Stay away from KitchenAid fridges

[Chris]

We bought this KitchenAid fridge just over a year go from Home Depot:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/KitchenAid-27-cu-ft-French-Door-Refrigerator-in-PrintShield-Stainless-with-Exterior-Ice-and-Water-KRFF507HPS/305444643

As of yesterday the compressor went out. Appliance repair guy (who comes highly regarded) told me it would be roughly $1600 to repair and that it's very, very unusual that he sees a fridge where the compressor goes bad this soon.

In any case, I'm out $2500 for this fridge which is barely a year old.

Sadly this is the case with most major appliances, they don't build them to last anymore.

 

[Bobohunter1776]

Same with Samsung stuff. Between them and Home Depot they've been nothing but a PITA since January. Starting to wonder if it would've been better to get an ancient fridge from the 90s off the side of the road...

 

[IPerkWVU]

Not under warranty? Looking at this random link on the internet the compressor would be covered…

https://www.whirlpool.com/content/dam/global/documents/200301/warranty-2225033-W.pdf

 

[Chris]

Same with Samsung stuff. Between them and Home Depot they've been nothing but a PITA since January. Starting to wonder if it would've been better to get an ancient fridge from the 90s off the side of the road...

I was thinking the same thing as well. Sure, they took more energy but at least they lasted longer.

Not under warranty? Looking at this random link on the internet the compressor would be covered…

https://www.whirlpool.com/content/dam/global/documents/200301/warranty-2225033-W.pdf

The manufacturers warranty is 1 year. It's just outside of 1 year.

I sure wish I'd bought the extended warranty (which I will next time around).

 

[2001slvrstntj]

Same with Samsung stuff. Between them and Home Depot they've been nothing but a PITA since January. Starting to wonder if it would've been better to get an ancient fridge from the 90s off the side of the road...

Lol, I have an old crappy one from my brother in the garage I painted black and runs great. I have no idea how old but been around along time. I am going to jinx myself but have a GE profile counter depth one in our house going on 20 years old an no issues…finger crossed. I think the new stuff is not designed to last, hope I am wrong.

 

[Potomus Pete]

I think if you dig into it you would be covered.///Guess not.

 

[Bobohunter1776]

Lol, I have an old crappy one from my brother in the garage I painted black and runs great. I have no idea how old but been around along time. I am going to jinx myself but have a GE profile counter depth one in our house going on 20 years old an no issues…finger crossed. I think the new stuff is not designed to last, hope I am wrong.

I've got one like that too but it's mainly a game freezer. Unfortunately it's been quite empty the past few seasons.

 

[IPerkWVU]

I was thinking the same thing as well. Sure, they took more energy but at least they lasted longer.



The manufacturers warranty is 1 year. It's just outside of 1 year.

I sure wish I'd bought the extended warranty (which I will next time around).

I’m surprised the compressor wouldn’t fall into the 2-5 year category. For such an expensive appliance, I’d push them on it. Kitchenaid is their ‘premium’ brand too.

 

[Chris]

I’m surprised the compressor wouldn’t fall into the 2-5 year category. For such an expensive appliance, I’d push them on it. Kitchenaid is their ‘premium’ brand too.

I sent them an email before posting this. I’m going to see if they’ll at least help me to some degree. It would be great if they paid to fix it, but if they even told me they’d get me the same fridge for half off (or something) I’d even take that at this point. Crazy that a brand new fridge would fail this soon.

The appliance repair guy told me he’s seen a lot but he’s never seen a compressor fail this soon.

 

[03coloradowrangler]

unfortunately everything is disposable anymore / planned to be obsolescent soon. big business sees selling new appliances as the money maker. make things last until the warranty period is up then you got to gamble the prices on a repairman/parts or simply just buy a new appliance. most people would just buy a new appliance because its the "newest and greatest".

parents had a 2 year old Samsung that died last year, none of the local appliance repair shops would touch it and didnt want anything to do with it. think Samsung is facing some sort of a class action lawsuit going on.

prior job I dealt with hundreds of new GE fridges, pretty good quality overall other than fairly frequent evaporator fan motor failures at the 1 year mark but I think they were bought out by Haier which I think is a pretty bottom of the barrel brand.

doing maintenance on fridges over a period of time I think the biggest help you can do for the longevity, power consumption and health of your compressor is to frequently dust off the condenser coils. them things get filthy quick and the modern condenser loops are so small they plug up much more easily.

 

[Apparition]

I was thinking the same thing as well. Sure, they took more energy but at least they lasted longer.



The manufacturers warranty is 1 year. It's just outside of 1 year.

I sure wish I'd bought the extended warranty (which I will next time around).

My Amex doubles the warranty on whatever I buy. May want to see how you purchased it.

 

[jeepguy03]

Yep, everything is garbage packed full of tech (why does my fridge need wifi?) designed to last just beyond the warranty. There are a few guys on youtube who repair appliances that have some good videos on which brands are worth buying, or at least which ones can be repaired more than the others.

 

[IPerkWVU]

My Amex doubles the warranty on whatever I buy. May want to see how you purchased it.

Visa Signature and up do the same, a lot of mid level credit cards are those.

 

[Zorba]

We've always used GE or Whirlpool - but there's no way I'd pay $2,500 for a fridge! This house had a stainless ste - ur, I mean STAINLESS STEEL french door fridge when we bought it. Both of us detest stainless, I mean STAINLESS, and wife didn't like the french door idea AT ALL. Myself, I could take it or leave it, but she still didn't like it after living with it for a year, so it went to the kids and we bought a new Whirlpool side-by-side in black. Paid $850 for it. Its fine - and certainly has no gratuitous tech, although who the HELL thought it was a good idea to put the temperature controls on the front ice maker panel where kids and accidents keep changing the settings?

 

[Rickyd]

I sent them an email before posting this. I’m going to see if they’ll at least help me to some degree. It would be great if they paid to fix it, but if they even told me they’d get me the same fridge for half off (or something) I’d even take that at this point. Crazy that a brand new fridge would fail this soon.

The appliance repair guy told me he’s seen a lot but he’s never seen a compressor fail this soon.

Look up the compressor and price it out.1600$ is a lot of labor if the part is 400$

 

[Chris]

Look up the compressor and price it out.1600$ is a lot of labor if the part is 400$

The labor is the expensive part. The process of replacing the compressor is an extremely time consuming job.

 

[TJ4Jim]

We bought this KitchenAid fridge just over a year go from Home Depot:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/KitchenAid-27-cu-ft-French-Door-Refrigerator-in-PrintShield-Stainless-with-Exterior-Ice-and-Water-KRFF507HPS/305444643

As of yesterday the compressor went out. Appliance repair guy (who comes highly regarded) told me it would be roughly $1600 to repair and that it's very, very unusual that he sees a fridge where the compressor goes bad this soon.

In any case, I'm out $2500 for this fridge which is barely a year old.

Sadly this is the case with most major appliances, they don't build them to last anymore.

They're not what they were years ago, Kitchen Aid was considered a premium appliance along with Frigidaire and they're shit really sucks.

LG and GE appliances have been really reliable for me, wife took a header over the LG ss dishwasher door 3 weeks ago snapping the water line and driving the handle to the floor. I was able to straighten the steel hinges and restore it to service with just a slight ripple to an interior ss panel.

 

[Rickyd]

The labor is the expensive part. The process of replacing the compressor is an extremely time consuming job.

I do commercial refrigeration for a living. I recover systems and swap out compressors and other parts all the time. If you can see the compressor under there it isn't that hard to swap. That said,i won't work on home appliances. Too much headache for something the owner should just replace usually.

 

[Chris]

They're not what they were years ago, Kitchen Aid was considered a premium appliance along with Frigidaire and they're shit really sucks.

LG and GE appliances have been really reliable for me, wife took a header over the LG ss dishwasher door 3 weeks ago snapping the water line and driving the handle to the floor. I was able to straighten the steel hinges and restore it to service with just a slight ripple to an interior ss panel.

It seems to be all over the place. I was speaking to this appliance repair guy and he said the worst he sees is the LG and Samsung stuff. However, I’ve also heard from others who share your positive reviews. It’s really a mixed bag it seems.

 

[Rickyd]

They're not what they were years ago, Kitchen Aid was considered a premium appliance along with Frigidaire and they're shit really sucks.

LG and GE appliances have been really reliable for me, wife took a header over the LG ss dishwasher door 3 weeks ago snapping the water line and driving the handle to the floor. I was able to straighten the steel hinges and restore it to service with just a slight ripple to an interior ss panel.

LG is garbage. I strongly advise never buying any of their ac or refrigeration products