whirlpool dryer has a "touch screen" that doesn't respond half the time, won't dry evenly, takes well over an hour for a few towels. (I clean the vent twice a year).

Whirlpool washer "clean washer" function only cleans the bottom 6th of the tub, as selecting deep water isn't allowed.

Maytag dishwasher doesn't dry with "long power dry" setting any better than with no dry setting. It's a little less than a lake inside, but was advertised as able to dry without rinse aid. It doesn't have fold down tines, which makes zero sense.

I had a service call for the Samsung double oven for the temperature issue, the tech said it was useless to use the divider, meaning there's no point in buying a double oven. A fresh pizza, like Papa Murphy's, takes 40 minutes or so. During his visit, I asked him about LG. He said his shop doesn't touch them at all. They flat out refuse. Now, if a repair shop that is getting paid by me or by the warranty simply refuses to touch an entire brand, that says something.

None of this is common sense "pull your head out" user error situations. It's the "Energy Star" garbage. I asked GE customer service how it saves energy if it takes more than 5 hours compared to my parents that took an hour in the 80's... The rep, probably born in 2000 or so, said the dishwasher "spaced out the energy over the 5 hours instead of concentrating it."

I didn't even argue. I just said "Thank you, goodbye", and then realized we are completely screwed.
 
As to dishwashers, Cascade in green box used to advertise the hell out of their dishwashing soap... but it didn't work... I found lower priced ElectraSol in the white box to work much better... neighbor said his dishwasher was junk, didn't work, and he used the 'proper' soap in the 'green box'... he switched to white box and also got satisfactory results then...
"Pooling" in bottom of dishwasher sounds like a partially clogged drain screen or uneven leveling... maybe a too long or too high drain hose is causing pumped out water to flow back in after the pumpout pump stops...
Used to use Glamorene carpet shampoo that did a great job and cleaned out everything. But apparently it was outlawed as benzene declared a carcinogen. Now have to buy carpet shampoo plus a half dozen specific additives to get something that kinda works...
 
Keep in mind that if they say "made in America" it can include things made in Saipan by Chinese workers in sweatshop conditions because Saipan is part of a US commonwealth (of northern Marianas islands).
Stuff made within the US now is mostly made by prison inmates because they can force them to work for free or for less than minimum wage. In some cases it's essentially slave labor. They don't have much incentive for quality control. One of the reasons private prisons want to have so many inmates is they not only get paid to have them, they can use them as labor. I need to find the article about it that explained where most of the "American" made stuff was actually manufactured. Kind of sad.

Sorry to hear the Viking brand isn't reliable, but I'm glad I read that because I know to avoid that brand.

I have a dishwasher-- not sure what brand-- but I use it as an island for food prep and as a drying rack. Nothing ever gets clean in it-- probably because of the hard water. I also hate bending because of my back (as I mentioned before) so I don't like dishwashers. If it was higher up and didn't involve bending, it would be fine.

I hope I won't have to replace my fridge for a very very long time.
 
Keep in mind that if they say "made in America" it can include things made in Saipan by Chinese workers in sweatshop conditions because Saipan is part of a US commonwealth (of northern Marianas islands).
Stuff made within the US now is mostly made by prison inmates because they can force them to work for free or for less than minimum wage. In some cases it's essentially slave labor. They don't have much incentive for quality control. One of the reasons private prisons want to have so many inmates is they not only get paid to have them, they can use them as labor. I need to find the article about it that explained where most of the "American" made stuff was actually manufactured. Kind of sad.

Sorry to hear the Viking brand isn't reliable, but I'm glad I read that because I know to avoid that brand.

I have a dishwasher-- not sure what brand-- but I use it as an island for food prep and as a drying rack. Nothing ever gets clean in it-- probably because of the hard water. I also hate bending because of my back (as I mentioned before) so I don't like dishwashers. If it was higher up and didn't involve bending, it would be fine.

I hope I won't have to replace my fridge for a very very long time.

Thanks for that info, I didn't know about Saipan. I have commented about Prisons for a long time, there shouldn't be any private ones.

I have wondered for a long time about Wolf ranges / ovens. I might as well save for one for a few years because they cost as much as a used car, but one thing I will guarantee right now is I'm not buying a new Big Box store appliance ever again. I will kill off the ones I have or repair them, or buy used versions of them, but never new.

I also want one of those commercial dishwashers that is done in 4 minutes that I used as a HS kid at Godfather's. I know there is several brands in the 20-30 minute range, which of course would be fine. I wouldn't even care if they dried that good if they were done that fast.

I have whole back issues, every bend down threatens to give me a week vacation from doing anything.
 
Welcome to the forum.

Where I retired from we made refrigerators up to 1958 when the business moved out of town. I retired a couple years ago and there were still units made there running 24-7 keeping the guys lunches cold. Too many to count.

I know for a fact they were never recharged or worked on in any way during the 43 years I was there. That says a lot for the ability of a sealed piston system.

As to new units built today your guess is as good as mine.
Thank you..

They say Digital inverter refrigerators these days are leading the food preservation and is already a great invention which is cost savings, less noise, reduced carbon footprint and a longer lifespan for the compressor. Until compressor will go against the leakages, radiation load, human, and other appliances.
 
Thanks for that info, I didn't know about Saipan. I have commented about Prisons for a long time, there shouldn't be any private ones.

I have wondered for a long time about Wolf ranges / ovens. I might as well save for one for a few years because they cost as much as a used car, but one thing I will guarantee right now is I'm not buying a new Big Box store appliance ever again. I will kill off the ones I have or repair them, or buy used versions of them, but never new.

I also want one of those commercial dishwashers that is done in 4 minutes that I used as a HS kid at Godfather's. I know there is several brands in the 20-30 minute range, which of course would be fine. I wouldn't even care if they dried that good if they were done that fast.

I have whole back issues, every bend down threatens to give me a week vacation from doing anything.
Saipan is a beautiful place- well, it was last time I went there-- which was about 20 years ago. Time flies. Small island. Lots of WWII sites. There used to be a 5minute flight from Saipan to Tinian. My mom went to the casino on Saipan while my dad and I went boonie stomping on Tinian. Found ourselves a midden pile of coke bottles from WWII. We collected a bunch of them.

I've never heard of Wolf ranges before. Never heard of a 4 minute dishwasher either. That would be awesome.

Daniel, thanks for the info on the digital inverters. I'll have to look it up some day. I think my fridge has the older type since it's over 15 years old. I'd love to see a side by side comparison of the different types. Something that works reliably and draws less power would be good.
 
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