American Fridge Freezers

[ProDave]

I hate the term "American" but it is the accepted term for larger Fridge Freezers, usually fridge and freezer side by side.

 

In the last house we paid over £1K for such an animal. Way more than I thought it was worth.  But for the last year we have been struggling with a normal separate "under worktop" fridge and freezer. The fridge in particular struggles to contain a weeks shopping, so in the new house we want something larger, which probably brings us back to the "American" things.

 

It's only a distant thought just now. BUT in a RARE moment of watching commercial tv live, I caught an advert, which led me to this: https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/household-appliances/refrigeration/fridge-freezers/logik-lsbsdx17-american-style-fridge-freezer-innox-10156712-pdt.html

 

We don't really want to buy it now. I would rather wait until we have a near complete kitchen to put it in.

 

So the question boils down to: Is this a particular bargain that must be snapped up now before the offer ends? or are "American" Fridge freezers now generally and widely available for just over £400 (which is the sort of price I would be comfortable with)?

[dpmiller]

it's not the most economical to run I've seen.

[ProDave]

Possibly not, but I am sure more economical than the 15 year old one we had in the last house.

[Simplysimon]

so this https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/household-appliances/refrigeration/fridge-freezers/samsung-family-hub-rf56m9540sr-eu-american-style-smart-fridge-freezer-real-stainless-10164049-pdt.html is a no then?

[newhome]

You can track prices here (scroll down to the graph). Would seem to be pretty consistent at this sort of price. 

 

https://pricespy.co.uk/home-garden/white-goods/fridges-freezers/fridge-freezers/logik-lsbsdx17-stainless-steel--p4523005

 

 

[Onoff]

http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/help/about-the-appliance-industry/manufacturer-information/3560-logik-appliances

 

Would it not be better to maybe look for a graded appliance but a better make?

[PeterW]

Haier ones are pretty much the same but have better reviews and are more economical. 

[dpmiller]

I've some experience of Haier as they move into commercial and lab refrigeration and thus far it aint bad...

[PeterW]

£399..??

 

Haier

[ProDave]

38 minutes ago, PeterW said:

£399..??

 

Haier

Possibility. Though SWMBO wants the chilled water dispenser (quite why I don't no. For 3/4 of the year, mains water here arrives pre chilled straight from the tap)

[Ferdinand]

I share your puzzlement wrt to the chilled water dispenser. Mine is called a ‘carafe in the door’, which I can leave out in winter ?.

 

That Haier looks vg value.

 

The Logic seems to be only 5% off afaics so might be one where it ok to delay.

 

F

 

[Crofter]

We used to have one with no ice dispenser or water chiller. Made for much more space for food. No plumbing either! It was a Beko btw, bought graded off eBay.

[joe90]

Spooky Dave, I am in the same position and also saw the curry’s advert. SWMBO wants a water/ice dispenser but I bet it will hardly ever be used. I have heard from people that the non  plumbing type with dispenser is a pain as it’s always empty when you want to use it,. The Haier one is also good but reviews question its noise, someone on this forum ( like me) hates background noise (unless it’s music ). The price difference for a water/ice dispenser is huge in my opinion. 

[PeterW]

Have a look at the Kenwood one - bit more expensive but has a better design IMO

 

Kenwood

[Tom]

We bought a graded Samsung off eBay, about 50% off and only a few dings on the front which are covered by the children's pictures/magnets etc. so looks absolutely fine. Very happy with it. It's got all the dispensers and we use the ice one quite a lot actually so would definitely recommend. 

[Yzzy]

We have a Samsung and I have to say while the fridge part is lovely and big and suits our large family the freezer part is piddly! Narrow, tiny compartments that only hold a couple of bags of frozen veg each. We had to buy a spare freezer for the utility room.

We are renting at the moment but Hubby wants to get a similar beast for the renovation house (simply based on the water/ice dispenser) , I'm not too bothered as I'm not keen on cold drinks and because the freezer part is tiny. 

 

That didn't help you at all! ha ha ha.... i guess what I am saying is, I'd rather buy separate large units like we had before.

[daiking]

The is a fridge equivalent of Parkinson’s Law.

 

(and shed and car boot and wardrobe and suitcase and...)

[ProDave]

We had the plumbed in ice maker and water chiller in the last house. The mechanism for that takes up about the top third of the freezer. It was also not the most reliable thing having a tendancy to keep on making ice cubes and overflowing it's bucket.  Agree that made the freezer space too small.

 

[richi]

3 hours ago, ProDave said:

The mechanism for that takes up about the top third of the freezer. It was also not the most reliable thing

 

Your experience seems typical. Which was why I bought one without.

 

Pretty happy with my £370 Fridgemaster MS91518FFS from AO [as always, any piddling kickback goes to @Coopers' dog-rescue charity]

 

Edited April 30, 2018 by richi
@ & photo

[Ferdinand]

7 minutes ago, richi said:

 

Your experience seems typical. Which was why I bought one without.

 

Pretty happy with my £370 Fridgemaster MS91518FFS from AO [as always, any piddling kickback goes to @Coopers' dog-rescue charity]

 

 

Family friend has A Fridgemaster. Also likes it.

[AliG]

When looking at the spec of a fridge freezer the two things I normally check are the noise level and that the freezer is frost free.

 

That one shows 43dB which is a bit noisy for my liking, I would look for 40dB or less. I think all American fridge freezers are frost free.

 

I had a Siemens American fridge freezer in my last house which was replaced with a Samsung one when we redid the kitchen. That felt like a good saving moving from a product costing almost £2000(came with the house) to just over £1000. Prices seem to be falling again now.

 

I preferred the Samsun to the Siemens, it had far better LED lighting and an indoor ice maker which took up less room. I couldn't figure out any reason at all for the high price of the Siemens replacement which if anything was an inferior machine.

 

My parents have just replaced the Smeg that came with their house and was quite poor on reliability with a Haier narrow American style. After about 18 months they have had no issues. Fridges and freezers are pretty reliable relative to other appliances and so I would have less worry buying a cheap one than a cheap washing machine(ice dispensers are the reliability exception and this doesn't have one)

 

Both our American fridge freezers had no issues with the ice/water. The Siemens freezer did become noisy after 7 or 8 years and found that it was getting iced up inside. I managed to take it apart iand fix this myself. The drain was blocked.

 

Come our self build we originally planned another one, but I eventually changed to a built in 600mm wide tall fridge and tall freezer for a few reasons.

 

1. People were always mucking about with the ice dispenser. Everyone suddenly needed crushed ice in their drinks when they came to visit. I was worried this would eventually break it.

 

2. The narrow freezer in a 1/3 2/3 American F/F is annoying. I did consider a french door style one with the freezer at the bottom.

 

3. I felt going back to integrated appliances was neater, but more expensive as the appliances cost more (there is less competition in built in appliances) and then you have to buy extra cabinets. 

 

4. As @ProDave mentioned the water dispenser was pointless. Water often is colder from the tap. I got a freezer with an ice dispenser inside so no one cold play with it and no water dispenser. We have noticed in the new place that you have to run the cold water for ages to get actually cold water as it sits in a loop inside the house around 80m long and the kitchen is at the opposite end of the house from where the water comes in, so that could be an issue for some people.

 

 

 

[Triassic]

The only Thing I can add to this thread is a warning.

 

In our last house we installed a Whirlpool American fridge freezer, it had the water and ice dispensers and both worked fine throughout the seven years we owned the house. However the frost free element of the freezer was cr@p, it broke down within six months and was replaced under warranty. It then broke down again about 18 months later, just out of warranty. The replacement parts, two faulty circuit boards, were around £200 from Whirlpool. Luckily I found a guy on the internet who ran a business repairing circuit boards and he replaced four faulty capacitors for £40, this included sending me two temporary boards for use while mine were away being repaired. It was a known fault as a result of using cheap components but Whirlpool washed their hands on f the problem.

 

I’d never buy a Whirlpool product again, look nice on the outside, built using cheap components on the inside.

Edited May 2, 2018 by Triassic

[ProDave]

Ah yes. I am well versed with replacing failed capacitors in all sorts of electronics. 

 

That Fridgemaster unit looks very nice

[epsilonGreedy]

I went through all this two years ago.

 

AO took my first budget american FF back after I became difficult about the unacceptable noise levels even though it lived in a utility room, now very happy with a whisper quiet classic width Samsung FF. Since moving into a rental house we acquired use of an extra ancient American FF.

 

Points to consider are:

1. Food wastage is directly proportional to total fridge shelf space as swmbo shops to the capacity of the fridge duo.
2. LED lights can be a curse, the budget manufacturer aimed their burning high wattage LEDs directly at my eyeballs presumable to promote fridge related macular degeneration when I opened the door, Samsung in contrast angled much softer lights at the fridge contents.
3. Drink dispensers deprive a fridge of a couple the most useful door shelves in a fridge.
4. The deep cave freezer storage shelves of an American FF seem to encourage swmbo to adopt a LIFO food storage system (last in first out) thus causing more food wastage.

 

Edited May 2, 2018 by epsilonGreedy

[AliG]

@epsilonGreedy you make a good point. One reason I downgraded the fridge freezer is simply that the fridge was never full and it was unnecessarily large. A lot depends on how you shop and how big your family is but I didn't see the point giving up so much space to it and it just seems to be for show often.