Browse Forums Kitchen Appliances 1 Mar 19, 2010 10:08 am Well, I may be a bit ahead of myself here, but I've started to look at fridges to work out a budget. So, I thought that I would ask the question here, what fridge do you have? Old or new I don't care, how do you find the internal layout? Plenty of space or do you need more? How old is it? I don't want to spend upto $2k and then find out the fridge will only last until it is just out of warranty. I know of fridges that are going on 40 and still working great. What are the brands of choice nowdays? I honestly saw a fridge branded "ChongChang" last week, got me worried. Thanks in advance Richo Some people don't have time to do the job right the first time, but seem to have plenty of time to fix their mistakes. Build Thread Re: Fridges! What have you got? Are you Happy? 2Mar 19, 2010 10:34 am Fisher & paykel upside down. Heaps of room and no problems it's still fairly new though. but my dad just replaced his f&p after like 20 years and had no problems. He replaced it with another f&p just like my one. I know lots of people with lg's and would stay away they have all had problems. I would avoid side by side there really isn't much room in them it's hard to fit larger items because the shelves are so narrow. Summary. Very happy with our fridge Re: Fridges! What have you got? Are you Happy? 3Mar 19, 2010 11:29 am We have an LG side by side..had it a few years now. Never had a problem with it and it works beautifully. However, I wouldn't buy a side by side again, for the very reason Mrs P said...they are narrow and you have trouble fitting things in. That's the only thing I've got against ours at the moment. Re: Fridges! What have you got? Are you Happy? 4Mar 19, 2010 11:49 am Hey Richo, Your not getting ahead of yourself, we don't even have land settlement yet and we're looking at fridges for our budget as well. So far we're looking in the 440-520L range, still deciding whether to go traditional layout or upside down. I like upside down as for the majority of time you tend to open the fridge, your looking for something in the fridge not the freezer, so to my mind i'd rather be able to easily see and grab what i need from the fridge section easily. On the other hand my fiancee thinks that you loose to much freezer space with having draws rather than just a central rack. So the argument continues... Critical thing we've found is ruling out things by your fridge space, we've looked at our plans along with measuring the display house (which actualy were remarkably close). and thats helped us rule out a few different designs. Other things of note we've come across, all the Toshiba's seem to have a distinct smell to their display units, we've been to several different retailers and all had the same distinctive smell, not sure if its a good/bad or indifferent thing but something we noticed. We've like the layout of the Fisher & Paykels most overall and they are probably the way we're headed at this stage. Deep pockets in the door for milk, juice etc, seperate vegie bins and cheese/egg holders on the door have all ticked the boxes for us so far. Samsungs in the smaller 420L or so sizes seemed to have a reasonable layout from memory as well. Best advice i can give is work out what will fit in your space and don't forget depth, because if the door sits within the recess then you need extra width for it to open. Then go round the retailers, we found the good guys near us had about the widest range available in the sizes we're looking at. Hardly normal tended to have more side by sides while Clive peeters had a few other brands to look at. Good luck with the search. Our Build - Places Fairhaven 23+ - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=28045 Our Landscaping - Belial's Backyard - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=45375 Re: Fridges! What have you got? Are you Happy? 5Mar 19, 2010 12:01 pm We have a F&P upside down french door fridge with water and ice. We have had it 4 years now with no probs. We are a family of 5 and it fits everything for us including beer. I think the only issue that I would have is with the ice in the freezer. It is awesome that it makes its own ice but if the kids are being their usual selves and leave the freezer open for ages browsing for something to eat, the ice cubes melt a little together and I end up having to chip ice away from each other to get a few cubes. Other than that it is great! Sandra Re: Fridges! What have you got? Are you Happy? 6Mar 19, 2010 12:28 pm Never will I go with a side by side again (ours was 610 litre). Way too narrow, not the best if you like entertaining. You definitely need two fridges if you go a side by side. We sold ours to the people who bought our last house at it was only 12 months old and the whole kitchen was basically designed to fit around the fridge. I really want a french door fridge for this house (I think that’s what they are called). The fridge opens out like a side by side but it has a huge freezer drawer underneath. I really like the width of them. I think they will be more practical than a side by side. DH said he isn’t sold on the idea of that style fridge. He thinks the fridge section doesn’t seal properly? Anybody have one of these style fridges and what are your thoughts??? Re: Fridges! What have you got? Are you Happy? 7Mar 19, 2010 1:11 pm We had a Whirlpool, and after two years it was damaged. After several weeks without a fridge and no sign that the part would come in we gave up and bought a new one Westinghouse. I think it is important that the fridge is made in Australia, because you will not have trouble getting parts. I actually would not spend much money on a fridge, because a honest seller told us that none of the fridges (which were all usual brands) do last more than five to seven years. I would spend money in a better warranty. The stainless steel outfits looks great if you like it, but don't think that behind they are anything better. The only better brands are maybe Miele and Liebherr, but they are a bit expensive. Try and google for "fridges complaints" or "appliances review". I did this before buying a fridge (but it didn't helped a lot because there is nothing decent on the market at least if you expect a product to last more than 5 to 7 years) Re: Fridges! What have you got? Are you Happy? 8Mar 19, 2010 1:49 pm We have a Westinghouse 540l (2 years old) upsidedown and an F&P 420l upside down (10 years old) and have had no problems with either. I would also advise you to stay away from side by sides. They are a real compromise and do not really do anything well. Re: Fridges! What have you got? Are you Happy? 9Mar 19, 2010 1:52 pm I have a Westinghouse side by side 610 L, Im happy with it, its 18 months old now, no problems at all. Household of 3 people, fits everything I want in it. It seems to do everything I want it to do well enough. Re: Fridges! What have you got? Are you Happy? 12Mar 19, 2010 5:12 pm Rizzo We have a F&P pigeon pair. Heaps of space and love them We're looking at going with the F&P E450RXFD vertical fridge (451L) & E388LXFD Vertical freezer (388L) for our new kitchen, so it is good to hear that this style of F&P is good (and this sort of combination gives over 800L of space for the same price as a 600L french door fridge/freezer!) Re: Fridges! What have you got? Are you Happy? 14Mar 19, 2010 7:19 pm We have an F and P upside down 512L and are thrilled with it. Our power bills went down 30% (our old one was a side by side. I hated trying to fit things into a side by side. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another F and P Handover February 2011 Happy with our home Re: Fridges! What have you got? Are you Happy? 15Mar 19, 2010 8:43 pm Hi Richo.... My post copied from another topic ...... We recently bought the Westinghouse S/S 610L side by side. Initial thoughts were is it going to be big enough & on reflection we probably should have gone to the 700L model, which is only 10cm wider for an extra 100L in fridge capacity. The small fridge space is a bit of an illusion & may not be smaller depending on your previous fridge size. If you are going from a 520L (approx) model to a 610L model you will only lose approx 40 litres (10%) in fridge space but you will gain approx 130 litres in freezer space. Because of space restraints in our previous home we could only have a 420L fridge/freezer. So we are gaining 40L in fridge space & 150L in freezer space! We are also lucky enough that we have the space to put our old fridge in the garage which has easy access to the kitchen & outside entertaining area so we can utilise the old fridge as a drinks fridge as well as using it for other bulky items like the xmas ham etc!! I think if you can learn to stack the fridge neatly & not hoard old items the space is very manageable & it's a good excuse to keep the fridge in order. I just need to train the wife! For you people going from a 520L to a 600L yeah I can understand but in reality you are only losing 10% in fridge space. It's not a lot. If you do want the side by side option I would however recommend going to the 700L option which will give you an extra 50L in fridge space. Re: Fridges! What have you got? Are you Happy? 16Mar 19, 2010 8:55 pm Have Westinghouse pigeon pair fridge and freezer. Ten years and fine (touch wood), plenty of room - everything nice and cold and frost free. Mum and Grandmother also had westinghouse for years and years.... Good luck My house and my rants.... - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=26937 We are in!!!...and still unpacking. Thankfully there are always Tim Tams Re: Fridges! What have you got? Are you Happy? 17Mar 19, 2010 9:51 pm i have a F&P french door with ice and water, continual problems with ice /water Now they replaced it with a new fridge and again i have problems with water/ice. It's been almost 3 years since the initial purchase, glad i got extended warranty. Other than that i like it and kids find it handy when theres no clean glasses Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Fridges! What have you got? Are you Happy? 18Mar 19, 2010 9:52 pm we've had our fridge for a long time.( 9 yrs) It was an emergency buy and I hate it with a passion. Not because of brand but because it is too tall for me to reach on top of it and b) because it opens on the wrong side for our kitchen and it isn't the type of fridge that has an interchangeable door. It didn't open the correct way for our last house either. I've hated it from the very moment we got it. My only saving thought is when time comes to replace it our boys will be old enough to live with an esky until I can get a non standard side door opening fridge. yipeee! The plumber on our build made a mistake and accidentally added a water tap in the fridge space so when we do replace the fridge and freezer we might go all out and buy one with an ice dispenser. I love the look of some of those new titanium front fridges Re: Fridges! What have you got? Are you Happy? 19Mar 20, 2010 8:15 am We have a F&P upside down fridge. We find it great there are so many slots to move your shelves up and down and removable wine bottle rack, the egg trays are removable - like others have said - when entertaining and need to fit wide platters in a fridge - these fridges can accommodate well. We made the mistake and bought a small fridge to start off with thinking "oh there's only two of us!" well we soon got sick of drinking warm drinks, having to shop every second day because nothing would fit and the fridge was that jam packed full of stuff it must have been working over time to keep anything cold! Sleven Moved into our Atlantique MkII 36 by Carlisle Homes Re: Fridges! What have you got? Are you Happy? 20Mar 20, 2010 7:58 pm We have had a Westinghouse for 10 years now a (rj340m) it is only 339lt which suited us then as a young couple, but now with a family of 6 I would like to buy a new one, slightly larger for when we entertain and as the kids grow up and consume even more food . I will be buying a Westinghouse again. If so what were the "special circumstances" under which it was granted? "Note: If the development consent is for 'dual occupancy' an owner-builder permit can only be… 0 14069 Thanks mate. Yeah good points! Leaning towards Option 3 to get a bit extra space in the cabinets but not going too crazy high (and expensive). Would require a mini… 13 39690 Hi All, I just wanted to close this topic out with an update. So we ended up agreeing to a number with the insurance company, and after an extensive amount of hand… 8 23394 |