Our fridge went out the night before we left for a family vacation. Was able to get everything cleaned out and now looking at options. Fridge turns on but does t cool. Fam and condenser do not turn on. Only a 9 year old Samsung fridge.

What are everyone's recommendations on a new fridge? Any brands to avoid or recommend?

I got nothing for brands, but consider this. For our major appliances, we always start by going to the local store that has a service department. That way when we need a repair, they send out a guy.

My parents' oven from Lowe's went out and between the slow response of the independent repairman (because he was booked up) and then the wait time on getting a new one, it took about 3 months total.

Have you thought about replacing the condenser fan? Since you said the fan is not coming on, that sounds like it's just the condenser fan motor, which is a $30 part and much more likely than the entire condenser. The condenser fan is super easy to access on the back bottom maintenance door and usually held in only by a couple screws. It would take you 30 minutes to swap out if you're a 3 out of 10 on the handiness scale. It would probably be $200-300 to have a tech come out to do it for you and a part they'd have stocked on their truck (no waiting 2 weeks for them to get the part)

Tango.Mike said:

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Have you thought about replacing the condenser fan? Since you said the fan is not coming on, that sounds like it's just the condenser fan motor, which is a $30 part and much more likely than the entire condenser. The condenser fan is super easy to access on the back bottom maintenance door and usually held in only by a couple screws. It would take you 30 minutes to swap out if you're a 3 out of 10 on the handiness scale. It would probably be $200-300 to have a tech come out to do it for you and a part they'd have stocked on their truck (no waiting 2 weeks for them to get the part)

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That's a good point. Would the condenser turn on if the fan isn't running? I hear the fridge turn on but the condenser isn't warm or making any noise. I am admittedly not strong in appliance repair but am pretty handy so could try the fan replacement.

I purchased 2 - Frigidaire Gallery's a year ago for a new house.

PROs:
Cost per cubic storage excellent
Dependable Brand
Water and Ice through the door but the Ice Maker is in the Fridge Unit and not in the door which I hope will increase longevity of Ice Maker. Replaced several Ice makers in Kitchen Aide
Has a Middle drawer that can be either a Fridge or Freezer Drawer

Cons:
No Water Autofill

You can buy Frigidaire directly from their web site, I purchased mine from Ferguson's. A year in they have been rock solid.

Have a Fisher Paykel and would not recommend.

With that said, I assume most all fridges are not very good.

Avoid Samsung and LG. My previous was an LG. It still worked after 6 years of ownership, but the compressor was very loud. I called 3 different repair companies and all of them said the same thing: "If it's a Samsung or LG we won't even bother coming to your house to try and fix it". They then told stories of attempting to fix them in the past, rarely being able to, leading to wasted time/money and dissatisfied customers.

We replaced it with a GE Profile from Costco about 5 years ago and it has worked great so far.

Majority of refrigerators in USA have LG guts....but I do agree that if compressor does go out it's not worth trying to fix.

our relatives in Austin (computer engineer that researches everything) bought Liebherr refrigerator a couple years ago and love it. No issues.
https://www.liebherr.com/en-us/refrigerators-freezers/appliances-3033359

Bert315 said:

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Tango.Mike said:

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Have you thought about replacing the condenser fan? Since you said the fan is not coming on, that sounds like it's just the condenser fan motor, which is a $30 part and much more likely than the entire condenser. The condenser fan is super easy to access on the back bottom maintenance door and usually held in only by a couple screws. It would take you 30 minutes to swap out if you're a 3 out of 10 on the handiness scale. It would probably be $200-300 to have a tech come out to do it for you and a part they'd have stocked on their truck (no waiting 2 weeks for them to get the part)

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That's a good point. Would the condenser turn on if the fan isn't running? I hear the fridge turn on but the condenser isn't warm or making any noise. I am admittedly not strong in appliance repair but am pretty handy so could try the fan replacement.

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Not sure about your model, but many compressors have fail safeties to prevent the compressor from cycling if the fan motor doesn't have continuity. Worst case is you give it a try, it doesn't work, and your new refrigerator budget is $50 less than you planned

Tango.Mike said:

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Bert315 said:

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Tango.Mike said:

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Have you thought about replacing the condenser fan? Since you said the fan is not coming on, that sounds like it's just the condenser fan motor, which is a $30 part and much more likely than the entire condenser. The condenser fan is super easy to access on the back bottom maintenance door and usually held in only by a couple screws. It would take you 30 minutes to swap out if you're a 3 out of 10 on the handiness scale. It would probably be $200-300 to have a tech come out to do it for you and a part they'd have stocked on their truck (no waiting 2 weeks for them to get the part)

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That's a good point. Would the condenser turn on if the fan isn't running? I hear the fridge turn on but the condenser isn't warm or making any noise. I am admittedly not strong in appliance repair but am pretty handy so could try the fan replacement.

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Not sure about your model, but many compressors have fail safeties to prevent the compressor from cycling if the fan motor doesn't have continuity. Worst case is you give it a try, it doesn't work, and your new refrigerator budget is $50 less than you planned

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Good point. Will look into that when I get home. The coils were really dirty so very possible it burned out the fan now that I think about it. Worth trying and the fan doesn't seem like a hard fix to try before dropping $2k on a new one.

If I need new it sounds like GE is the way to go if I need a larger fridge? Family of 5 so need lots of fridge space.

Fridge at our last 3 houses have been GE, previous 2 houses came with the fridge this house we bought the fridge. No complaints about quality or anything important, but I wish I had gotten a normal side by side model. We got the French door fridge on top, freezer drawer on bottom. The fridge half wastes so incredibly much space. You can't reach the back 75% of the top shelf, and you have to open both doors to open the main drawer. The freezer drawer is fine for volume I guess, but it turns out looking like every other drawer in your house you try to jam things into. Lots of people like that design, I know I'm in the minority, but it is such a dumb idea

Sazerac said:

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Avoid: Samsung
Buy: LG or KitchenAid or Kenmore (most of these in USA are LG designs)

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My opinion….do not buy LG or Kenmore (repackaged LG). The most expensive component of the fridge (compressor) is what they're worst at. And have a class action lawsuit because the replacements are even worse.

I'd rather replace a $150 ice maker than have my $1k compressor **** the bed.

Regardless…don't spend more than you're mentally prepared to just be replacing in less than 10 years.

Have told that no one makes a decent refrigerator anymore.
Knock on wood, bought on sale 2013 Samsung RSG257AARS ice/water thru door $1850
Replaced on door ice maker only ONCE = a record for any brand over the decades.
Still good to go.

Consumer Reports ratings for over 34" wide, Side-Side & French door models


Thanks for prodding me to get a backup shopping list behind me just in case.
In the past, always the Side-Side served best and Bosch internal guts design/arrangements 3rd grade
BUT after these reviews, VERY tempted toward that Bosch French door model. An extra $1000 over 12 years (so far) = $83/yr extra ... chump change.