Repairability of built-in appliances

[starpal]

  Hello,

We are planning the new kitchen and are considering counterdepth built in refrigerator and wall ovens for the first time.

Is access to repair these units in general any more difficult than free standing refrigerators and ranges?

I have learned enough to avoid the 'furrin' brands. Do the GE Monogram engineers/designers have the same educational requirements as the rest of the much heralded GE product line?

How do the Frigidaire kitchen appliances treat you?  We were looking at the matching pair of PLFU1778ES and PLRU1778ES 32"wide built in refrig and freezer - large capacity and not a lot of extraneous bells and whistles. 

http://www.frigidaire.com/products/refrigerators/all_refrigerator/Large_Upright/prod_PLRU1778E.asp

Also, the PLEB30T9FC is a fully featured double convection wall oven for a comparatively reasonable price -

http://www.frigidaire.com/products/cooking/built-in_ovens/double_electric/prod_PLEB30T9FC.asp

Any thoughts and advice is very much appreciated.

Paul

[BrntToast]

ok, you are going to take the biggest fridge frigidaire makes and build it into a wall.....  they have legs, not wheels, and let me guess your going to do this on top of a nice new hard wood floor?

read your frigidaire manual carefully, it is customers resonsibility to make machine accessable

as a frigidaire warranty servicer i read that line to customers with those units built in then ask them to pull them out of the wall so i can get behind them, i will not pull those with no wheels across hardwood

you might think i sound a lil abrupt saying that, but i am still saving to put hardwood in my home, be damned if i pay to do it in someone elses first

as for the wall oven, numerous repairs require removal as well so same access rule applys, and after warranty plan on paying 2 men to service cause one cant remove that double oven unit

the frigidaire upright freezers are prone to plugged drains which causes them to leak onto the floor

the ovens have been good, but the electronic controls really dislike lightning and power surges

[starpal]

Thanks for the warnings -

We'll have a tile floor, but I'll try to make a provision to either slide the fridge out or have access to the rear from the room next door - same with the wall oven.

How do you recommend protecting against surges for kitchen appliances?

Thanks!

Paul

[Pegi]

"have access to the rear from the room next door - same with the wall oven."

Man, I think I love these people!!  What a wonderful world this would be if EVERYONE would build houses to have access to every appliance out there, especially built in friges and ovens, from "the other room" behind the appliance!!  

[starpal]

It may not be as easily done as said, but there is going to be a mechanical room behind the refrig/freezer so if there is some empty space I'll put a panel there. 

How do you service a built in fridge or oven?

How about routine cleaning/maintenance?

How do you prevent surges? Anything other than a surge supressor at the outlet? 

Thanks

[megadan66]

can't you have an electrition put in a surge protecter on the entire house.

[BrntToast]

have the protector put on at the panel for the whole home, thats the only way to do an oven other than turning off breakers in a storm, and that isn't always foolproof cause it is possible you get a spike along the houses neutral or ground, although that does not happen often

 

[BrntToast]

you service a built in appliance by removing it, so you have to make sure that is possible, only routine would be cleaning the condensor of the fridge,that routine depends on if you have pets or not, pet hair means you clean it more often