Im shopping for fridges, dont know which brand to trust since warranty seems to only be 2 years or so. Ive seen good prices on westinghouse and samsung as well as LG. I think there is Fisher & Paykel. What to go for? Ive seen some bargains here for kalvinator
edit: what i want is a bottom mount under 1000$ and between 400 - 530L
Westinghouse is my choice for fridges. Had a medium size Westinghouse for 10+ years, had to give it to my sister-in-law few years ago as my family needed a larger fridge. That fridge is still going, must be almost 15 years old. Now we have a Westinghouse side-by-side, loving it, never have any problem.
Not sure about Fisher & Paykel fridges, but we do have a 15+ years old F&P washing machine, doing at least 2 full loads every week, still going strong.
Westinghouse for the win!
Another +1 for Westinghouse for reliability.
Go Electrolux / Westinghouse (Made in Australia) :)
Hi.
Have the LG frost free. 10 years and a trip over the ocean and still running fine. Even the original bulb inside. new ones are coming with 10 year warranty on the main bit.
I have had a couple of fisher & paykel. The fresh food keeps for longer than others, and I like the internal design and materials used..easier to clean and last longer.
We have upside down..don't think I could ever go back. So much more practical. More often than not in fridge, no bending down. Hope that helps :-)
Brands to do matter anymore. Independent reviews matters. I encourage people to get a Choice subscription for $33 a quarter.
http://www.choice.com.au/reviews-and-tests/household/kitchen…
should i get 530L or 430L? the difference between them is a 100mm wideth I think. Can the fridge be tightly cornered in the alcove/cabinet?
I've got F&P at home. What is good about them is that they have their own technicians, which is great when the machine dies after 5 years - they know what the problem is because they ONLY service F&P (and usually carry the exact part) so can do on-the-spot repairs… Unlike some other brands where the technicians have to order in parts and then really don't know if it will work anyway.
BTW, I've got a fridge in a small space. You will probably regret it if there isn't sufficient airflow because mine gets very very hot and the motor runs almost 24x7
We have a large Samsung, seems alright, not the best energy rating, but the price I paid, don't care.
When we were looking for a fridge the chemical smell that came from the Samsungs when the door was opened immediately put us off. Ended up with Westinghouse because it offered the best internal space for our needs. We looked at quite a few that had the shelves so close together that they'd be useless - take out one or more of those shelves to make room for the medium to larger items and the practical usable space became minimal at best.
Had an upside down F&P and it was ok, but I expect more than 4 to 5 years from a fridge. After the F&P washing machine we previously had packed up about a week outside of manufacturers warranty (got it fixed under extended warranty) then was also almost totally dead 4 to 5 years from purchase, probably won't be bothering with their products again.
Mitsubishi - when I brought mine it had a 5 year manufacturer warranty
Electrolux, Westinghouse, Kelvinator are all made by Electrolux Aust & have their own factory trained techs, which might help if things do go pear-shaped.
Modern day fridge motors are pretty reliable, so the main thing to look at is build quality, especially the door seals (techs call them gaskets). IMHO the warranty tells you how reliable the manufacturer thinks their product is.
I've had a string of Westinghouses (upgrading to a bigger sizes are the only reason for a new one).
Our current one, the I dropped the pull out ice tray & also close the door with the butter compartment open.
breaking both of them. I called Westinghouse on both occasions to order replacement, but they express posted out replacements for free.
currently own a Fisher & Paykel for 10 years, without any issues so far.