Right now, I've got my eye on a Whirlpool refrigerator from Lowe's. It is Energy Star compliant too. tinman, I don't have any GE appliance picked out. Here is what I have picked out so far: Samsung convection range (FTQ353IWUB) Samsung over-the-range microwave (SMH8165BG) Whirlpool refrigerator (ED5VHEXVB) Frigidaire dishwasher (FDB1100RHB)
I heard good things about Whirlpool. I have a GE fridge and I've had to get it fixed a couple of times and the ice maker sucks, so I highly recommend not buying a GE fridge.
The reliability of most of these is just luck. When I had my house built, they used a GE dishwasher, GE microwave, and GE range. I haven't had any problems with them so far in about 4.5 years of use. My fridge is a Kenmore (can't recall who makes it - Kenmore's made by a lot of people) that I bought when I bought the new house and the only problem it had was the outlet that fills the icemaker freezing, but that was fixed in about 10 minutes with a hot towel. My washing machine and dryer are Whirlpool and haven't failed me in the 11 years I've owned them. Maybe I'm just lucky.... but then I lost a stereo receiver, a cable box, 3 smoke detectors, and a NAS to a lightning strike, so maybe I'm not.
How long does it take a refrigerator/freezer take to cool down? I installed my refrigerator today around 1:00 PM and checked it at 4:00 PM and literally felt no temperature change. I know most refrigerator manufacturers recommended allowing 24 hours for cooling after a new install but I figure after 3-4 hours you should be able to feel some change. Is it likely I have a bad unit? BTW, when they loaded the unit at Lowe's they actually laid it down while I was inside getting some accessories. An associate inside Lowe's acted like that was a bad thing and told me that I should let the refrigerator stand up 8-12 hours before installation. I let it stand 36 hours. The refrigerator actually laid down for approximately 45 minutes before it was stood up. Could this have something to do with it?
