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I want to replace my fridge. 23 year old 25.4 CF Kenmore SxS with water and ice in the door with a french door model. My Kenmore has been rock solid for 21 years with the exception of a start relay and door closer shims which were cheap, quick and easy to replace. I haven't ruled out new, but I would prefer used/road tested and realize there are risks. I've looked at a lot of them. New and Used. I don't really care about water in the door, but I do like my ice (crushed) in the door. I am starting to think I may be better off without water and ice in the door as far as problems are concerned. If they're quick, easy and inexpensive problems I don't mind as long as they're not chronic. I can fix those. I saw one Kitchenaid model that had steel roller slides on all the drawers and the freezer. I really likes that feature. Some of the others were just plastic sliding on plastic, and some were nylon rollers sliding on plastic. There seems to be a couple of schools of thought on these water-and-ice-in-the-door units. I've seen small footprint ones in the freezer cabinet, full size ones in the freezer cabinet and some "slim" ones on the back of the freezer door. I've also seen some models with TWO ice makers. One for the in-the-door dispenser and one down below shelling out the crescent cubes. I understand some of them have their own cooling system, and others have freezer air blown up from the bottom. Any advantages or disadvantages to these types? There appears to be pretty good documentation available for most of the mainstream brands, though I've found Samsung to be somewhat difficult to find. Many places don't don't have knowledgeable sales folks. Some of the appliance specialty stores have decent sales folks which are ok as far as features go, but they don't have a lot of info on reliability and customer satisfaction. Hence my posing the questins here. I would welcome any advice/suggestions as far as brand/model/system type reliability and performance. Keeping in mind maintenance (parts availability and pricing) as well. Anything good to look for, anything to steer clear of? Or is this just a crap shoot. Get the one I want with the features I want and "deal with it" ? Thank you.

My wife takes her laundry seriously. This means when our machine acts up, it's a crisis and I'm the guy who gets the call to put things right again. In the past five years, more or less, we have gone through three machines. The first one was a Maytag front loader. That one worked well for many years but then ran into mechanical issues. The cost of repairs would have been more than a new machine just for parts, so we scrapped it and purchased an LG HE machine. That one was a joke. It would wiggle and jiggle and occasionally kind of slosh the clothes around. It took over two hours to complete a normal load. It got worse and we finagled a warranty repair, at two years, and it did do better for a while. Then it started getting perpetual "unbalanced load" errors that would stop the machine dead in it's tracks. It would take all day to complete a couple of loads. My wife finally said enough. Even though it technically wasn't broken, she demanded a replacement machine. For the third machine we selected what I thought was a pretty straight forward, top-loading machine; the Kenmore VMW 110.22352510. My wife's been pretty happy with this unit until lately when it started stopping between cycles and wouldn't advance from one cycle to the next. Manually, you can move through all the cycles, but it requires that you baby sit the machine all the way through a load. I looked into this and have learned quite a bit about the Kenmore (Whirlpool) machine and it's issues. I figured out the code system and installed a new shift actuator based on the F7E5 code and initially this solved the problem. Now the thing is starting to do the same thing - stopping mid cycle. I've run the calibration mode and it will be a few days and loads of laundry to see if this helps at all. It's running a load right now. I may be back looking for more specific answers on this machine, but that's not the question of the day. My question is this: In reading about the Kenmore, it seems the consensus of this machine is that it is a piece of junk. The LG was junk. The Maytag worked well but was poorly engineered and prone to failures. So what machine is worth purchasing? I don't need a lot of features. The machine just need to wash a load of cloths reliably. I don't think that should be a big lift for a machine called a "washing machine". What is recommend?

Was looking at heat pump electric dryers as the prices come down, how are these doing as far as reliability? How expensive are they to repair? I am particularly interested in the Whirlpool hybrid models - and would prefer if I could find an American-made dyer to boot -

Samsung's in the news lately with exploding washers and tablet computers. So people may be wondering how reliable Samsung appliances are. Here's a good article from the Yale Appliance blog comparing Samsung repair rates with industry averages. Yale Appliance and Lighting [website] is a large appliance dealer and service center in the Boston area. Yale completes over 20,000 service calls per year so I expect their results to be a good representation of reality. One comment that caught my eye, "Also, many technicians cannot fix the Korean brands for whatever reason. You may want to check that your dealer can service before you buy Samsung or LG." You may be asking yourself why this is the case. This illustrates a huge problem in the appliance repair trade today: there is a critical shortage of skilled technicians who understand appliance technology (basic electricity and electronics, motors and motor control systems, microprocessor-based control systems, etc.) and know how to troubleshoot. As a result, many appliance servicers are really parts changers who do "troubleshooting" by pattern recognition: if this problem, replace that part. So if something merely looks different than what they're used to seeing, they're at a complete loss. The reality is that electricity works the same way in Korea as it does everywhere else on Planet Earth and the Koreans are using the same technology as all the other manufacturers. But because the Koreans give more details in their service information (for example, showing circuit details of their control boards) parts changers freak out and think they're using space-age technology. The Koreans aren't going away. Samsung in particular is gaining US market share faster than any other manufacturer. For a service company to refuse to work on them or to not acquire the technical skills and competence needed to be an effective appliance technician today is a bad business decision and a recipe for low income or bankruptcy. Link to original article: http://blog.yaleappliance.com/are-samsung-appliances-reliable Are Samsung Appliances Reliable? (Reviews) I was watching the news last week and learning about Samsung's problems with phones exploding for no clear reason. Most new products have issues in my experience. The computer industry innocently calls them bugs. Exploding products is a problem especially when you deliver them in your home. Gas ranges, dishwashers, and laundry can cause more damage than a phone. So I wanted to answer the question: Are Samsung appliances reliable? Measure of Reliability Every year our service department completes over 20,000 service calls. Our formula is service calls divided by sales as a percentage of service within the first year. Then we compare brands and products as we have in various articles for a 12 month period. We will compare Samsung's service rates to the industry in their major categories: Cooking (not including microwaves, because they do not break in any brand), laundry, dishwashers and French door refrigerators. BTW, these numbers always change as they are measured on a 12-month rolling basis. Also, we have only sold Samsung for 18 months, so I do not know about the products manufactured before 2014. Samsung Reliability Numbers October 2015-October 2016 Laundry Front Load Washers: 13 Serviced / 130 sold - 10% Top Load Washers: 0 Serviced / 35 sold - 0% Dryers: 10 Serviced / 92 sold - 10.4% Industry average is just over 11%, so Samsung is slightly better. There have been 21 cases of the top load breaking apart due to the rod unfastening. However, 21 out of millions sold since 2011 throughout the country seems relatively small. However, this could be a concern. Read Most Reliable Washers to compare against other brands Dishwashers Dishwashers: 4 Serviced / 107 Sold - 3.7% The average for all dishwashers is about 10.9%, so Samsung is more reliable. Read Most Reliable Dishwashers to compare against other brands Gas Cooking Gas Cooking: 13 Serviced / 178 Sold - 7.3% Samsung is serviced about half the average of about 14% in gas ranges. Read Most Reliable Gas Ranges to compare against other brands French Door Refrigeration French Door Refrigerators: 71 Serviced / 425 sold - 16.7% Refrigerators have service rates of 20% or more. Icemakers are the number one service call at Yale. Sending a frozen cube through a cool refrigerator dispenser will cause leaks over time. 16.7% is not great, but still better than the total. Read Most Reliable French Doors to compare against other brands Should You Buy a Samsung Appliance? People ask me about what to buy all the time on this blog. I always say the same thing. I like what does not break because we have to fix broken appliances. But I will answer the question on Samsung more directly. The product seems reliable as the numbers show. When there are problems, their logistics of parts and technical support are not as easy as a Frigidaire or Bosch. Also, many technicians cannot fix the Korean brands for whatever reason. You may want to check that your dealer can service before you buy Samsung or LG. However, the product seems to be designed incredibly well. The new induction with the blue LED “flame” is creative, as are the designs of the French doors and front load laundry. A company who has battled Apple successfully over the years (until recently) cannot be underestimated especially in a staid industry like appliances. Additional Resources Looking for answers before you buy major appliances? Get the Yale Appliance Buying Guide with detailed profiles of the major brands plus answers to the 10 most asked questions. Well over 185,000 people have read a Yale Guide. Related Articles Best Stainless Packages 5 Best Counter Depth Refrigerators

Post at my blog: https://appliantology.org/blogs/entry/957-are-samsung-appliances-reliable/

Hi esteemed Samurai, I am on the hunt for a primary refrigerator after a home renovation, and the space requires a counter-depth fridge. The Mrs. and I like a side-by-side configuration for features and value. I have so far narrowed it down to two models, the Whirlpool WRS571CIDM vs. the Frigidaire FGHC2331PF. My number one concern is reliability of the unit, followed by usability. The Frigidaire is a bit bigger and I like that, but I have seen some of you guys recommend Whirlpool and wanted to check in here to see if you think the Frigidaire would be more or less reliable than the Whirlpool. Would it be foolish to get a Frigidaire over a Whirlpool, or will their reliability be roughly equivalent? Thoughts welcome, and thanks for the amazing repair help over the years. Cheers, Adam