The new ice makers located on the door are super problematic. If you don’t use the ice in a few days all the ice cubes melt together into one big ice mess.
Yeah, magnets wont stick to mine but I like it that way. Actually means that it’s higher quality stainless, not that it really matters for a refrigerator door. Some companies use regular steel and varnish to make them look stainless. Those are the ones to avoid.
I had the same Electrolux for 25 years. Still works.
Sub-Zero
I bought a Danby mini fridge in late 2014, for my bedroom.
It works very well, but I don't use it hardly at all.
I got one without a freezer because those are not reliable.
When I did my research, Danby was a good brand name for mini fridges.
Bingo it is the one Pelosi uses, costs $24000 and how good it is?
Sofirn?
Only the one that’s cold white.
Our Bosch dishwasher caught on fire. It was choking, acrid, smoke in the kitchen for a bit. Flipped the breaker off and it ceased. Turns out, a wire connection became loose, totally melted a wirenut and the insulation on the wires. Aluminum wires of mismatched (and one was undersized in my view) size - turns out that fires are not an uncommon thing with the Bosch Dishwashers. Which is why aluminum wireing ishn’t used in houses any more. Luckily they used a metal junction box for the connection and it was contained to that. I popped open the box, stripped off the burnt parts of the wire, tinned and soldered the wire tips together and put on an expensive brand new 3M wire nut…you know, the .15/cent one, not the .03/cent Chinese thinggy. Worked.
Now when I wash dishes, I make sure I’m home and lay out 2 fire extinguishers in handy locations. Which gives my wife all kinds of mirth. She notes with a smile: “What’s the matter, don’t you trust your work?” I respond: “If the Bosch designers and factory, all of whom are smarter and better looking than me, can’t make it so it doesn’t catch on fire, why should I think I’m any better than they are?”
Our overpriced Bosch washing machine broke down early as well. The part, it was like the main gear that held the drum on, cost almost as much as a new one. Which is what my wife did. That kind of thing (brand new Bosch washing machine) makes her happy.
Don’t get a side by side, they have two useless, skinny compartments and are a pain to see or reach stuff in the back.
i replaced my sbs with an LG bottom freezer (where it ought to be) double door. Open both doors and you can see everything, store wide pans, and don’t have to bend over for everyday items. A freezer is not used as often as the frig, so why put it in the prime position up top unless you are a glutton for bending over.
It is quiet and efficient and has worked great for 10 years so far.
i use distilled water to make my own ice cubes, i don’t need all the calcium and fluoride in the local water supply. And sure don’t need water and ice in the door of the frig, waste of space too.
We had a basic top-freezer Hotpoint fridge for about 25 years. It was still running fine, but the shelves had gotten rusty and ugly and we wanted a larger one, so we got a Whirlpool french door fridge. Not sure, I think that was about 10-12 years ago, and it’s still running great. No in-door water or ice dispenser.
I agree that those old Maytags were phenomenal. Ours was 32 years old last year when it quit working. Instead of pumping a couple hundred into it to fix it, my son offered to buy us a new washer. Got a Speed Queen. They are the closest thing to the old Maytags for construction and durability, but it does have the electronic controls, unfortunately. Those manual dials on the Maytag got the job done without drama. I can’t complain though, since it’s fun to think that I have the Queen doing my laundry! 
Dishwashers all seem to be junk. 2 to 4 years and something significant goes wrong. We use ours mostly as a drying rack or for rinsing the already-washed dishes; the heating element quit a while back and the wash spray doesn’t cut it for actual washing.
I’ve had that cheapo bit of plumbing leak, and at least half a dozen friends and family members have. Some ended up with major home repairs. Our new LG has an ice maker and water dispenser, but just like the 16 year-old KitchenAid it replaced, it’s not getting hooked up.
None of them are reliable.
Had a Bosch - it broke 4 times (covered under extended warranty) - and they repaid me for the fridge cost (Lowes) to buy out the warranty. The next time it broke I got a new one. Currently have a Whirlpool (from Home Depot). It already broke twice (covered). Once was a simple fix, the other was the main controller.
Check the online stores like Goedeker’s and get a local company to price match. My Whirlpool retails for $3,299. I got the fridge, 5 year extended warranty, 3 years of water filters and installation for $2,100.
!!!
In my shop I have an old metal refrigerator from who knows when. Could be 50, 60 or more years old. It only gets plugged in during the summer months but it still runs like a champ.
That’s strange, plugging and unplugging a refrigerator is supposed to be a death sentence for the motor and compressor. .
This one was ancient when it was given to me and that was probably 20 years ago. Cold as hell too. It’s got that little aluminum freezer section inside at the top that eventually becomes a block of ice.
As long as you wait a while for the pressure to equalize before plugging it back in it shouldn’t matter. Newer refrigerators have a built in delay on the compressor restarting after power loss, something like 10 minutes. Old ones used a self resetting overload so if the compressor wouldn’t start it would trip out then kick back in every few minutes until the pressure dropped enough to start.
When you say best, how do you define that? Some people want every option, and all to work perfectly forever. This is, IMO, like buying a lottery ticket and expecting to win. Having expectations for certain conveniences might require more service/warranty calls. Things break, and some people expect a certain $$$ for ongoing maintenance as part of any machine. Similarly, if you purchase it from a dealer that has a good reputation for proper installation and competent service/repair, problems over the years are basically a minor inconvenience.
I can’t say what the best fridge is for your needs. On the other hand, I just want something to keep things frozen, and another to keep things cold/refrigerated, with an overall size to meet the size of whatever family is using it… and no complaints/bad reviews about excessive compressor noise. Usually, the simpler, the less things to break. I’ve purchased GE/Hotpoint appliances and Frigidaire for a few properties. All of them were near the least expensive of their line, and all of them work fine, some are over 10 years old.
I have had an appliance or two require service (drier keypad replacement and microwave something or other replacement), usually around the 7 year mark, and usually under $250 for parts and labor (less if still under warranty). I purchase from Abt, and have been very happy with their selection, installation, and service/repair teams.
The one downside I’ve had with the inexpensive lines, was that a “holder” in the door of a fridge cracked, and I had to spend $30 to replace it and 10 seconds to install it. I think it was because the tenants didn’t close the crisper tray all the way (technically they pulled the entire tray bin off of it’s mounting point and kept using it without placing it back into position, so the tray stuck out into the door’s storage area), putting undue pressure on the door shelf. Abt had the 7 year old purchase info, model number, parts catalog, and got the part in less than a week… it was about 2 minutes on the phone with the call rep/parts department.
We turned one of those old all steel beasts into a smoker back when we were poor(er). Little electric burner in the bottom with a cast iron pan for wood chips, the racks were already steel. Fill it up with fish, close the metal door latch and let it do it’s thing. Worked great. AND it was still operational as an antique fridge before it was converted, but we had another one.
BTW, my go-to is Consumer Reports for reliability scores. As they sell that info and I support their efforts, I won’t put it up here, but would encourage you to sign up to get the info. They spend a lot of $ on research, and with the price of some of these things it will pay for itself the first time the appliance you bought without looking at CU first, fails.
https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/index.htm
https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/refrigerators.htm?searchToken=refrigerator
My wife waited until I was out of town to buy the Viking 6 burner Pro stainless model stove. (This is common way to purchase major things) It was the most expensive, poorest rated stove they listed on CU. Literally at the very bottom of the page of stoves they rated. When I asked her about that she said she bought it anyway and it was because she always wanted one and didn’t want to hear my views (she already knew them). I figured…“hey, it’s her money, no skin off my ass”. I’ve since learned that the biggest complaints, (ie, costly to get fixed when you call a repairman) is not an issue for me, they are very simple and super easy and cheap to repair yourself. Which - as it turns out, made my wife even happier when I fixed (at my expense) both her oven and 2 burners on this overpriced monstrosity that she still loves, as she doesn’t consider me a handy type person.