Refrigerator Buying Guide (Interactive Video) | Consumer Reports
Refrigerator Buying Guide (Interactive Video) | Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports helps you decide which type of refrigerator to buy from a top-freezer, bottom-freezer, or side-by-side, to a French-door or multi-door. You’ll also find out which features are worth considering and which to skip. For additional reviews, tips, and recommendations check us out at http://www.ConsumerReports.org and Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/1Nlb1Ez
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Thumbs down for minimal analysis about efficiency. Here in Europe EVERY consumer device has energy rating. BTW fridges are at top of energy consumption @home.
Also like bottom freezers. Make sense ergonimically also thermodynamically.
Will be in the market for a new fridge in a couple of months. Thanks for educating us! Great video!!
3:08 BOOTY, You will thank me later
Samsung ice maker are problematic (changed 3x in 7yrs) why not include that in the metrics.
Good information but reliability is key here concern here. Ice makers are a highly desirable feature but prone to breaking as they mentioned. Let’s see which ones have fewer repairs. Samsung’s seem horrible in this regard, there is even a class action law suit. Also repair costs and service availability?
Also so many of these fridges have flimsy plastic drawers and shelves. The last two houses I bought came with GE fridges. Both of them ended up with broken plastic drawers that are hard and expensive to replace. So I’m examining the drawers closely as I shop for a new fridge. LG and Samsung seem better in this area, Whirlpool brands not so much,
Same thing goes with doors, and handles. A fridge with 4 or 6 external doors/drawers or door in door has more features to break.
Lack of discussion on these issues makes me suspicious of how impartial Consumer Reports is….but I guess it’s good for them if consumers are shopping for new equipment ever few years.
I had exactly the same compressor and leaks in the sealed system with my LG fridge as so many others have reported. LG will not stand behind their warranty, all they do is delay any action for months until you give up. How Consumer Reports keeps them on top of their ratings is criminal!!!! CR, get your shit together!!
This is an assessment of features and cost not an assessment of a products reliability and
quality; the two things all consumers look for in any product. The appliance
industry has become a huge conglomerate with limited, if any, competition which
creates an atmosphere of weak incentive to produce a reliable product. It becomes a race to the bottom in quality and
reliability in order to maximize profits with repairs and additional sales. If it cost you $600-$800 to repair an appliance,
why not buy a new one? Repair parts are
difficult to find and are overpriced. They intentionally make the search for
parts and solutions to problems arduous and the cost of repairs high in order
make another sale. A one year warranty
is a joke of a standard. Why does a General Motors refrigerator/freezer, from the 1940s-1950s still run today with
minimal repairs? Why do todays refrigerators/freezers have problems and last
5-10 years, if you are lucky, often requiring a service call(s) within that
time frame. Have manufacturers become less advanced in their ability to build a
reliable product? Or, have they succumbed
to corporate greed and cut corners and intentionally manipulate their products
in order to increase their profits? What
do you think? Consumers need answers and
accountability.
1st
Our Whirlpool Refrigerator (only) only lasted 3 years, 2016/05. Bought at Sears, no warranty.
The problem with all of this is that even though this was a thorough report, they only went through the different "types" of refrigerators, which anyone out shopping can see. but didn’t really specify an opinion on what they felt, based on their testing, what were the top runners of refrigerators. You read one set of reports & it’s this is the best brand or the worst brand, then you go to the very next one & the ones that loved a certain brand in the last report, a whole new set of people hate that brand & like THIS brand instead, so you go to a third & it’s the same story. Some love LG, some hate them, some love Samsung, others hate them & so on. HOW are you supposed to know what’s going to last, when everyone is so split on what they feel is the best or worst brands? You can’t just go on the bells & whistles that the brands offer, they can offer all they want to on an appliance, but, if you’re on the phone with the repair man constantly, who cares what they offer on their products. I wish there was a better way to define the more reliable brands, without them being the more to totally expensive models, which most can’t afford, we all just want something that we can afford that lasts, it’s a big expense.
Our new LG refrigerator failed so we finally found out that these units are junk after no repair person would work on them, so we were told there was this class action lawsuit and we needed to contact LG. LG customer service was a joke as they used a specific deterrence tactic to prevent LG from having to replace there poorly make refrigerators. They say their policy is that they will replace the unit after 3 documented work orders to fix it, so when you contact them after the third repair fails they just say they have not documentation of a third work order and continuously have to keep submitting work orders to have a repair person do the same repair that does not work! In the mean time, initially my family and I got very sick due to the high temps the refrigerator and now were have no refrigerator through the holidays!!!! This process has now exceeded two months and is not resolved! We will look into a lawsuit in our area as well.
I wish CR would explain the range of results that make up each grade in their ratings. For example, temperature control. As mentioned in the video, 37 F is considered optimal for the fridge – what range of temps qualifies an Excellent rating? How about Very Good? Do door temps affect the grade or just temps in the main cavity? There was a guy at Cnet that used to do great fridge reviews. He included two images showing the average temp of each area of the fridge over a 72 hour period. One at the default setting and one at the coldest setting. Eye opening info (do not keep milk in your door! and do not assume that every fridge can maintain average temps below 40 F) and far more useful than a simple, unexplained rating. Please, please publish the ranges for each rating level. Thank you.
Don’t buy anything from LG, they refuse to honor their warranties and play mind games in customer DISservice. Can’t find the claim, state that the required reports are missing, deny the numerous confirmations to the contrary! Spent 3000 on the top of the line refrigerator, a year later the cooling system fails and regardless of the 7 year parts warranty and the fact it is deemed undesirable refuse to honor the commitment they made me to either replace or refund!The failure is within the factory sealed cabinet that their repair people cannot open! A very corrupt company! They won’t even let us talk to a supervisor just keep playing diversion tactics!
Buyer beware don’t buy Frigidaire!!!👈 No warranty on electrical parts that don’t work💡 And overpriced One of many problems!! 2 stars consumer affairs report🤭 No customer respect All about the money!!🖕
another useless CR video.
LG LFXS29766 Bought 12 months ago. Stopped cooling 5 days ago. Serviceman says needs new compressor but there is not a compressor for this fridge in this entire big city. They ordered one which may arrive in two days but probably 4 or 5 days. The LG service # tested over the phone and told me the door was open! They finally gave me two phone numbers to call for service…..one which was closed on weekends and the second number was for a company 600 miles south of where I live! In total frustration I called Lowes where I bought this crappy product and they have been wonderful in expediting a repair visit and now that there is no compressor available for repair, Lowes is going to loan me a fridge until I can get the one I purchased repaired. They are going to deliver it to my home. Lowes has been wonderful.. …..DON’T BUY LG PRODUCTS. The serviceman says to buy Whirlpool or KitchenAid.
Consumer Reports tests models that you’ll never find in a store. And their ratings are often diametrically opposed to real consumer ratings.
I like bottom freezer refrigerators, because I use freezer from time to time. At the same time they big enough.
Bought an Electrolux side by side. Beautiful box but worse refrigerator ever!! Electrical panels are exposed in water dispensers. Guaranteed issues. Good luck in your search!
Does anyone even trust Consumer Reports anymore? The best ratings money can buy…
not much useful information here…. i walk through home depot so i know what refrigerators there are in the world. You have to subscribe to their online site to get the real dish.
first
Since I don’t drive and thus pick up what I can for immediate use the order for delivery a months worth of for to keep service charges and delivery costs down. Plus with health issues prefer fresh frozen over canned when it comes to fruits and vegetables. Plus needing the storage for what protein sorces we do eat that are easy on our stomachs such as plant based but animal thatvelis easy on our stomachs and not allergic to such as eggs cheese chicken and turkey occasionally some fish that meet kosher laws since I found out that seafood that is not I am allergic to kind of funny when you think about it. Any foods that don’t meet the dietary laws set in the Bible ai have really bad allergic reactions and get really sick. And thus usually have a day or two recovery time because of how it causes me to suffer physically to Purge out what my body can’t handle with throwing up and diarrhea and sometimes triggering an asthma attack with my breathing.
W#
I bought an LG (French door) refrigerator as well. Same issue. It is 6 years old and the compressor died. My LG microwave died at 5 years old. I will not buy an LG product again.
How did I get here help
"Our testers check for a refrigerator’s real capacity, measuring the amount of usable space inside the cavity. We find it’s usually about 20% less than the cubic feet claimed."
Well I hope you don’t measure like you showed in the video, where the spool accounts for about 20% of the measurement. That could explain a lot.
Wow I just bought a whirlpool 5 door refrigerator
Why is reliability not one of your metrics!?! Or what about ease of service?
I read so many angry comments about top of the line Samsung and LG refrigerators breaking down. It’s not a good consumer report if I buy the best fridge ever that lasts less than 3 years.
Please address.
There is no use buying a double door refridgerotor if u buy any door refrigroter like double door r single refrigrator is refrigrator only
how did I get from fruit smoothies to this 😁
don’t believe anything
what an informative and well made video. this will be useful in the future when i move out
I have 25 year old appliances that I am looking to replace. An old Admiral refrigerator that has never given me a days trouble. The rest are Kenmore. Only the dishwasher needed a minor repair.
I’m starting to think I should just keep them until they croak. Maybe never.
Why can’t an appliance manufacturer step up and offer simple, serviceable and long lasting appliances?
Saying they liked a samsung lost all credibility. Every fridge expert i’ve talked to says they’re the least reliable brand and I know from experience.
Yes we know about the refrigerators and there options what we want to know is which one is the best as far as brands go. I hear LG sucks and Sub Zero isn’t what its cracked up to be…
3690jj
What’s the european fridge with the clear freezer drawers at the 6:21 min mark ?
Any comments on Samsung refrigerators?
green appliances are garbage! they are under powered and have much longer cycles to achieve results the prior 2008 models could easily using less energy. SUCKERS!!!