Looking for a Refrigerator - suggestions?

Looking for reliability ? Then keep your next fridge purchase as simple as possible. All these digital & audio do-dads, that make what could be a relatively simple machine, into an information data center juggernaut, some of which have three separate circuit boards in them, and also makes them more likely to fail sooner, simply because there are so many more components in them that can fail.

I'm a part time handy man and have seen four of my neighbors 'higher' end fridges fail and all were less than 5 years old, and all the contents lost, because of a faulty circuit board.

I prefer the Whirlpool family of appliances, of which Amana, Maytag, Jenn air, and Kitchenaid are a part of. They work well and parts are priced reasonable. The 25 cubic foot Amana fridge we bought 2 years ago for $775, uses the exact same compressor & cooling coils as the 25 cubic foot, all fancied up, $2,900 Kitchenaid.

Try and find a fridge with manual cold controls, where you have to turn a knob to adjust the temperature , if you can, and keep it as simple as possible so you can look forward to another 20+ years of good service.

Whirlpool is good, or Frigidaire. Frankly, if you buy one with too many bells/whistles, there is more to go wrong. I prefer top-mounted freezer; I am not happy with the odd placement one has to do with side by sides.

Definitely stay away from the French door models. As Ponderer said, you have to open BOTH doors to see what's inside or get at what you need. One door is NEVER wide enough. And the doors have to be closed in the correct order too. What a PITA. Plus you have to stoop down to get at what's in the freezer. Stick with a good ol' side by side with ice and water in the door and basic analog controls like Pat F85 said. Also, I am the owner of a "vintage" refrigerator. A 1954 International Harvester model. "Femineered" for Her. No joke. It says it right on it. It's my kegerator in my Man Cave. I've had to have it serviced a few times, and one of the things the refrigeration techs told me the worst things you can do to a refrigerator is to turn them off for an extended period of time (like longer than a week.) I'm sure that's probably more true with older units than newer ones what with better materials for the seals, but probably still more true than not.

Anyway, good luck with your choices.

French doors are okay. One drawback is the wide drawer. You have to open both doors to get it open. I would avoid that. Ice and water in the door is priceless.

this too is a website so why would you trust any reviews here?

Make Sure Its Runinng!!!!