Help with Refrigerators!

[sarenu]

So I noticed today that the seal on our freezer is coming off the door.

I'm not sure how old the it is, probably 10+ years old.

We don't have many options for replacement (we have a small place for it and that's it).  So it wouldn't be super expensive to replace (500-800).  

Do I push to replace the fridge instead of trying to replace the seal?  

Other factors:

1. We might remodel the kitchen in the next few years (2-3) if we stay.  But I'm thinking we can always move the fridge to the garage or sell it if we decide to get a nicer fridge.

2. The freezer isn't that great (we get frost on everything quickly (which might be due to it's age).

3. The fridge isn't that great.  Things will freeze on the top shelf even though I have it set at a lower setting.

Also, recommend your brand.  I'm not getting anything fancy so I just want a good stable brand that won't cause issues in 3 years.  I doubt we will even get an ice maker.

As a side note, has anyone seen the new fridge with the Keurig in it?  My first thought is, why would anyone want to combine that.  It's one more thing to break and need fixing that will most likely cost more than an actual Keurig machine.

[critter015]

I would definitely push to replace it, newer fridges are so much more efficient. You can always sell this one in a few years if it doesn't fit in with your remodel. We had a basic Frigidaire in our apartment before we moved here and the only issue we had in the 6 years we lived there was that once I overloaded one of the shelves with egg cartons and everything at the top froze and everything else was too warm. Once I figured out that that particular shelf needed to have circulation in order for the fridge to work it was fine. Our new one is also Frigidaire but a fancy french door one with dual ice makers and we've had to have the top ice maker repaired twice in a year. Extra fancy features are just asking for trouble I think. Luckily our's was under warranty both times (first time was an issue from the factory) I really like Whirlpool fridges, and would have gone with that if I wasn't trying to match all of my other appliances.

My parents have a Kenmore and it has been great. I wish I could remember what their previous one was, it had an issue with the freezer about 5 years in that cost half the price of the fridge itself to fix, and then had the same/similar issue a year or two later so they replaced it.

[dramaphile]

My opinion on fridges is get a good-quality one without any gadgets. My IL's have a fancy fridge and that stupid thing constantly is having issues, their ice machine is gross because no one cleans it, and the fridge beeps at random and nobody can figure out why. A fridge with a built-in coffee maker is just asking for expensive repairs.

Also, I loooove my fridge, not sure the brand but it has a drawer freezer at the bottom, which I love. I never have to worry about bags of peas falling on me when I open the fridge door.

[mama2a]

I don't have much to add. We just bought a new fridge replacing the one in our kitchen that was probably about 15+ years old. We had simliar issues in that the temperatures were never "just right" and milk was always freezing. The dairy drawer kept breaking off, too.

We have a small space so we had to stick with the top freezer fridges which tend to be smaller and cheaper (we looked in the $600-800 range). I was amazed while shopping how much bigger refrigerators have gotten over the past few years. Given our small space the bigger fridges wouldn't have worked anyway. We bought a General Electric slate surface fridge (gray color but you can use magnets which is why we chose it over stainless steal). I was told frequently that GE is a high quality brand. It just arrived yesterday and have to say I'm so glad we have it! I think if you can afford to buy a new one then go for it.

[freezorburn]

Replacing the freezer gasket might help with the frost buildup problem, but not sure if it would help with your top shelf being too cold.

The refrigerator manufacturing industry is a funny thing. There are so many brands and only a few manufacturers. A few years ago we moved into a house, where the refrigerator had the same exact insides as XMIL's. Different brands, same exact veggie crispers and snack drawers.

When we renovated a few years ago, we went with a smaller than average fridge, and moved our old fridge down the garage. I think it's a GE? It's probably 20 years old and still working really well. It's great overflow storage for when I'm getting ready to host a party, or for thawing out the Thanksgiving turkey.

We went a bit higher end for the fridge in the new kitchen. Liebherr. The only issue I've had is that there's a tiny condensation drain outlet that needs to be swabbed out from time to time. My brother didn't take care of this when he was living in the house, and it got clogged, condensation built up, ran into the freezer seal, and then caused frost/icicles to build up in the freezer. The fix was just to completely clean out the fridge, defrost everything and make sure everything was clean and dry. No issues since. I've also had a door handle break off, but once I was able to locate the replacement part it was easy to do the repair myself.